Yes, green gold is near you more than you think

Kenya has green gold more widespread and available than Turkana’s oil and Kwale’s titanium.
On March 23 just two weeks after his visit to Kenya, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed a UN General Assembly High-Level action event aimed at invigorating political momentum on climate change. He revealed a fact that I believe underpins Kenya’s green gold, “Around the world, over half of new power generation capacity now comes from renewables. In Europe, the figure is more than 90 per cent. In the US and China, new renewable energy jobs now outstrip those created in the oil and gas industries. Globally, over 8 million people work in the renewables sector.”

Actually, the green trend is becoming mainstream because it is making and saving money across the world. Green is not just about conserving the environment, but also making money. Here in Kenya, geothermal produces more than half of KenGen’s electricity.

It was therefore responsible for at least Sh2.3 billion of KenGen’s overall profits of Sh4.6 billion in the last half of 2016. In tapping into renewable energy, KenGen is mining the green gold, something that other Kenyan corporates and individuals can also do.

One of the lowest renewable energy fruits that Kenyan households can pluck is solar energy because it is now more advanced and affordable for households.
This was the growing trend in the US last year where solar was the top fuel source for the first time in a calendar year. The Solar Energy Industry Association reported that this solar upsurge led to the adding of about 125 solar panels every minute in 2016. This solar boom generated a revenue of Sh300 billion for First Solar, the leading solar panel manufacturer in the US. This was almost twice as much as Safaricom’s Sh197 billion revenue for the 2016 financial year.

Renewable energy

In order for ordinary Kenyans to reap financial benefits from solar, we need policy shifts that will drastically open up feed-in tariffs. Owners of houses with their own solar-generated electricity should be paid by KenGen for every unit of electricity that they produce but don’t use. This model has worked well in countries like Germany and Britain.

Fortunately, the green gold is not just limited to renewable energy. Globally, organic farming is a goldmine. In 2015 in the US, organic food sales brought in a whopping Sh4 trillion dollars, money that could have funded Kenya’s entire 2017 budget of Sh2.6 trillion.

Despite these mammoth sales of organic food, demand is growing. Yet organic industry experts say that only one percent of global land is organically farmed. Kenyan farmers should therefore tap into this global market by producing organic food consistently and exporting it. Indeed, green gold is available in Kenya. Unlike the actual gold, anyone can mine this green gold.

- The writer is the founder and chairperson, Green Africa Foundation

www.isaackalua.com