Africa presents an exciting opportunity in the electromobility space. Africa’s low motorization levels present an opportunity for another leapfrog event, like seen previously in the telecommunications industry.
Imagine Lagos, Nigeria, a city of 22 million. What was once a small coastal town just a few decades ago has exploded into a sprawling megacity spanning 452 square miles. Its rapid growth has stretched the city’s services impossibly thin: Less than 10 percent of people live in homes with sewer connections; less than 20 percent have access to tap water. Many houses are in slums and informal settlements at the city’s periphery. Now picture Lagos twice as big.
The urban heat island effect — effectively, the reality that dark roads and buildings in urban areas absorb and radiate far more heat than vegetation in rural areas does, which makes cities notably hotter than surrounding areas — is going to more than double the city-level costs of dealing with rising temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change over the coming century, according to a new study.
Some renewable energy sources are more glamorous than others. Solar and wind are glamorous; biomass and biogas, not as glamorous. Perhaps one the least glamorous renewable resources — but superabundant — has recently been used to power a generator. “Urine” for a surprise as to the resource… Yup, it’s pee! (har … [continued]
