Resort to renewable energy to resolve our energy crises - NGO to Government

350 G-ROC, has advised Government to resort to the use of renewable energy technology to help resolve Ghana’s energy crises issue permanently.

The organization is of the view that, the technology of using waste to generate power to boost our energy problem in the country, would be a three-edged sword, as it would also help maintain good sanitation for the country by making good use of it to prevent people from littering the whole environment with waste, which in the long round, also poses very serious health threat to the people and increases the cost of expenditure on health by the government. And also create more employment for the people of Ghana.

350 G-ROC is a formal network of youth groups advocating for reduction in Ghana’s carbon emissions and promoting renewable as a key effort in combating climate change. The organization is a member of SDGs 7 and 13 CSOs sub platform which Kasa Initiative and Care Ghana convene.

The organization has held a one-day workshop to discuss the best ways and means to join efforts with other stakeholders to combat the issue of climate change in the country, and also how to develop good mechanisms to encourage both the government, other entrepreneurs, and individual citizens to embrace idea of converting our waste products into renewable energy, to help ease pressure on the energy sector in the country.

The workshop which was held at the conference hall of the Adenta Municipal Assembly in Accra on the 25th of February, 2020, brought together a lot of stakeholders from both government and private institutions to participate and share ideas on how to improve Ghana’s economy in diverse ways.

Speaking with a section of the media in an interview, the Project Coordinator for the organization, Mr, NiiAmanquahAddo, observed that, renewable energy would provide one of the best solutions to the rapid energy rate increment by government in the country, if government and other stakeholders would embrace the idea and come together to pull resources to develop more techniques for the project.

He was of the view that, the idea of employing the renewable energy technology, would not only be financially beneficial to the country, but would also help create more jobs for the people, and that would help reduce the national unemployment situation in the country.

He underscored that, the his organization choose to hold the workshop at the Adenta Municipal Assembly because,the Municipal and District Assemblies have been identified as the institutional drivers of development at the local level to cumulatively reflect a national picture of development.

He was of the believe that, 10% or more in the energy mix by 2030 set to reduce carbon emissions by the government can be achieved, when institutions such as the Municipal and District Assemblies are contributing to the national agenda by promoting climate smart initiatives and technological innovations at their various levels.

He encouraged the installations of more solar plants in our homes and other institutions, which he believed that it would help Ghana in our climate change situation.

He therefore urged all Municipal Assemblies to come out with their own plans as to how to resolve the energy and climate challenges in the country, as they factor in the use of renewable energy techniques. He also stressed on the need for as to protect our environment as a nation to enhance our health system.

Also on his part, the Physical Planning Officer of the Adenta Assembly, Mr. Akwesi Owusu Afiriyie, disclosed that, one of the strategies of the assembly to achieve this goal of better climate change and encourage the use of renewable energy is that, before the assembly would grant you a resident permit, one of the agreement is that, you would plant not less than 6 trees in your environment.

He noted that the resident associations would be used to monitor the tree planting exercise.

He promised that, as the district assembly is the custodian of all wastes in every municipality, measures would definitely be put in place for renewable energy.

The assembly, however lamented the constant delay of waste collection trucks to convey the waste on time, as this poses serious health treats to the people in the communities.

The assembly, therefore appealed to government and other concerned agencies in charge of the collection of waste to endeavor to deliver their work timely and effectively.

The representative from the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Foster AboagyeGyamfi, also unearthed that the Ministry is mobilizing the needed resources to support climate change issues in the country.

He stressed on the need for organizations which might want to submit their budgets to the ministry for any support to be have the Ghana’s SDG in mind as they develop their proposals, noting that now the national budget is Sustainable Development Goal, ( SDG) compliant.

Mr. Aboagye, also maintained that, if we endeavor to plant more trees as a nation with the support of all, not only would it help our climate positively, but we can also exchange some of our trees for money with other countries to boost our economy.

He on that note called for all to exhibit great sense of patriotism in all we do as citizens, and not to liter our environment to expose us to health dangers, which in both the short and long round, causes government a lot of money to import more drugs to support the health sector, than to have used that money to develop the economy for us as a nation.

In another presentation, Mr. Lovans Owusu Takyi, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environmental Solutions(SEES), an organization which is into research, training and policy advocacy, also adding his, maintained that, the implementation of the renewable energy technology in Ghana, would help reduce air pollution, as well as reducing the cost of energy and its expenditure in the country.

He emphasized on the need to empower more young people with entrepreneurial skills to help set up their own businesses in the renewable energy sector, using waste products. He established that, not only would this help in the climate change and energy situations in Ghana, but that would also help reduce the problem of youth unemployment in the country.

He stressed on the need for us as citizens to employ clean cooking techniques and practice good hygienic lifestyle with good sanitation attitude to help build a better Ghana.

The day’s workshop, ended with all participants well equipped and with the agreement to put resources and efforts together to help redeem the economy of Ghana by using renewable energy to reduce the energy cost and employ good climate change in the country.