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ENERGIA News Issue 2.1, February 1998

Letters to ENERGIA

ENERGIA wishes all her member-readers the best for 1998, and may you all be just as ‘energetic’ as last year! During the last Support Group Meeting a set of targets were set (issue 4, October 1997, p.5), which we hope to realise, with your input and suggestions, over the next period.

One of our targets for ENERGIA News is to increase the number of subscribers. When we started at the beginning of 1997 we had around 300 subscribers, and through a census of 550 readers in July, we now have 920 on our mailing list. All continents are well presented: Africa 276; Asia 191; Europe, US and Canada 329, and Latin America 124. The letter below is an excellent example of what we are trying to reach through the Network.

[…] We have contacted some women actively involved in the energy industry and also non-government organisations who are interested about ENERGIA. We plan to organise a local counterpart of ENERGIA in the Philippines. Later on perhaps the movement can be expanded to the other ASEAN countries. Can we use the ENERGIA name, for example, “ENERGIA Philippines”? Please advise us also on linkage/coordination, conditions, responsibilities/contributions and the recommended organisation structure.
Mr. O.S. Serafica, MATEC, VP - Communications and Transportation group, LM Building 106E Rodriguez Jr. Ave., Libis, Quezon City, Philippines; Email revmatec@mnl.sequel.net

Answer from the editors:
Hello O.S. Serafica,
We were delighted to hear that you are interested in forming an ENERGIA Philippines. Up to now, ENERGIA has been aninformal network, so we do not have any defined conditions or structure. However, at our recent annual meeting of the ENERGIA Support Group, it was clear that we need to establish a legal structure, and we are looking into this now.
Another priority for ENERGIA defined by the Support Group was regionalisation of ENERGIA. In fact, we see ENERGIA functioning in future through the establishment of national or regional entities such as yours. So we fully suport your effort and hope to learn from it ourselves!

I received your publication in April and am delighted to see an initiative which has the goal of engendering energy and empowering women. I work with geothermal energy development as Director of Export Programs at the Geothermal Energy Association in Washington DC. I work in the same office suites as the Solar Energy Industries Association, The National Hydropower Association, the National Bioenergy Industries Association and the American Wind Energy Asociation. I work with many women in Washington, DC, but find that, particularly in geothermal energy development, few women are to be found in developing countries. Much to my surprise I encountered several reservoir engineers and geothermists in Nicaragua, and a reservoir engineer in Mexico.

Ann McKinney, Geothermal Energy Association, 122 C Street NW, 4th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001-2109, USA; Email annmck@zeus.tomco.net

Dear Madams/Sirs,
It gives gives me pleasure to introduce myself as the director of Information of the Association for the Advancement of Information Technology, (AAIT), a non-political, non-governmental and non- profit making organization. It started its activities in 1996 with the aim to develop science and technology specially for the women. We work mainly on research and training the women scientists of Bangladesh.
[…]ENERGIA News would be very much helpful for our future activities. We are now working on Solar Technology and Environment, Rural elctrification etc. We need a lot of information and cooperation from you to reach our target. Women are specially disadvantaged in this region.
Best regards,
Laila Noor (Ms), Executive Director, AAIT, 289 Elephant Road, Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh; Tel. +880.2.867082, Fax +880.2.867082, Email lutfor@dhaka.agni.com

We see ENERGIA functioning in the future through national or regional entities

Dear Sir,
Indian Renewable Development Agency Ltd. is a non-banking financial institution under the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, India extending financial assistance to the New and Renewable energy technologies projects since 1987. One of its objective is to involve women in the commercialisation process of renewable energy projects in the form of entrepreneurship, business agents, market development associates, financial intermediaries, etc. In order to achieve this objective, IREDA undertakes various promotional and developmental activities …Besides, IREDA has also introduced an incentive scheme for women entrepreneurs in its existing lending items.
[…] In order to optimise the efforts of IREDA towards economic empowerment of women through renewable energy, we are interested in associating ourselves with ENERGIA in the form of releasing advertisements, sending articles about the activities undertaken by IREDA for the development and promotion of women.
Dr. K.S. Janakiram, Indian Renewable Energy development Agency Ltd., Core 4-A, East Court, 1st Floor, India Habitat Centre Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003, India; Tel. +91.11.4601344, Fax +91.11.4602855, Email gen@ireda1.globemail.com

Comments

• Issue 3, July 1997, Case Study: Biogas in Tambama, p.11
  • The organisation involved was not “CERESCOR an NGO from Senegal”, but CERESCOR Guinée, a research institute based in Conakry.
  • Billy is President of the Guinean Association for the Promotion of Renewable Energy (AGUIPER) and also head of the Energy Planning Laboratory of the Energy Division of CERESCOR.