How did solar energy flourish opium production?

If you have doubts about the fact that solar energy is a revolutionary technology, you only need to continue reading this article.

This is a story that explains how the clean energy has succeeded in proving its importance in the most difficult circumstances.

Perhaps the market that I am talking about is the clear example of the capital system on Earth.Here there is no government support.Nobody thinks about climate change or any related moral considerations.

We are talking about the owners of small projects trying to make a profit.It is a story of converting opium farmers into solar energy and increasing the world's heroin supplies.

A helicopter in the sky of Helmand

I was on a helicopter flying over the green poppy fields in the Helmand Valley, Afghanistan..

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You must have heard about Helmand.It is the most dangerous region in Afghanistan.All British soldiers who were killed during the 454 -soldiers in Afghanistan, who fell in Helmand, except for five.

The region is also located in the heart of the area most cultivated for opium on earth.Most opium is converted to heroin, one of the most addicted drugs.

According to the United Nations Bureau of Drugs and Crime, about 80% of Afghan opium comes from the southwest of the country, including Helmand.This is estimated at two thirds of global supplies.Consequently, we do not expect to be a place within those that lead the efforts to strengthen the low -carbon economy.

But after she glimpsed the first solar energy board, I found many of them.In fact, I saw small groups of solar panels in the corners of most farms complexes.That was the year 2016.

And now it is clear that the size of the revolution in the production of heroin that I was following inadvertent.Because I was not the only person who noticed the interest of Afghan farmers in low -carbon technology.

A guide from space

Richard Brettan satin back in front of the computer inside an office that is impossible to describe in an industrial area in Gilford, south of England.He was looking at the last group of satellite photos of Afghanistan.

Brettan was a British officer and his company is ALCIS in analyzing satellite images of what he calls "complex environments".This is a reduced description of dangerous areas.Britan is also an expert in drug production in Afghanistan.

He enlarged the image on an area that looks like one of the exits in the Helmand desert.Years ago the area was empty, and now there is a farm surrounded by fields.

If you enlarge the image more, you can clearly see a set of solar panels and a large basin.And to the right, another cultivation.The same pattern, solar panels and basin.The same image and the same pattern are repeated times and times in the entire region.

"This is the method of transplantation of the poppy now, they dig to a depth of 100 meters or until access to the groundwater, an electric pump is placed and connected to a number of panels, then the water begins to run," Lee says to me..

This new technology has been adopted very quickly.A report on the first Afghan farmer is used to use solar energy to 2013.

Teenage taps, from the presentation of a dignity as a vehicle and prepared by Mays Baqi.

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In the following year, merchants were providing a number of solar panels in Lashkha, the capital of Helmand region.

Since then growth has accelerated significantly, the number of solar panels has doubled on farms annually.

By 2019, the Bretan team counted 67,000 panels in the Helmand Valley alone.In a market to thank you, solar panels accumulate on a three -storey altitude.

It is easy to understand the reason why the growth of this trade accelerates this extent.Solar energy has caused a shift in the productivity of the region's farms.

I got a video recording, which was filmed two weeks ago for a poppy farm in a desert area.The farms are reviewing two groups that include 18 solar panels, running two pumps to fill a huge basin.The man depicts a small water channel that allows him to land his land.And its surrounding fields appear prosperous.

He made the opium crop in May and now the tomatoes are grown."The solar energy has changed everything for these farmers," says Dr. David Mansfield, while watching the video..

Dr. Mansfield is the author of the report.He was studying opium production in Afghanistan for more than 25 years and telling me that the introduction of solar technology is the biggest technological change he saw during this period.

The purchase of diesel fuel needed to operate the ground water pumps was the most expensive for farmers.

Dr. Mansfield goes on, saying, "It is not only a cost. The diesel in remote areas is largely adulterated, and therefore pumps and generators often disrupt.It is a huge problem for farmers..

But the situation now is different.By paying an estimated amount of seven thousand dollars, they can buy a set of solar panels and an electric pump, and as soon as they are installed, work begins without any operating expenses.

Dr. Mansfield admits that the amount is large, as the cost is 7,000 dollars, but the increase in production is enormous and the loan is usually paid within two years..

"Then the water becomes free.".Many farms are now harvesting two crops per year, and some of them reap three.

This is not the only achievement.The use of solar energy means that farmers can plant poppy in areas that they have not occurred to them before.

Towards the desert

In the Gilford office, Bretan sat another photo on his computer, a picture of the entire Helmand Valley.It reviews the area when it was being reclaimed in 2012.The farmers were working in an area of about 157 thousand hectares.Then a series of pictures showed how the situation changed over time.

You can see farms expand inside the desert with the start of using solar energy.It looks as if they were parasitic plants, but on a vast scale.

The areas that are reclaimed increased by tens of thousand hectares annually.

By 2018, it doubled to 317 thousand hectares, and in 2019 it reached 344 thousand hectares."It is still growing," says Britan.

At the same time, the Earth became more productive.When farmers turn into solar energy, you can see the shaded area in green."All this water makes the desert prosperous," says Britan..

As the cultivated area grows, the population increased in the region.Brettan estimates that half a million people have migrated to the desert areas in Helmand only in the past five years.His team counted 48,000 additional homes that were built during that period.

It appears that the influence on the global supply of opium was dramatic.

The United Nations every year estimates the amount of drugs that are produced around the world.

In 2012, before the solar energy entered this field, Afghanistan produced a total of 3700 tons of opium.

By the year 2016, production reached 4,800 tons.

In 2017, there was an abundant season and the production of a record level of 9000 tons of opium, and thus opium prices deteriorated due to the large number.

What happened is very interesting..

In 2019, opium production in the region reached approximately 5,000 tons out of 6400 tons produced by the entire country.

This has had an unprecedented effects around the world.

A pyramid outline to do good

In September, the British police confiscated 1.3 tons of heroin estimated at 120 million pounds, which is the largest seizure ever in the country.

It is not surprising, then, to flourish the Well Charitable Foundation by Dave Heikam to help drug addicts in northwestern England.

Hikam's approach to addiction treatment depends on the Hollywood movie "Pay" later ".The idea is that you do not return the beautiful and instead you can give a big service by helping people you do not know.It is essentially a hierarchical sale scheme, but for the sake of doing goodness it appears to be effective.

The Hub in Barrow-In-Furnes Center, which admires people is only one of the centers belonging to the Foundation Network in the region.Everyone here is either addicted or a former addict "pays".

Hikam was a 25 -year -old and says he noticed non -visible signs of increasing the heroin supply in recent years.

The addicts who are working with them say that the quality of heroin they buy is improving and it does not seem that there are cases of interruption in the show..

Most of his customers are part of an estimated 260,000 to 300,000 Consants in the United Kingdom.

But he says he started seeing what he calls the "new generation" from addicts who come to help.

Hikmmem, such as many older addicts in drug use in the eighties of the last century, began when unemployment exceeded three million and the Afghan heroin has just began reaching the United Kingdom.

Like many drug anti -drug workers throughout the country, his great fear is that the intense recession caused by the Korona pandemic and the resulting long unemployment for a long time with this huge supply of Afghan heroin that produces solar energy.

And it warns that if it happens, you can expect the high rates of crime because most drug addicts must steal to finance their addiction.

I traveled all over the world in favor of the BBC and saw evidence of environmental damage and climate change everywhere.It is the biggest challenge that humanity has ever.Treating this requires changing the way we do everything.

It is normal for us to make anxiety and fear of the future, but I believe that we must also look at this as an exciting story.

What does this tell us about solar energy? The answer is simple, which is that the revolution that Afghanistan witnessed in the field of using solar energy to produce heroin is evidence of the tremendous potential that this clean energy enjoys..Solar energy is cheaper in many markets than fossil fuel.

Moreover, the cost of this energy applies to the logic.

This means that we can expect that many of the energy we all use in the coming years will be solar.

What changes in Afghan opium production show is that the presence of an energy source independent of any electricity network and fossil fuel supplies can bring a lot of innovations.

It also proves that the consequences will not always be positive, which applies to the state of Afghan farmers as well as heroin addicts.

A lot of water is now used as estimates indicate that the levels of groundwater in Helmand decreases by 3 meters per year.There are concerns about the depletion of water soon.

"Maybe this mutation will not last for more than 10 years," says Urzal Nemat, who runs the unit of research and evaluation in Afghanistan, the country's largest research center..

She adds that this will not only affect the people who have moved to the desert areas in the entire region.

More than 1 may have to.5 million people to immigration.

It believes that some will move to other regions in Afghanistan, but many will try to leave the country and travel to Europe and America where they believe that their chances will be better there.

It has no doubt about the major repercussions of the future expected crisis and says: "It will be a major crisis.".

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