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National Observer
23-07-2025
- Business
- National Observer
Pakistan's solar revolution is bringing power to the people
This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360 and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration Solar power is booming in Pakistan. Its share of electricity generation more than tripled in just three years, climbing from four percent in 2021 to 14 percent in 2024 — one of the highest percentages in Asia, according to a Reuters analysis of data from the British research group Ember. And panel imports doubled in a single year, Ember reports, making Pakistan, with the world's fifth-largest population, one of the biggest solar markets in the world. A confluence of forces has driven this growth. Pakistanis had long lived with overpriced and unreliable power delivered by a creaking grid. When Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine caused gas and coal prices to spike, Pakistanis' bills jumped even higher — and then higher again when the government removed subsidies that had cushioned consumers from the worst of those hikes. At the same time, a glut of cheap Chinese solar panels gave many Pakistanis an alternative to grid power for the first time. Renewables First, an energy and environment think tank in Islamabad, has not only been tracking Pakistan's solar revolution, it is also pressing for policy changes that would make its transition faster and smoother. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, program director Muhammad Mustafa Amjad says reforms that increase grid flexibility and better match supply with demand would make cheap, clean energy available to more people while preventing further price hikes for those still reliant on centrally provided power. If officials begin to better coordinate its transition, Amjad believes, Pakistan's experience can be a model for other developing nations. 'Global South countries don't have to be the laggards,' he says. 'They can actually be the leaders of the energy transition.' Yale Environment 360: Can you give me a sense of how big and how fast the recent growth in Pakistanis' solar power use has been? Muhammad Mustafa Amjad: It's quite unprecedented in terms of speed and scale. Pakistan has imported almost 45 gigawatts worth of solar panels over the last five or six years, which is equal to the total capacity of its electricity grid. Almost 34 gigawatts have come in only in the last couple of years. The world's fifth-largest population is adopting solar technology at scale — a shift being driven primarily by affordability. "It's a very bottom-up revolution," says one expert. "Renewables are out-competing the traditional sources of energy." It's a very bottom-up revolution. This is not government deciding this is the route to take. And it's not being driven by climate concerns, it's all about the economics. Renewables are out-competing the traditional sources of energy. So all of a sudden, it makes financial sense to adopt renewables, to double down on renewables. Energy transitions in the Global South were always seen as being very top-down, with financial institutions and banks and the International Monetary Fund coming in and piloting projects, pushing governments for policies to encourage clean energy. Now, all of a sudden it's the people and markets that have decided solar is the solution. e360: How did this massive adoption of solar come about? Amjad: A lot of factors came together to create a perfect storm of conditions. At the core, it's because electricity from the grid was so expensive. The price went up almost 155 percent over the last few years. People were paying more for electricity than they were for rent. At the same time, China was producing a glut of solar panels, and Chinese companies were competing for new markets. Pakistan was lucrative for them because of our large [251 million] population. And the Pakistani government helped by not taxing Chinese solar panels. So people were looking for cheaper alternatives and they found one in solar. It's becoming a part of a nice dance now. Any new construction includes a solar power system. I was talking to a politician the other day from a remote area, and she said, 'Previously, constituents always asked us for sewing machines' they could use to earn money. 'Now they ask for a solar panel.' It's no longer a luxury item. It's become a necessity. In some parts of the country, it's customary for a family to give a dowry when their daughter gets married. Now, along with a TV and a washing machine, solar panels are part and parcel of this. e360: In 2022, 40 million Pakistanis still didn't have access to electricity. And the grid is unreliable even for those who are connected. What has it been like to live with those problems, and how did they help drive people toward solar? Amjad: We call it load shedding, it's essentially rolling blackouts. The power could be shut off for an hour, for four hours, six hours. There were certain rural areas where load shedding was in excess of 12 to 14 hours per day. And we have lots of areas where grid access isn't really available at all. So people were depending on diesel generators. They were on the lookout for something cleaner and cheaper. e360: Who's buying solar panels, and where? Amjad: This is across the spectrum. In the cities, whoever owns a home, they've already solarized or are intending to solarize or are saving for solar. It's expected for the cities and the rich to lead the way. But the people who benefit the most from it are the ones who were not connected to the grid or had less reliable service. That's where the sun has impacted lots of lived realities. A couple of case studies done in some villages in lower Punjab and upper Sindh found almost 50 percent of the households there have already solarized. These are massive numbers. There was one story where people put a solar system on the back of a tractor and it was being shared between three different households that [used] it to charge their fans and stuff. Another case study, people were using a panel during the day for field work, education work, and then at the end of the day the farmer would take it back to his house. That kind of mixed use, and sharing mechanisms — that's the true revolution that has happened. But a lot more needs to be done to improve access. The government could play a role by providing subsidized systems or loans for poorer households. e360: What are people doing with the power they're now able to generate? Amjad: Our farmers depend on irrigation systems. There are almost 2 million tube wells across Pakistan, and some estimates suggest almost half have already been solarized. Primarily because the wells are usually community owned — so a tube well for a whole village or for six to seven fields. People can club money together, or [the system is] owned by wealthy landlords who have enough spare capital. And the shift is often from a diesel generator to solar, so it makes more sense than going from the grid to solar. Another big area is cooling. Pakistan is a very climate-vulnerable country, and with the extreme temperatures we are experiencing, people want air conditioning and inverters, which are an energy-efficient type of fan. So a lot of lifestyles have been improved. It's also important to understand the battery revolution that's happening. Pakistan has imported almost $95 million worth of batteries in the last three months. So this solar rush is going to be followed by a battery rush, and together they'll create a whole parallel system where people will have a lot more control over their electricity. And after the battery revolution, very soon we'll be talking about an electric vehicle revolution. Pakistan is a huge market for three-wheelers and two-wheelers, it's ripe for electrification. e360: Why has the price of grid power been so high in Pakistan? Amjad: In the 2010s, Pakistan got a lot of private operators to set up thermal power plants, mainly coal and gas, and we offered them quite lucrative deals. These are long-term contracts — 20 or 25 years [in which the government must pay even when the plants' power is not needed]. Then when the Russia-Ukraine crisis began, fuel prices shot up for both gas and coal. And because of fiscal troubles, the government agreed to an IMF loan package that required removal of electricity subsidies for consumers, which had shielded them from some of the expense. So all the costs had to be passed on. e360: With more people generating their own power, there is concern that Pakistan's utilities are losing operating revenue. What would the implications of that be? Amjad: Over the past year we've seen a 4 to 5 percent decrease in grid demand. As more people defect from the grid, the total costs are shared by a smaller number of consumers. So grid electricity gets more expensive, and more consumers leave. This creates what's called a utility death spiral. And we don't want those left on the grid to have to pay for this. So we need massive reform. In developed countries with a high percentage of renewables in some regions, government agencies have had to modernize themselves and put the right infrastructure in place. In Pakistan, it's been very unregulated, unstructured. That needs to change within the next two years — otherwise all the inefficiencies, and the mismanagement and lack of planning are going to cause that spiral, and those who still rely on the grid will bear the cost. We need a lot of action by the government and utilities to prevent that. It's still not too late for the grid to adapt. Utilities have always believed energy is best provided by big power plants, a lot of firm capacity and base load. Now it's more about flexible supply to meet flexible demand. It's a very different equation. A lot of unlearning has to happen. The grid has to reinvent itself and start providing the support required for distributed [decentralized] generation — balancing and demand-supply management and all of those flexibility options, even utility-level batteries. It's quite ambitious, but there is no other option for Pakistan. e360: Will solar power displace energy from fossil fuels, or is it additive? Amjad: Fossil fuels are already being displaced. The coal power plants have become stranded assets — they're being utilized at rates under 20 percent. We have gas-fired power plants where utilization is as low as 15 percent. e360: What can other Global South countries learn from Pakistan's experience? Amjad: Pakistan wasn't expecting to do this for at least 10 or 20 years. It was always supposed to be the U.S. and China and Europe first. But Global South countries can actually be the leaders of the energy transition. Pakistan is proving just that. We've positioned ourselves as early adopters. It's an excellent model because a lot of the conditions we've seen here — like the supply glut from China — exist for other developing economies, too. I think what they can do is plan for it accordingly, with certain safeguards, certain mechanisms. Government can proactively play a role. This is a revolution to celebrate. There's a lot that could be improved on, a lot that can be learned from our experience. I hope we'll be able to talk about Pakistan as a good example, not as 'things to avoid, or things not to do.' But that depends on how we go about our work in the next few years.
National Observer
30-06-2025
- Business
- National Observer
Deconstructing buildings: the quest for new life for old wood
This story was originally published by Yale Environment 360 and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration Three beams span the ceiling of my living room. Wide, weathered, and dark with age, they bear the marks of earlier use — peg holes and scars where the Douglas fir reveals a past life. I like how they look and how it feels to live under old growth. But mainly I like knowing that the wood, which came from a demolished factory, spared trees from harvest and kept useful material from being buried as waste. From Japan to Switzerland and in various cities in the United States, more municipalities and companies are embracing the idea of wood reuse — not just for aesthetic reasons, but as a strategy to reduce carbon emissions, cut waste, and shift toward a circular economy. Yet turning salvaged wood into a climate solution at scale isn't simple. It will require training workers in deconstruction, developing new systems for processing and reselling reclaimed wood, and a rethinking of how buildings come apart. Not long ago, salvaged wood was a niche pursuit, favored by builders and craftspeople who valued the tight grain and enduring quality of long-lived species. Reclaimed old-growth timbers offered character and strength, with the wood dry and stable from years of use. Some of the best material in the U.S. came with a story — joists recovered from factories that were built after the Civil War, and planks rescued from collapsing barns. We bought our living room beams from a local company called Big Timberworks in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, but they came from a factory in Milwaukee. Hudson Hart, one of the company's CEOs, told me Big Timberworks entered the salvage business in the 1990s because such high-quality fiber was inexpensive and readily available from old Army and manufacturing buildings, ports, and shipyards. 'You could just show up at a demolition site with a semi-truck and say, 'Hey, let me take that off your hands.' Pretty soon it was clear that the wood had an added value, and prices started going up.' Contractors began changing the demolition methods, carefully removing certain pieces by hand. According to the most recent annual estimate, 30 million tons of wood waste from construction and demolition in the U.S. end up in landfills. What began as opportunistic salvage for prized timber is evolving into more coordinated systems, as cities and businesses embrace the use of reclaimed materials. Ordinances in cities like Portland, Oregon, and San Antonio require older buildings to be taken apart for repurposing the pieces, while Palo Alto, California has banned demolition completely. In Basel, Switzerland, online databases facilitate the reuse of reclaimed wood and other materials by linking potential buyers and sellers. Using reclaimed wood in local buildings stores carbon and also helps reduce emissions by avoiding the need to cut new trees, process materials, or ship them long distances. Yet experts point to practical barriers: Many demolition contractors aren't trained in deconstruction, and those who are often face high costs, complex logistics, or a lack of clear standards for grading and certifying salvaged wood. In most regions, markets for resale are still small, making it harder to match reclaimed supply with construction demand. Among the pioneers of reclaimed materials is Dave Bennink, a deconstruction expert whose teams at Re-Use Consulting have helped relocate, dismantle, or partially deconstruct thousands of structures and trained hundreds of contractors and salvage teams. Bennink estimates that these combined efforts have avoided the harvest of 10,000 acres of secondary forest — equivalent to roughly 150 million board feet of wood. Bennink's work has intersected with many local initiatives — including in Portland, the first U.S. city to require old residential homes to be deconstructed rather than demolished. When the city passed its ordinance in 2016, he helped train contractors on how to dismantle buildings piece by piece. Now he's one of a handful of experts listed in a national registry of deconstruction trainers and a member of a growing network of practitioners working to scale these methods. Concerns about the mess and hazards of demolition in a rapidly redeveloping city spurred Portland's mandate. Residents feared exposure to lead paint and asbestos from old buildings as demolitions spread dust throughout neighborhoods. Local interest groups petitioned city officials for deconstruction as a safer alternative. Almost a decade later, contractors have deconstructed more than 650 homes in Portland. Since implementation of a tracking system in 2018, this effort has salvaged 2,000 tons of reusable wood. Lauren Zimmermann Onstad, the city's sustainable building and deconstruction specialist, credits the program's success to early investments in training local contractors and the rise of specialized businesses that resell reclaimed materials. Lovett Deconstruction is largely focused on supplying lumber by the foot, salvaged flooring and siding, and historic pieces. Good Wood caters to designers and architects by re-milling the reclaimed wood to restore surfaces for cabinetry, siding, and other applications. 'Each of the salvage shops has its own niche,' Onstad notes. 'We never touch the materials, and we don't have a central sorting lot. The businesses do that.' Losing a building overnight — especially one tied to the community's cultural heritage or identity — can also cause public outcry. Stephanie Phillips, the senior deconstruction and circular economy program manager at San Antonio's office of historic preservation, says: 'Deconstruction helps ease the loss of an older building because the materials live on.' San Antonio's ordinance for deconstruction of older homes, which passed in 2022, means that if a building comes down, its parts and pieces can go toward repairing homes of a similar era or even new buildings and carry the city's heritage with them. Boulder, Colorado, and Palo Alto have implemented ordinances that also require deconstruction instead of demolition — and not just for old homes but any residential and commercial buildings. These policies mandate that buildings slated for removal must be carefully dismantled, with materials salvaged for reuse or recycling rather than sent to a landfill. A new ordinance for Aspen, Colorado, targets waste by requiring recovery of materials, including wood, for all permitted projects in areas greater than 2,000 square feet. Not every effort has succeeded, though — Milwaukee's short-lived deconstruction ordinance that was adopted in 2018 has since been suspended, in part because the local market for salvaged materials is not established enough to support it. In Denver, voters approved the 'Waste No More' initiative in 2022, but the ordinance has yet to be fully implemented. 'There's a gap between how it was written and what is actually implementable,' says Jonathan Wachtel, deputy executive director of Denver's Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency office. One major concern: whether enough companies exist to handle the work. The city needs a sufficient network of companies that can salvage and deconstruct, as well as a strong market for reclaimed wood and other materials. In Hennepin County, Minnesota, officials recognized early on that establishing a robust, reuse market was a critical step before cities could enact policies. In 2020, it launched a grant program to help offset the costs of deconstruction and incentivize the use of salvaged materials. Residential and commercial property owners undertaking a demolition or renovation of at least 500 square feet can receive $2 per square foot to support deconstruction and materials reuse. Olivia Cashman, the county's construction and demolition waste specialist, says the reuse grants have helped generate more interest in reuse from residents and staff at the city level. One key to unlocking more demand lies in streamlining regulatory processes. While building codes don't prohibit the use of reclaimed wood, they typically require it be reassessed to determine its suitability for future use — a process that adds cost and complexity. For example, a structural beam that supported heavy loads may no longer be viable for that use. Under current codes, including the International Residential Code, which establishes requirements for one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses, local officials can approve the use of reclaimed lumber if its strength and other key properties can be demonstrated. However, the lack of standardized, affordable methods for evaluation has made the process inconsistent and burdensome, according to many architects and builders using reclaimed materials. Several efforts are underway to develop practical solutions — including visual grading, where professionals inspect the wood and consider any changes since its initial use. The goal is to simplify approvals without compromising safety. Building demand also requires offering products that people want. Andrew Ellsworth, founder and CEO of Doors Unhinged, a company that specializes in reclaimed commercial doors, says focusing too much on deconstruction policies can push supply into the market and drive its value down. He sees wood as an ingredient. 'The problem is that people are trying to sell wood and the market wants products,' Ellsworth told me. Doors Unhinged sells ready-to-install kits, and although Ellsworth receives inquiries from potential clients across the country, he doesn't want to rely heavily on shipping, and the carbon emissions that entails. Scaling, he said, should come from many companies offering similar services to capture, sell, and keep materials in local circulation. Reusing materials also requires sorting. In Kamikatsu, Japan, a small town known for its ambitious zero-waste goals, a facility provides the central space for organizing and recirculating materials. Initiatives for waste innovation centers — spaces to design and foster material recovery, processing, and reuse — are underway in Seattle and New York City. But finding physical space in densely populated cities can be a hurdle. In Basel, Switzerland, and other European cities, digital databases track reusable materials and products and connect them with buyers — even before demolition begins. Research suggests that deconstruction can be economically viable — especially when there's a welcoming market for reclaimed materials. Felix Heisel, director of the Circular Construction Lab at Cornell University, recently led a study to assess the potential for deconstruction as an alternative to demolition, using a 4,500-square-foot home in Ithaca, New York. His team dismantled the structure in five days. Although labor costs were higher than for demolition, the revenue from salvaged materials nearly offset the difference. The findings suggest that, under the right conditions, deconstruction can be both time- and cost-competitive. New technologies could make salvage efforts more efficient. Companies like Urban Machine are developing robotic systems capable of taking nails out of lumber, reducing the manual labor needed. Going forward, some architects say, buildings should be designed for disassembly — meaning every structure is built not only to last but also for easy dismantling and repurposing when its time is up. Barbara Buser, an architect and advocate for circular construction in Switzerland, argues that the crux of the problem lies in the past century of unsustainable building practices—cheap, fast construction with new materials that ignore long-term environmental costs. The real challenge, she says, is changing the way people think about buildings — not as disposable, but as sources of material. 'We could systematically scan all the structures likely to be demolished and inventory their parts. That won't help without more people wanting to reuse the materials.'
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amid Devastation in Gaza, a Deepening Environmental Wound
The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip has obliterated trees, crops, and grasslands, according to a new assessment of the impact. Amid fighting that has killed more than 50,000 people, including more than 16,000 children, the Israeli campaign has also devastated farmland in Gaza, says He Yin, a geographer at Kent State University. For a recent study, Yin tracked the loss of vegetation in Gaza by evaluating satellite images through September 2024. The research showed massive destruction of orchards and croplands. In an update to that study, Yin tabulated the losses through the end of May 2025, sharing his findings with Yale Environment 360. The latest accounting shows damage to 78 to 98 percent of fallow fields and grasslands; 71 to 98 percent of annual crops; and 90 to 94 percent of tree crops. As most farms in Gaza span less than two acres, Yin told Yale E360 earlier this year, 'the loss of a single tree can be devastating.' In Gaza War, the Environmental Devastation Runs Deep
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists issue stark warning about crisis looming over islands: 'Already irreversibly lost their natural adaptive capacity'
Scientists have delivered a sobering assessment about the future of low-lying island communities as sea levels continue to rise at an accelerated pace. According to an article in Yale Environment 360, many atoll islands face an uncertain future, with some having "already irreversibly lost their natural adaptive capacity" due to human interference with their ecosystems. Atoll islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans sit only three to 15 feet above sea level and face mounting pressure as sea level rise has more than doubled between 1993 and 2023. According to the Yale Environment 360 report, the sea level is projected to rise between 11 and 40 inches by 2100. However, the news isn't entirely grim. The report mentioned that "studies of hundreds of atoll islands found that 79 percent to 89 percent were either stable or increased in size in recent decades," with the key difference being ecosystem health. According to Yale Environment 360, some atolls have lost the ability to generate sediment, and University of Auckland ecologist Sebastian Steibl noted that "they lose the capacity to keep up with sea level rise." These islands support critical biodiversity and human communities. As Yale Environment 360 noted, despite the atoll islands accounting for only 0.02% of the islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, they are "important refuges for a quarter of the world's tropical seabirds, multitudes of nesting sea turtles, and tropical plants," and they are home to many human cultures. Coral reefs, which naturally produce the sediment that builds and maintains these islands, face increasing stress from rising temperatures. Coastal geographer Virginie Duvat from La Rochelle University warns in the article that polluting gases must be reduced to slow down the deterioration of coral reefs, which are the main source of sediment for islands. Perhaps most concerning, Duvat explained that nature-based solutions cannot help the most urbanized islands, noting that once engineered approaches like concrete seawalls have been adopted, "these islands have already irreversibly lost their natural adaptive capacity." Scientists are pioneering nature-based solutions that show remarkable promise. Researchers have discovered that healthy ecosystems create a powerful defense system. When seabird guano makes its way into reefs, its nutrients help to support coral growth and the fish populations, causing guano-fed reefs to grow faster — and produce more sediment. Conservation efforts are already showing results. At Tetiaroa Atoll, in French Polynesia, conservationists have almost fully eradicated rats and plan to target overpopulated coconut palms with the goal of eliminating 80% to 90%, according to Yale Environment 360. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Research by Ruth Dunn at Lancaster University shows that there is the potential to boost coral growth rates by at least 25% if they are able to restore native vegetation and eliminate rats in the Chagos Archipelago, and the report indicates the islands could become home to "more than 280,000 additional breeding pairs of seabirds." Supporting ocean conservation efforts and reducing plastic waste that harms marine ecosystems can help protect these vulnerable communities. Installing solar panels in conjunction with a battery system can also make your home more resilient and help you prepare for extreme weather events with extended grid outages — and save you some serious money in the process. EnergySage makes it easy to compare quotes from vetted local installers, potentially saving you up to $10,000 on solar installations as well. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Gizmodo
06-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
The Next Wave of 17-Year Cicadas Is About to Party, Scream, and Die
Brood XIV will emerge this summer to overwhelm predators, shake up ecosystems, and terrify everyone with eardrums. A special brood of cicadas—an ancient lineage of the periodical insects—is set to burst from the soil this May and June, covering more of the United States than any other 17-year brood. These bugs—collectively known as Brood XIV—have been biding their time underground since the last Bush administration, biding their time and counting the years go by. Now they're back with two goals: Get loud and get laid. This isn't just any swarm. Brood XIV is considered the original brood, from which all other 17-year cicada broods split off, according to YaleEnvironment360. This is the motherlode of massive, crunchy, droning insects. For a few wild weeks to come, the skies will fill with their raspy mating calls, as the insects rise up simultaneously. The synchronized emergence isn't just for flair. It's a numbers game: By surfacing in the billions, cicadas overwhelm their predators—birds, squirrels, snakes, you name it—who are so sated by the plenty that the cicadas' arrival sends waves through the food chain. When cicadas emerge, populations of cuckoos, blue jays, and some woodpecker species swell. But not all the effects are good: Because the birds are busy eating cicadas, caterpillar populations can go unchecked, allowing those bugs to damage oak trees to a greater degree. Most of the insects will get eaten, but enough will survive to keep the brood going. Once the survivors lay their eggs—their purpose fulfilled—they die. The brood's tiny offspring disappear underground for another 17 years, from which they will rise again in 2041. The cicadas are expected to appear as far west as Kansas, as far north as Wisconsin and Michigan, down through the Mississippi Delta to New Orleans, and along much of the East Coast from Georgia and South Carolina up to Connecticut. You can review a detailed map of broods, including where they historically have emerged and are expected to emerge again, at this University of Connecticut site. And as with everything else these days, climate change could be messing with the cicada clock. A Japanese study found that warming temperatures are pushing some cicadas to emerge earlier in the year. Over time, hotter conditions might even shrink their 17-year underground snooze. But those are longer term forecasts, and Brood XIV's timing is imminent. In the next weeks, if you hear droning and you're not near a construction site, there's no need to panic: It's just billions of bugs on a once-in-a-generation bender.
