Business Africa Exhibit, July 1998

According to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, U.S. policy towards sub-Saharan Africa is being revised to reflect changing global and regional realities for economic development, political stability, or self-reliance. The African Growth and Opportunity Act has passed the House. There are 11 sponsors of the bill in the Senate. The African Growth and Opportunity Act is the first serious attempt to provide a general road map for expanding economic engagement and involvement in Africa through enhanced trade and investment. It seeks to establish a more mature partnership with those countries in Africa undertaking serious economic and political reforms. Virtually all African Ambassadors have endorsed this bill. It has wide support in the American business community, non-government organizations, the African-American community, and the Administration. The NASA Langley DAAC participated in an international trade initiative sponsored by the State of Indiana, the Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Entitled "Business Africa," the goal was to begin satisfying the objectives of the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

The Langley DAAC exhibit, "Solar Solutions for Remote Regions" used the Surface Solar Energy (SSE) data set archived at the DAAC to illustrate the feasibility of solar collections in remote regions. This satellite-derived data set is formulated for the Renewable Energy Industry for the application of solar energy technologies and is very useful in a wide range of energy technologies and agricultural applications. The exhibit displayed Java-enabled animated images of the SSE data for Average Total Horizontal-Surface Down (average total energy) and Average Daylight Cloud Fraction during the time period April 1985 to December 1988.

Ambassadors and/or their diplomatic staffs from the republics of Guinea, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Botswana as well as South Africa asked intensive questions about the NASA SSE data and its availability and requested a DOE contact for further assistance on hardware issues. Address and telephone information for a contact at the DOE National Renewable Energy Laboratory were provided to enable further assistance on their individual project needs.

The DAAC exhibit also outlined efforts in providing NASA science data to help enhance life in rural areas of developing countries that are struggling with poor sanitation, inadequate energy supplies and heavy reliance on human labor. A brochure and other handouts were given to the various dignitaries from several African nations and to United States politicians and business leaders attending the Business Africa Symposium.