GH90 per bag of charcoal GH240 equals 14.5 kilograms of liquified petroleum gas (LPG). Which option will you take?
When my wife called out from the kitchen to announce the sudden death of the flames under the food she was cooking, that was the troubling reality that confronted me on Sunday.
Additionally, our backup cylinder was depleted.
She had asked me to fill the standby cylinder a few weeks earlier to prevent the situation we were in. Because of the lengthy drive, I had put off the journey. In recent times, almost every Ghanaian, with the exception of those who receive free fuel, monitors the fuel gauge.
I have preached for years to my wife and anyone else who will listen about the environmental havoc we cause whenever we light coal pots.
Prices of LPG vs. charcoal I'm a firm believer in LPG and an ardent environmentalist. Indeed, LPG is a non-renewable energy source item. However, it's much cleaner. Other than lower CO2 emanations, LPG doesn't deliver poisons, including residue, that promptly affect the climate.
However, the rising cost of LPG has recently forced us to reconsider our options. 14.5 kilograms of LPG gas had GH 67 in January of the previous year. By March, it had reached GH89. It was 130 GH in October.
Pulse Ghana: The price of LPG has skyrocketed Source: Government plans to prohibit gas station refilling. Pulse has continued its steep climb ever since. The price of LPG gas has nearly quadrupled since January of this year.
Assuming the public authority had been consistent with itself, it would have understood that it would battle to accomplish the half LPG access for Ghanaians by 2030, which is the objective of the Public LPG Advancement Strategy.
According to data compiled by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), only 36.9% of Ghana's 30 million people will be using LPG as of October 2022. This is up from 24.5% in 2017.
The NPA's CEO, Dr Mustapha Hamid, credited it to "… difficulties like sluggish take-up in especially low-pay regions, moderateness, availability, non-adherence to somewhere safe and secure necessities by certain administrators, old and risky chambers, among others."
Due to the high cost of LPG, an increasing number of people are switching to charcoal. Nearly, charcoal is less expensive. 14.5 kilograms of LPG last my family for a month. That amounts to daily GHc8 on average. We could spend only GHc 3 on cooking fuel if a bag of charcoal could last us for a month.
All those who choose to use charcoal will be motivated by this. It's also easy to get to and cheaper for homes. Albeit earth costly, there are better choices, including charcoal briquettes, produced using bamboo and other quickly developing trees. However, most of these options have not been used.
The use of charcoal poses risks to one's health in addition to the harm that charcoal production does to the environment.
Charcoal, according to experts, contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which, when consumed for an extended period of time, have the potential to cause cancer and other serious health issues.
During incomplete combustion of carbon-based materials like gasoline and wood, hundreds of different compounds, including PAHs, are produced. They have also been found in coal emissions, cigarette smoke, and vehicle exhaust. The food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe are all sources of contamination. Long-term exposure to low levels of PAHs could be toxic to humans and cause cancer, brain damage, and reproductive issues, according to studies.
Accra, Ghana, January 7, 2019 African Stock Footage Video (100 percent royalty-free) 1022033230 | Shutterstock Experts warn that prolonged exposure to charcoal fire could have devastating health effects. Shutterstock According to the World Health Organization, smoking or exposure to other carcinogenic substances like PAHs account for approximately 5% of all cancers worldwide. It is unclear exactly how PAHs and cancer are connected. However, there is some evidence to suggest that they hinder the body's enzymes' ability to function, thereby encouraging the development of tumors.
In a nutshell, charcoal is dangerous. However, we are burning more of it while cutting down more trees.
even more eager to find gold.
To get better results, decentralize the galamsey fight and turn small-scale miners over to the government. Illegal miners have destroyed vast forests in search of gold. CitiNewsroom
In 2021, the public authority sent off the Green Ghana project as a component of a forceful public afforestation/reforestation program to reestablish the lost woodland front of Ghana and to add to the worldwide work to moderate environmental change.
It turned into a media dessert in light of the fact that the public authority had a few great figures to sell. More than 25 million trees have been planted in the last two years, according to the Forestry Commission.
While illegal miners are cutting down more trees in our forests, the president and his cheerleaders took advantage of the political advantage that comes with the green investment.
At the ongoing Climate Conference (COP 27) in Egypt, President Akufo-Addo wore verbal gloves in demanding that the West redeem its loss and damage pledges. Akufo-Addo plants a "tree of life" to commemorate Green Ghana Day - MyJoyOnline.com
President Akufo-Addo is of the opinion that despite the fact that all of Africa's economies are based on nature-based businesses, the continent has been labeled as vulnerable, and he believes that Africa is still the leading beacon of hope against climate change.
"Africa has the greatest potential to contribute to the decarbonization of the world by absorbing carbon dioxide through regenerative agriculture that requires less fertilizer and reforestation with a high biodiversity content." This is because of the vastness of her land.
The president stated, "My government is proud to announce that Ghana will launch projects in these areas, which will simultaneously address social issues by providing people with dignified and sustainable jobs and climate change on a global and domestic level."
However, the President does not live up to his words at home. His party's brazen illegal miners and his government's decision to mine for bauxite in the Atewa Forest are robbing the country of the forest and biodiversity he promised world leaders.
It has been several weeks since the Mineral Commission discovered that the governing party's Ashanti Regional chairman's company, Akonta Mining, was illegally mining in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve.
However, Bernard Antwi Bosiako, more commonly referred to as Chairman Wontumi, is currently on his own and has only destroyed a few buildings at the location.
The Energy Commission made the decision not to pursue another illegality case against another NPP Chairman in a story with a similar plot. Dela Zuttah, the party's chairman of the Volta Region's Afadzata South Constituency, was involved this time. The commission said that he was a part of a planned shipment of 21 containers of illegal charcoal, which it said was the biggest shipment it had ever seized.
This government does not appear to want to go above and beyond to protect our environment, as evidenced by these two incidents and many others. The price of LPG and the other illegal activities that go unpunished in our forests reflect this.
According to experts, illegal mining is causing the greatest impact on the environment in Ghana right now. At climate change conferences, ignoring these issues and making big statements is pointless.
The climate is changing. Communities along our coast are being washed away by it. It is putting our farmers' ability to plan for food security at risk because weather patterns are becoming too unpredictable. The prevalence of tropical diseases is rising as temperatures rise.
While the government cannot control all of the causes of climate change, it can lower the cost of LPG for households and reduce the willful destruction of our forests for charcoal.
Now is the time to act!