
If the larger and medium economies of the world have to be motivated to cut down immensely on the carbon footprints, it might be the smaller nations which have to set an example stating that it can be done in a manner easier than anticipated.
Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation in the world with a population of 12,000 people intends to become the first zer0-carbon country in the world – an example which could surely influence others.
Tuvalu is wary of its future which is in jeopardy because of the global warming that has cause water levels to rise. Given the low-lying nature of the beautiful Island Nation (lies between Australia and Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific) and the rising waters, it might be off the World map in a century from now, if the measures to combat global warming are not put into place.

The highest point of the country is 15-feet above sea-level so you can image the plight of the people in the next few decades. As a beginning, a 40 kilowatt solar energy system has been installed on the roof of the country’s largest football stadium which succeeds in supplying 5% of the energy required by the Capital, Funafuti. This move has reduced the consumption of generator fuel shipped from New Zealand by about 17,000 litres.


The next expansion plan in place will render 46Kw energy for a school and the estimated cost of the project is $20 million. Tuvalu is surely on its way to be a country solely powered by wind and sun, but the rest of the world still lags behind. Cheerfully, this development will ensure that the astoundingly beautiful and bounteous island nation will stay on the world map.
[via Telegraph]
Images courtesy of mrlins & mr_j (1+2+3)
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4 Responses to “Tuvalu, the Fourth Smallest Country in the World Aims to Become First Zero-Carbon Country”
Aside: The 46 kW system for the school is priced at $800,000AUS in the article cited, not $20 million.
Tuvalu is not “bounteous”. The nation is supported by the charity of other countries, welfare payments from whom are necessary to support the people there in the non-sustainable lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
China is closer to sustainability than Tuvalu.
Tuvalu can never show the way to a sustainable future. It is the economic equivalent of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), or a south polar research station.
How much coal would be burned in donor nations to support Tuvalu as a “zero-carbon” country? It would be an environmental Potemkin village at best.
From a green point of view, it would make much more sense to relocate the entire population to a continent where they aren’t dependent on carbon-intensive shipping for everything from thousands of miles away.
Charity has its place, but the danger here is that fantasies engendered by articles like this serve to delay and distract from the more difficult energy reforms more urgently needed in the “real” world. (And I say this despite putting 9.2 kW of PV on my own roof.)
Pilot projects belong in populated areas, where (if they prove sustainable) they can be scaled to serve millions, not hundreds, of people. Otherwise, you aren’t really addressing *global* warming at the necessary scale.
This is not a misleading article…whatever we jotted was a consequence of an article we read on the telegraph…please check the main source from where it all came…before claiming that we are misleading the natives..
I see the ambiguity in my post now… Where I wrote “articles like this” I was referring to the article in the Telegraph, not to your blog post.
But FWIW, I didn’t claim that anybody was “misleading the natives”.
Well then…we are at peace!!! Since all the Clarifications have been made by you.
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