|
During my conversation with Edna Brown last week, she made
it abundantly clear that she is focused on helping Toledo
gain a growing and sustainable niche in the global economy.
Rep. Brown and I spoke on April 11, just three days after
the World Bank approved a $3.75 billion loan to South Africa
to help enhance the country’s energy portfolio.
The uninformed observer may wonder what does a $3.75 billion
World Bank loan to South Africa have to do with Toledo. It
turns out that renewable energy-related institutions in the
region could potentially benefit from the loan’s $260
million allocation for the development of 100 megawatts of
concentrating solar (or solar thermal) power and the
development of a 100 megawatt wind power facility, as well
as $450 million earmarked for the development of low-carbon
energy efficiency components.
As a member of the delegation that accompanied me to South
Africa last summer, Brown met with several of the nation’s
energy officials. She also visited the office representing
the Ohio Department of Development near Johannesburg. That
office reported on a number of programs underway to expand
trade between Ohio and South Africa, including renewable
energy.
Brown is the second most senior member in the House
Democratic Caucus. If she wins the May 4 primary and goes on
to win the general election in the fall, she would then be a
freshman senator. However, after serving nine years as a
legislator in Columbus and previously serving on the key
Economic Development Committee, she would be capable of
effecting consequential outcomes for the region’s renewable
energy industry.
Bear in mind that Toledo’s celebrated industrial cluster of
renewable energy firms would never have gotten off the
ground the way it has if it had not been for substantial aid
from the Ohio Department of Development. For the last
several years, Brown has worked with the Ohio Department of
Development to support the emergence of renewable energy
activities in the region. She is also capable of helping
local institutions engage collaboratively with the Ohio
development office in work related to international projects
such as the aforementioned 100-megawatt solar and wind
projects.
As a person involved with both southern African affairs and
renewable energy, I was delighted to learn about this aspect
of the World Bank loan. However, most of the loan, just over
$3 billion, will also help with the construction of what
will be one of the world’s largest coal-fired electric
facilities. This is the dreaded downside of the loan. If not
one single additional coal-fired facility were to be built
anywhere on the planet, not only would I be happy, but the
overall environment would be a lot more stable.
Although South Africa has not built a major new power plant
of any variety in nearly 20 years, Eskom, the country’s
monopoly electric power company, has expanded access to
electricity from 34 percent to 81 percent of the population
in the post-apartheid period. With its existing energy
portfolio, Eskom is incapable of ramping up the energy
needed to power the requisite economic growth so that the
25-plus percent of the population who are unemployed and
suffering in one of the most inequitable societies in the
world can experience significant relief. Nevertheless, many
who recognize our collective necessity of moving “beyond
coal” advocated against the loan.
As James Speth (dean of the Yale University’s School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies and co-founder of the
Natural Resources Defense Council) put it: “To reduce
environmental impacts faster than the economy is growing
requires rapid technological change.” South Africa’s
economy will grow much faster as a result of the
4,800-megawatt Medupi coal-fired plant, but it will also
cause significant environmental damage.
In order for this environmental damage to be reduced as the
economy grows, renewable energy technologies have to be
developed and commercialized much faster than they are now.
As it turns out, the World Bank loans facilitate that
process.
For instance, the South African solar energy project will be
a pioneering undertaking since it will be the largest solar
thermal project with storage and the largest central
receiver-type solar power project in the world. The project
pushes the envelope and will be the world’s benchmark for
large-scale grid-connected solar thermal power.
It is in Toledo’s economic interest for The University of
Toledo and regional renewable energy companies to engage
South Africa’s new energy endeavors. Brown is keen on this
fact and is eager to make these connections if she is
elevated to the senate. Her engaging the Ohio Department of
Development in supporting local institutions so that they
can compete to help expand renewable energy applications in
South Africa and other parts of the world can contribute to
economic growth in Toledo and the global environment.
On May 4, you might want to have those facts uppermost in
mind as you go to the polls to elect our next state senator.
Rubin Patterson, Ph.D., is professor of Sociology and the
interim director of Africana Studies at The University of
Toledo. |
