Debate

Below are links to some of the published articles of OTEC Africa.

2014

Opt for OTEC!

Opt for OTEC! is an opinion piece published at Brännpunkt in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, the most prestiguos spot for debate in Swedish media. The text was written to start a debate on sustainability and development of low-income countries in the beginning of 2014, and was published in the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet on February 14. The opinion piece was initiated as reaction to the recent disaster in the Philippines.

The opinion piece was signed by Petter Terenius, founder OTEC Africa, University of Borås, Sweden; Lars Golmen, Director Runde Environmental Centre, Norway; Ted Johnson, Executive Director, Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation, USA; Desikan Bharathan, Principal Engineer at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA; and Harold Lever, CEO, Archimedes Solutions, The Netherlands.

The online version of the article can be found here (in Swedish). A translated version is published in OTEC Matters 2015.

World Water Day with Energy Theme – Where’s the prima donna?

This short text was published at LinkedIn as a reaction to the lack of governmental interest in OTEC at the time. 2014 was a year dedicated to Water and energy ("blue energy") but OTEC was not on the agenda. Luckily, through the hard work of the OTEC community, OTEC is now a competing technology in calls for funding and similar activities. Here is the link to the article: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/World-Water-Day-Energy-Theme-1094997.S.5853203025702703105.

2011

Grönt energisamarbete kan rädda tusentals från svältdöden

An opinion piece on OTEC Africa, signed by Petter Terenius and Lars Golmen, was published on Sweden's (at the time) leading debating forum, called Newsmill. The opinion piece was written as a reaction to the famine at the Horn of Africa, a place rather well situated for OTEC technology. The text stated that if work on OTEC facilities would commence straight away, we could prevent future famine disasters at the Horn of Africa (as they are related to the lack of water).

Famines strike the Horn of Africa approximately once every three years. Not surprisingly, the region was struck again during fall 2014, destroying lives for thousands more people. In October 2014, the UN presented its new report on climate change. When releasing this report, the UN Secretary General addressed sustainable development of low-income countries, and reported from a recent journey to the Horn of Africa:

I have come here from the Horn of Africa. There, millions of people are affected by conflict, poverty and environmental threats, including the impacts of climate change. I have seen for myself these deadly effects affecting many people in the Horn of Africa, particularly in Dadaab refugee camp. They are making progress – but we need to support them. […] Energy will be an important part of that effort – and so will climate action.

Stopping climate change, exploring technologies for clean energy, and developing low-income countries is exactly what OTEC Africa is about. Indeed, OTEC is far more than “just another renewable technology” – it is a means towards making these things happen.

The Newsmill web site is not available anymore, but the opinion piece can be found at this link: http://bada.hb.se/handle/2320/10302?mode=full.