Daily Archives: June 6, 2012

Creating jobs from solar in South Africa

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High unemployment is a familiar scene in many towns across Africa. Meanwhile, many households are spending 20% of their available income on water heating.

In some cases families have to choose between food and hot water.

One CDM project in South Africa aims to tackle both of these problems, installing solar water heaters to households, while offering employment to local communities.

On the sidelines of the Durban climate conference, a group of journalists travelled to visit one project on the outskirts of the city.

Here 25 energy jobs have been created through the projects, many of which could become permanent as the scheme moves to other neighborhoods in the area.

In the twelfth in the series of UNFCCC CDM Radio Club reports RTCC is hosting, David Mwanza a radio producer from Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation visits the site to see what benefits the CDM scheme has brought.

Source: Read More Here

1500 Energy Jobs Created In Oil and Gas Sector

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The Deputy Minister for Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini says records available at the Ministry of Energy revealed that 1500 oil and gas jobs had been created, for which 840 were Ghanaians.       

He indicated that government had initiated a number of laws that would regulate the oil and gas industry to ensure the nation derives the needed benefits.          

This was made known, when Alhaji Fuseini took his turn on the floor of parliament to answer questions yesterday.

The Minister stated that his ministry in colloboration with Tullow Ghana was establishing an SME Skills development centre in Takoradi.

He mentioned that Tullow had also allocated 40% of annual scholarships to the people in the Western Region which was initiated by Tullow to train Ghanaians in UK Universities in oil and gas.

Alhaji Fuseini noted there was also an enactment of local content and local participation regulations to safeguard the interest of communities directly affected by the oil and gas activities.           

According to the Minister, government was also implementing a Western Corridor infrastructure development programme that will be funded by the China Development Bank loan.

Alhaji Fuseini indicated that the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) which had been implemented by the ministry in partnership with its development partners was to strengthen institutions of learning such as KNUST, Council for Technical and Vocational, Education and training (COTVET), Takoradi Technical Institute, Kikam Technical Institute and Regional Maritime University.

He added that as a result, the Petroleum Commission will have an operational office cited in Takoradi to enable the people of Western Region ascertain the needed information.

Source: Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Wind: Kansas’ other energy boom

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Wind turbines are being built right next to oil rigs, bringing an additional rush of energy jobs and revenue to the small towns along the southern border of the state — as well as big paychecks to local landowners.

BP Wind Energy is currently building the biggest wind farm in the state, and it plans to begin production by the end of this year. The project has already brought 500 jobs to the three counties its wind turbines span: Harper, Barber and Kingman, according to BP.

These same counties are also filling up with hundreds of oil workers, as big fracking and exploration companies seek to tap the billions of barrels of oil that are estimated to be in the Mississippian limestone formation.

Not only have these two energy forces brought money to the region, but they’ve also created a housing shortage, a surge in traffic and have worn down local roads.

“[Wind and oil] have collided at the same time here in Harper County,” said Al Roder, administrator of Harper County, where the majority of the wind turbines are located. “As a result, all of the good and all of the challenges are getting multiplied.”

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