Most Nigerian residents still rely on diesel and petrol powered generators to complement the unstable energy they get from the national grid. However, there is a surging demand for standalone solar solutions, how will Nigeria handle the potential toxic lead-acid battery waste from solar products? This article tries to find out.

Geoengineering technologies are not yet deployable globally, but support for them is advancing fast, thanks to backing by powerful advocates eager to start experiments. But no silver bullet for climate change exists, and we must not abandon proven methods for the sake of a promise that one will be found

In Nigeria, mass transit systems are chaotic and in many places non-existent; no Nigerian city has an intra-city rail system and only Lagos has a bus rapid transport scheme. Commuters have to rely on small buses (most of which are old and creaking), taxis and auto rickshaws or tricycles (popularly called keke).

There is an increase in civil society repression in several countries in the world. More countries are introducing new laws that are shrinking the space for civic participation. The Civic Charter was developed by an international coalition of civil society organizations to protect the freedom of expression, information, assembly and association.

Jigawa State is losing over 300 trees a day for bakery activities alone: 1 tree is fired per bakery per day to bake the ubiquitous bread, which has become the staple food for many Nigerians on low incomes. With more efficient bakery ovens, this loss could be reduced by 80 per cent, and the bakers would save money on their fire wood as well. Renewable Energy entrepreneurs Hannah Kabir and Happy Amos have installed 3 such ovens in Jigawa State, as pilot cases.

Globally, political leaders are lauding the acceptance of the global and legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change at COP 21 as a historical moment. It achieves a goal long believed unattainable. However, judged against the enormity of the challenge and the needs and pressure from people on the ground demanding a global deal anchored in climate justice (“system change, not climate change!”), the Paris Agreement can only be called a collective failure and disappointment. Read a critical assessment by hbs colleagues from around the world.

As world leaders are debating global solutions to climate change, ordinary Nigerians await concrete measures that would cushion the effects of climate change on their environment. The Heinrich Böll Foundation asked Nigerians to tell their own, local stories about how climate change affects them. From the 38 entries submitted to the competition in November 2015, two winners emerged: Doreen Nlekwa from Port Harcourt and Daniel Akinjise from Lagos.

O’Seun Williams from Lokoja, Kogi State sent in this entry, a story on flooding at the confluence of the Rivers Niger and Benue set in his hometown and the damage it causes. He also talks about how small actions end up causing big effects in terms of flooding and the contributions of climate change.

A major incentive for colonial rule in Nigeria were her natural resources and the wealth hidden beneath her soils, including large deposits of minerals strewn around the country. So alluring and wide spread were these deposits that it motivated the colonial government to amalgamate the territories now known as Nigeria for easier colonial management and transportation to Europe.  Abiodun Baiyewu-Teru looks at the history of coal in Nigeria

Earlier this year in Myanmar, torrential rain caused mudslides that wiped out hundreds of houses and caused large-scale crop destruction. More than 1.3 million people were affected, and over 100 died. In Vietnam, the same deluges caused toxic slurry pits from coal mines to overflow and run through villages, and into the World Heritage-listed Ha Long Bay; the death toll was 17. As such weather events become increasingly frequent and intense, the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change is becoming more urgent than ever.

Many Nigerians have grown skeptical about the power of solar. The general impression is that solar energy cannot provide a lot of power, that ‘it’s not bright’ and that it breaks down after just a few months. One solar engineer in the capital city of Abuja has gone all the way to demonstrate that this impression is wrong: He has built a block of apartments which are run entirely on renewable energy.

Long queues and stranded passengers at designated and undesignated bus stops are marked features of the public transport system in Abuja. The capital city was once planned to host just 250,000  people in the first phase, but has since grown to accommodate close to 8 million. The public transport system is not coping. Journalists and bloggers are discussing new ways to understand and improve public transport.

As conventional oil reserves decline, international oil companies are increasingly turning their attention towards unconventional oils such as bitumen to meet rising demand for petroleum products. Bitumen, a very heavy oil, can be removed from the oil sands and used in road construction or upgraded into synthetic crude oil.  With an estimated 38 billion barrels of bitumen across Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, and Lagos states, Nigeria ranks 6th globally among countries with bitumen reserves.

Armsfree Ajanaku has travelled to Ondo state communities situated along the bitumen belt of Nigeria to try and understand the people’s perception about the bitumen under their feet and their aspiration for development. He describes his experience in this article. 

All technologies have their own footprint. Renewable energy sources are generally cleaner, more sustainable and better for social development than fossil-fueled alternatives. As with any technology there are pros and cons to the use of renewables. Our report “Renewables on the Rise” clearly showed the benefits of renewable energy development. In this blog, author Hans Verolme looks at potential risks and problems associated with the large scale development of renewable energy technologies.