User:Fall319/sandbox

Article evaluation

Environmental science

The article remained neutral and unbiased while still being concise. Most sections were covered pretty well, but I noticed that the "Geosciences" section was a little lacking in detail. The references were relatively recent and the links worked. I also felt that the pictures fit in pretty well too but it wouldn't hurt to have a few more. Overall, it seems like a solid article but could use a little more information. Under the talk page, I noticed that the article was given a C rating and that there were previously issues with a lack of focus. In the talk page they mentioned restarting the article and later brought up how it has sloppy organization that doesn't properly explain what it is. This feedback kind of surprised me since I do not know the full extent of what environmental science is and where it originated. As an outsider to the subject I thought the current article was decent, but people in the talk page seemed to think otherwise.

Article Sierra Leone

Affordable and Clean Energy
In Sierra Leone the main source of energy used in homes comes from burning wood or charcoal. Ninety-five percent of the population uses unclean energy sources, which has been shown to have adverse health effects on the women and children. Sierra Leone does not have the current infrastructure to provide an alternative source of energy. The large use of fuelwood has brought up environmental concerns surrounding deforestation, particularly in 1970 with the "fuel-wood crisis". Coal production has been increasing since the 1990's as a result of the Sierra Leone Civil War. The Civil War forced a lot of people in rural areas to relocate in more urban settings or different countries. This relocation gave many people the knowledge of how to produce coal. In its current state, Sierra Leone's main sources of energy are predominantly non-renewable. However, the Department for International Development in the UK has paired with the Sierra Leone government to provide electricity to the entire population by 2025. This initiative aims to provide this service through the use of solar energy. This project requires a lot of time and money since less than twelve percent of the population have electricity in Sierra Leone. Another possible alternative power source that Sierra Leone could utilize is hydro power. According to Engilbert Guðmundsson, a previous World Bank country manager, the use of the Bumbuna Dam could save Sierra Leone $2 million dollars a month on fuel.

Overview
As of 2016, access to electricity in Sierra Leone was at about 12% for the entire population. Of this 12%, about 10% of the population was located in the urban capital, Freetown. This leaves around 2% of the rural population with access to electricity. The majority of the population relies on biomass fuels for their daily survival, with firewood and coal used most prevalently. The burning of these sources has been reported to have adverse health effects on women and children. A 2012 study was done on the correlation between Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI), and burning biomass fuels in the home. The results were that 64% of children were diagnosed with ARI where firewood stoves were used, and 44% where charcoal stoves were used. The use of coal and firewood has also posed environmental concerns as they are both conflict with the push for more sustainable sources energy. As a result, the commercialization of firewood and coal has been a point of contention with aid donors and government agencies such as the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and the Forestry Division. There have been strong pushes for both solar and hydropower to become the dominant sources of energy in Sierra Leone because of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly goal number seven. Sierra Leone's tropical climate, heavy annual rainfall, and abundance of rivers give it potential to realistically pursue more solar and hydropower alternatives.

Solar Energy
In conjunction with the Department for International Development (DFID), Sierra Leone has set the goal to provide solar power to all of its citizens by 2025. This overarching goal has been broken down into smaller goals as well. The first of these goals is to provide solar power to at least 50,000 homes in 2016, the second is 250,000 homes by 2017, and finally to provide power to 1,000,000 people by 2020. This initiative falls under the Energy Africa access campaign which seeks to provide electricity to 14 different African countries by 2030. Previous to this compact agreement, Sierra Leone's private sector for solar energy was weak, as it provided energy to less than 5% of the target population. Part of the reason for this was due to the import duties and taxes and the lack of quality control. In order to ensure that the Energy Africa goal is met, Sierra Leone has agreed to remove its import duties and Value Added Tax (VAT) on certified solar products. This change will attempt to encourage foreign investment while providing affordable, quality solar products to its citizens. It is estimated that there will be a 30% to 40% cost reduction on solar products with the lack of duties and taxes.

HydroPower
As of 2012, Sierra Leone has 3 main hydroelectric plants. The first is the Guma plant which was decommissioned in 1982, the second is the Dodo Plant which is located in the Eastern Province, and finally the Bumbuna plant. There is also potential for several new hydroelectric plants to be opened on the Sewa River, Pampana River, Seli River, Moa River, and Little Scarcies. Amongst all these projects, both finished and potential, the Bumbuna dam still remains the largest of the hydroelectric projects in Sierra Leone. It is located near the Seli River and Freetown and was estimated to produce about 50 megawatts of electricity. There were plans to increase its capacity 400 megawatts by 2017 which would cost around $750 million. It has been projected that the Bumbuna dam could potentially reduce the amount of spending on foreign fuel and save the country at least $2 million a month. In the past this project received its funding of over $200 million from a combination of the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Italian company Salini Impregilo.