Millions of People are Stuck in the Cage of Energy Poverty

The “unaccountable parasitic force” that are the NGO-Industrial Complex needs to check their damned privilege.

“If you turned the electricity off for a few months in any developed Western society, 500 years of supposed philosophical progress about human rights and individualism would quickly evaporate like they never happened.” 

–Murtaza Hussain

[Climate Activists] are some of the richest and most privileged people in the world, thanks to cheap and abundant fossil fuels. Some of them, like the heirs and heiresses to the Getty Oil and Rockefeller Oil fortunes, are more directly beneficiaries than others. And yet they are actively seeking to deprive others, both their fellow citizens and Africans, of those very fuels, as well as non-fossil sources of productive energy, like hydroelectric dams and nuclear power.

-Michael Shellenberger in The Infantilization of the Apocalpyse

It’s an unaccountable parasitic force that employs thousands of lawyers, strategists, pollsters, and fundraisers, many of whom will spend their careers treading the revolving door between academia, media, government, and the NGOs. It relies on technocrats who went to exclusive universities, live in heavily Democratic coastal cities, have never been to Branson, and don’t give a fuck about the people who live in flyover country, wear name tags at work, or turn wrenches for a living.

-Robert Bryce in The Anti-Industry Industry

Fiat fuels have arguably been more devastating for many undeveloped and predominantly preindustrial societies, countries with low levels of capital for which spending on these luxuries is an unconscionable waste. Poverty is the inevitable consequence and symptom of a lack of available power, and the only proven technologies for delivering high power on demand at low prices are based on hydrocarbon, nuclear, and hydroelectric energy. Yet the last three decades have witnessed a proliferation of development projects aimed at helping poor countries “transition” to renewable energies instead of investing in reliable energy. The track record of these projects has been dreadful. Western donors and “misery industry” bureaucrats get to write their virtue-signaling reports full of rosy language on the transformative potential of these energy sources, but the people who have to rely on them end up with unreliable low power available intermittently, and usually, they still have to pay enormous costs in debt servicing and maintenance. At a time when reliable power generation from hydrocarbons is becoming cheaper than ever, burdening the world’s poor with the expensive, useless, virtue-signaling toys of the West is no less than criminal.

-Saifedean Ammous in The Fiat Standard

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

I have been meaning to share this video for sometime. Let's discuss energy poverty in Africa. Maize/corn is the number 1 grown crop in the US and Africa. And it is certainly amongst the most nutritious cereals. Kenya's staple food. Karibu 🧵

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

We have large scale maize farmers and small scale ones, the latter taking over 80% of the crop produced. a) For small scale farmers, we have ploughing the land using hoes. Planting the seeds manually by counting. Usually 2-3 seeds per hole. And a pinch of the crop food, DAP.

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

DAP is essential in root development. And the nitrogen in it is very essential for development of the crop. We usually apply so little. An average of 20-30 Kgs per ha, annually. China goes crazy with it. 360kgs/ha annually. US about 120, EU at 160. This affects pdt alot WB

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

Weeding is done twice in my area. The second weeding is usually in preparation for beans- intercropping. It is done manually. Then we have harvesting 6 months later. Let's dive into some stats

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

For a ha of land(working from 8am - 1pm) 1. Ploughing requires about 12-15 people 2. First weeding, 14 people 3. Second weeding 5-6 people 4. Harvesting about 20 people depending on production

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

b) For big farms A typical tractor (~50-80hp) would plough a ha of land for about 1 hour. We don't have planters here. I have seen them on a couple of farms run by parastatals or big farms. Weeding can be done using selective herbicides, 2-4D works well. Can be done manually

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

Spraying a ha of land would require about 2 people. 6-8 20l spraying. It is quite cheap and works miraculously. A combine harvester would harvest a ha of land in less than an hour in most cases. Depends with the engine and head size. You don't need to do the second weeding..

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

.. with 2-4D or maguguma. Even 'middle scale farmers' use this and pump the saved costs for CAN topdressing. Most small scale farmers don't top dress their maize and when they do, they just spray a pinch. Maize is rarely sprayed. Unless there are armyworms..

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

Otherwise just planting, DAP, weeding twice, and then harvesting. Then comes the shelling part. Usually in January we don't have rains and when we do, we lose a lot of crop as that's when the maize is supposed to be harvested throughout most parts of the country.

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

We have women doing it overnight. My mum does, and every other lady in the village. Men help around but mostly women. They use knives if the maize is not dry enough. Stones and sticks if it is dry. Here is an illustration by my sister for knives.

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

Once she makes a thread, we can use our fingers to remove the seeds from the cobs. I did this using a stone. Not just any stone😀😀 friction does the job. For sticks you just beat the harvested maize. This is the most common method (stone) and it is usually done overnight

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

With the three methods mentioned, one person can shell 100kgs of maize for 5-6 hours. Beating is the easiest and quickest. In other parts of the country, we have machines that do the job easily. 8-12 HP machines that shell a 100kgs in about 10 mins. And cheaply!

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

We have shellers run by the tractor PTO. They do 100kgs in 4-5mins depending with the tractor size. And then we dry the maize using sunlight. Sustainably! -A term I have grown to hate.

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

What irks me is, this is the 21st century and yet Africans are using stone(wood) age methods to do work. This isn't right. And it pays so so little that the only thing you can do with the money earned is buy food that you do not produce. Sustainable living? NOOOPE! Poverty living

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

We need lots of fossil fuels to power our machines. Machines are cheaper and faster. They amplify and expand our capabilities- @AlexEpstein Africa has the fossil fuels to do this. If only Europe stopped bribing its way to African oil and coal..

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

As I told @jordanbpeterson , anyone who thinks or feels that the US or the developing world should stop using fossil fuels, we welcome you to Africa. Come stay here for a month or two. Fetch water from the river. No hot shower. No microwave. No fridge. No dishwasher. No laundry.

Luca Bertagnolio @lucaberta

@JusperMachogu @jordanbpeterson This is how maize is harvested literally within walking distance of my home in Switzerland. These are expensive and powerful machines. They need capital and fossil fuels. Kenya has still a long way out of poverty, sadly.

Jusper Machogu @JusperMachogu

@lucaberta @jordanbpeterson One can only hope for the best. Otherwise we have a long way to go. And a couple of decades. Unlike China, our leaders are easily bribable. Rotten to the bone. Otherwise we'd have this in 20 years. I'd age to enjoy the fruits of my labor