Cuban expert shares solar technology at Berkeley's Ecology Center

Tracy Chocholousek / The Daily Planet 11may01

Californians are not the only people standing in the shadows of an energy crisis. The Caribbean island of Cuba has been dealing with rolling blackouts for over a decade since the fall of Cuba's No. I oil provider and energy source, the former Soviet Union.

"You don't know what ,a blackout is," said

Cuban physicist, lecturer, editor and renewable energy specialist Bruno Henriquez.

On some occasions Cuba has experienced as few as two hours of electricity per day. Not surprisingly, similar solutions apply to the energy predicaments in Cuba and California.

An isolated island and thud world nation, Cuba is this year's recipient of the United Nation's Global 500 Prize. Co-founder of

Cubasolar, a nongovernmental renewable energy organization, Henriquez spoke at the Ecology Center Tuesday night. explaining how the island nation has gained global recognition for creating model programs in sustainable development.

Through alternative energy solutions such as putting solar panels on houses and converting the waste from Cuba's sugar cane crops into fuel, Cubasolar has played a key role in electrifying more than 1,000 schools and over 380 family doctor clinics in Cuba since it began in 1994.

During harvest season for its sugar cane crops, 30 percent of the nation's energy comes from renewable sources, Henriquez said.

Because of organizations such as Cubasolar. Cuba has come a long way in overcoming its energy crisis within a remarkably short period of time.

As this developing country works to overcome the obstacle of its energy shortage, two things are responsible for its progress, Henriquez explained.

"One is the advancement of science and the second is the solidarity of the people:"

As the American way tends to breed individualism, some feel that this "solidarity of the people" is precisely what's holding California back from having a better handle on our crisis.

"In America. everybody's for themselves, it's a whole different consciousness.--- said Geoff Shuey from Eco Energies. a company that installs residential solar electric systems.

Chosen as the site for the International Renewable Energy Conference in 2002 and for this --car's celebration of the United Nation's "World Environment Day." Cuba has a lot to teach California and the world, said Pam Montanaro, coordinator of the Cuba program at Global Exchange.

"There's a tremendous amount of opportunity for interchange. We have access to a lot of resources here, that's one thing they don't have. But they have the motivation, this incredible devotion," Montanaro said.

Cuba's grassroots involvement lends the extra ingredient needed in resolving an energy crisis.

"What Cuba has to offer us is a model that just might have the capacity to make life sustainable for humankind;" Montanaro said.

Cubasolar's mission is to promote renewable sources of energy and environmental awareness through education, research and demonstrations.

"(In America) the whole mentality is, `Why should I conserve energy if I'm paying for it anyway? If I don't use it, somebody else is going to: Their approach comes from a much greater community focus;" said Martin Bourque, executive director of the Ecology Center.

Through lectures such as these, the Ecology Center promotes similar concepts in local ecological community awareness. By following Cuba's example as a small scale model for the world, conservation and community efforts can only fuel a positive outcome and may lead to fewer blackouts and lower energy costs down the road.

"It still is hard, compared with the model of your society, but we are improving our life," Henriquez said.

"The world is as isolated as Cuba, it's a closed system. But we constantly have the energy of the sun;" Henriquez said. "We must think of our planet, as Cuba thinks about our island."

Solutions to our shared energy problems begin with social consciousness and conservation.

The first steps are to swap incandescent light bulbs with florescent bulbs, replace energy hungry appliances with efficient ones, and make use of daylight and natural ventilation systems to heat and cool indoor spaces.

From there, strategic economic changes and costly energy system conversions must follow.

"With our resources, we could resolve this overnight," Shuey said.

"Cuba as a political system has a lot to teach our, quote, democratized society," Shuey said.