Energy efficiency of domestic refrigerators has markedly improved over recent years. Despite these improvements, low-income households in Australia still tend to own older and less energy-efficient refrigerators. Replacement of old refrigerators with energy-efficient appliances presents an important opportunity to reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and the electricity bills of households for sustainable

The rural electrification-based literature reports a limited modelling knowledge concerning the long-term dynamics of the nexus between electricity access and local development in rural areas of developing countries. This can hinder the achievement of the Agenda 2030 goals related to sustainable access to electricity for all. In order to overcome this literature gap and support the implementation of

This research assesses the transition of a fossil fuel-based electricity production jurisdiction to a renewable-based electricity jurisdiction through an extensive scenario analysis. This fills a knowledge gap where a wide-range of fossil-to-renewable electricity generation pathways is compared within a single analysis framework. To conduct this study, a novel data-intensive electricity system model

In Tanzania, fuelwood availability for cooking is an increasing challenge for rural households struggling to meet this need. Here, a possible pathway for smallholder farmers to reduce their dependency on off-farm fuelwood is evaluated. We compare the cooking performance of on-farm produced fuels, like wood from Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp. and Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. (pigeon pea stalks)

Reaching universal access to electricity by 2030 requires a massive deployment of mini-grids in rural areas of developing countries. Among the many challenges hindering this process, there are the high uncertainties in assessing demand patterns in rural communities, the costs of field survey campaigns, and the absence of ample and reliable datasets coming from existing projects. This paper tries to

Knowledge on the effects of climate change in a system can contribute to the better management of its water and energy resources. This study evaluates the consequences of alterations in the rainfall and temperature patterns for a hydroelectric plant. The methodology adopted consists of four steps. First, a hydrological model is developed for the chosen basin following a semi-distributed and conceptual

Located deep in the Kelabit Highlands in Malaysian Borneo, the remote town of Bario offers us a natural laboratory of rural electrification projects through which to understand end-user perceptions of success and failure, and the factors that contribute to these perceptions. We use a case-study based approach and focus on three off-grid energy projects: a 110 kW mini-hydro power plant; a 12 kW wind

This paper analyzes the effects of the 9-min pan-India voluntary lights-off policy that was planned and executed by the Government of India in April 2020 on the National Grid and the steps that were taken to maintain grid stability during the event. The policy was a symbolic gesture of public solidarity with frontline healthcare and emergency workers in the nation's war against the COVID-19 pandemic

This study uses a static computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to examine the potential economic impacts of ethanol production in Uganda. We introduce an ethanol sector in the 2016/17 Uganda's social accounting matrix (SAM) using maize, cassava, sugarcane, and molasses as feedstocks. Furthermore, we evaluate the suitability of each feedstock. By simulating a 10% blending mandate, we find that

The transport sector has become an important source of urban greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutant emissions, with the continuous growth of transportation demand. The co-benefits of reducing GHG and air pollutant emissions in the transport sector are receiving more and more attention. Taking Guangzhou as the case study city, this study quantitatively analyzed the co-benefits of reducing CO2 and air

Water heating represents a large fraction of energy consumption in the residential sector, and it has significant health, economic, and environmental implications. However, it is well known that temperatures between 20 °C and 42 °C promote the multiplication of Legionella species, which are the causative agent of the Legionnaires' disease, a life-threatening form of pneumonia. Conventional tank water

Stove and fuel stacking is becoming accepted as part of the clean cooking transition process, even though it attenuates positive health and climate benefits that can be realized by cookstove interventions. This study analyses the underlying drivers of stove and fuel stacking from the household perspectives, and its implications for improving impact of clean cooking programs. The study draws on a case

Renewable energy cooperatives (RECs) in Turkey have received considerable attention in recent years and the total number of cooperatives is 46 in 2020. With increased environmental awareness and energy demand, RECs aim the local and renewable resources to be used by the people of the region by creating an example venture model through cooperatives. The growth in the number of cooperatives has resulted

As the largest carbon emitter, China has launched the emissions trading scheme (ETS) in 2013. Since then, whether ETS in China really help reduce carbon emissions has become a hot-button issue. By far, scholars tend to offer the macro-level empirical evidence, and the conclusions are at best mixed. Therefore, we try to reveal the effect of China's ETS from the micro level by focusing on the policy

Many countries have set renewable energy targets in their electricity supply mix to encourage investments in renewable energy technologies. In developing countries, however, many of such targets are either abandoned or fall far short of the target date, primarily due to issues of financing, cost of electricity, and level of unmet demand. This paper presents a Generation Expansion Planning model that

Small solar home systems (SHS) have emerged as potential alternatives to grid electrification in rural sub-Saharan Africa, enabling households to make modest investments into their power systems, and to modify those systems according to their changing incomes and power demands. In this work investigate how introduction of rural unelectrified households to basic electricity temporally stimulates increasing

A design and optimization procedure of simplified wind turbine rotors for small-scale applications is presented. The need for this research has arisen from the recent national initiative of the government of Sri Lanka titled ‘Battle for Wind Energy’ in promoting small scale grid connected wind plants for electricity customers under Net Metering scheme. The main objective of this research is to assist

Despite increased access to modern energy services being a key development priority, few studies have examined whether improved access is sufficient to facilitate universal energy use at the household level. Using micro data from Vietnam, we study how a national grid expansion is translated into households' electricity use over time. Our analysis reveals that household income is an important determinant

As countries start to implement the Sustainable Development Goals in their national development agendas, reviews of the current policy environment are necessary to ensure that the goals are achievable by 2030. The present study assesses the effectiveness of energy policy in Indonesia in supporting progress towards universal energy access, a substantial increase in renewable energy deployment, and improvement

Following the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21), the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climae Change strengthens the attempts of the European Union to decarbonize the building sector and to facilitate the transition from fossil fuels towards cleaner energy. The last version of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2018/844/EU is human centric and requires the integration of indoor environmental

Equitable energy supply planning is nearly impossible in regions with limited data availability. Lack of representation among marginalised populations can perpetuate existing structural and socio-cultural inequities, despite aggregate improvements to energy supply. In Nepal, this represents an acute challenge for the 460 rural municipalities recently tasked with improving supply provision for their

If hydrokinetic turbines are to make a significant contribution to small scale off-grid power supply, they will need to be affordable, reliable and easily deployed at many sites, not just a few with exceptional combinations of depth and high flow velocity. Few if any products currently on the market meet these criteria. This paper addresses the challenge of providing small scale electrical power and

Drum kiln with heat distribution pipe is a new design for vertical drum kiln. It is a small kiln for charcoal, biochar and wood vinegar production. It consists of a 200 l oil drum covered with fiberglass and galvanized steel as an insulator. The heat distribution pipe with slots is installed in the middle part of the kiln. There are four exhaust chimneys for smoke ventilation and wood vinegar collection

Currently, feasible construction practices are not enough to reach zero energy buildings, therefore, European Union (EU) legislation states that new buildings and renovations should be designed as “nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB)”; however, design alternatives need to be carefully considered and selected before implementation. This study aims to investigate the effect of building façade elements

Reducing the burden of household air pollution could be achieved with exclusive adoption of cleaner fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). However, we lack understanding of how much LPG is required to support exclusive use and how household characteristics affect this quantity. This paper used data from 90 participants in the Cardiopulmonary outcomes and Household Air Pollution (CHAP) trial in

The frequency of power outages being experienced in Sub-Saharan Africa mean that traditional methods of electricity demand forecasting which rely on directly observed demand data are inadequate for use in projections. Nevertheless, accurate forecasting methods are urgently required to ensure efficient power system operations and expansion planning. To address this gap, we develop a novel method to

This paper presents a comprehensive energy management system based centralized control for a smart greenhouse integrating a microgrid with the aim to optimize and control the global internal environment and the crop growth. The objective is to develop an advanced and comprehensive energy management platform based model predictive control (MPC) considering intermittent behaviour of renewable energy

In this study, we use water boiling tests (WBTs), controlled cooking tests (CCTs) and in-home kitchen performance tests (KPTs) to analyze changes in fuel consumption and emissions resulting from low-cost modifications to traditional open fires. The modifications consist of adding rock-beds, ceramic grates or metal grates to open fires. In both traditional and modified stoves, cooking pots are supported

Biomass cookstoves have been studied extensively for several decades. The Water Boiling Test (WBT) has been a widely adopted protocol for obtaining measurements needed to quantify biomass cookstove performance metrics. WBT metrics have been commonly used to evaluate cookstove effectiveness and serve as a basis for comparing biomass cookstoves. This paper demonstrates the influence of variations in

Solar technologies promise to provide clean energy to the poorest populations. Motivated by observations of low-quality products in the solar home system market, this study analyzes the role of product quality in the transition to cleaner energy technologies in developing countries. Our systematic empirical analysis of the Ugandan solar home system market reveals several market segments. Plug-and-play

Utilization of hydro-power as a renewable energy source is now of prime importance in the world. Hydropower energy is available in abundance as a renewable source. For run-of river, low head reaction type Kaplan turbines mostly used. In this paper, a parametric study has been conducted on a complex geometry of Kaplan blade through static and dynamic computational analysis by varying the blade profile

Today, identifying energy poverty is one of the scientific community's challenges. In this sense, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) assumes getting to know which areas are the most vulnerable. This study considers the development of a new territory energy poverty evaluation indicator, called Poverty Adaptive Degree Hourly Index (PADHI). The novelty of this indicator is that it combines the

Solar home systems (SHSs) have seen rapid growth and have proven to be a viable source of electricity for households due to their capability to reach remote users that do not have access to grid systems. Based on a comprehensive literature review of 139 papers focussing on SHSs in Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper highlights the key trends, research gaps and policy recommendations. The literature was

Solar photovoltaics are being promoted in various parts of the developing world for irrigation pumps as a clean energy source, for use in remote areas, to provide livelihood generation, and in India, additionally to address issues with grid supply. India has a well-developed system of electricity distribution for irrigation, but socio-political issues in this sector have led to a system with poor quality

The increase in efficiency, decrease in starting time, and ease in manufacturing of rotor blades are the most desirable aims of research in the design of small-scale wind turbines. A multi-objective optimization study is carried out to analyze the performance of a small horizontal axis wind turbine in terms of the output power and the starting time for four possible combinations of linear/nonlinear

The increase in economic activities, population and rural electrification has significantly increased the energy demand in most of the developing nations. This demand has to be supplied from various sources, preferably renewable, among which hydropower is expected to be one of the major contributors. Though developed nations have already harnessed most of their hydropower potential, developing nations

Hybrid microgrids represent a cost-effective and viable option to ensure access to energy in rural areas located far from the main grid. Nonetheless, the sizing of rural microgrids is complicated by the lack of models capable of accounting for the evolution of the energy demand over time, which is likely to occur in such contexts as a result of the modification of users' lifestyles. To tackle this

The identification of the best electrification strategy is a fundamental step to increase energy access in rural areas of developing countries. The objective of the present work is to propose a new geospatial-based procedure for rural electrification planning, able to select and design an effective energy system for a defined geographical region. The least-cost solution among stand-alone mini-grids

How beneficial is basic energy access – typically lighting and mobile charging – for rural households? Despite research on the economic impacts of basic energy access, few studies have investigated how it changes household behavior. Here we report results from a randomized controlled trial in rural Uttar Pradesh, India, which identifies the behavioral impacts of providing solar lanterns to households

The sustainability of energy use in the residential sector has relevance for global initiatives to achieve sustainable development and limit climate change. Using the city of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania, as a case study, we look at how national energy policy has influenced household cooking energy use between 1990 and 2018, and how energy policy could achieve further progress to realise national and

This article aims to present historical rate of decoupling and based on that determine the scope for India to increase its mitigation beyond the NDC commitment. Empirical evidence on nature and rate of decoupling between energy related emission and economic growth for the period 1990–91 to 2012–13 in India is presented. In addition to estimating the magnitude of decoupling elasticity, decomposition

A transition towards a sustainable energy system is a challenging process that involves multiple stakeholders with differing viewpoints. Several transition pathways are possible, but the decision regarding which pathway to follow should be based on a justifiable and transparent framework that accounts for the concerns of all relevant stakeholder groups. This study proposes a participatory stakeholder

In 2012, the Peruvian government launched the public-private initiative for energy inclusion (FISE) to promote equitable access to subsidised liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders. The objective of this study was to explore cooking patterns, attitudes towards the FISE-programme, and factors influencing LPG use in rural Andean Peru. Forty-eight women from four communities completed a paper-based questionnaire

Biomass-burning improved cookstoves (ICS) are often seen as a promising intermediate technology solution along the path of household transition to cleaner cooking. This study reports on the results of an experimental evaluation of a carbon finance-enabled program conducted in rural villages in Rajasthan, India. Half (or 20) of 40 purposively-selected treatment villages were randomly assigned to an

Efficient and effective thermal management of Li-ion battery pack for electric vehicle application is vital for the safety and extended-life of this energy storage system. In this paper, the thermal management system of a battery module is presented as an integral part of the electric vehicle air conditioning system. The refrigerant is bifurcated from the main system through a pipe and expansion valve

Electric vehicles (EVs) are widely heralded as the silver bullet for greening personal transport. However their eventual impact in South Africa, a developing country with a low-capacity carbon-heavy grid, is questionable. This paper examines the potential impact of electrification of the vehicle fleet in South Africa, and explores the concept that large employers (or car park owners) could take advantage

Electric cooking has the potential to improve quality of life for people who cook using biomass, both by improving health by eradicating harmful emissions and by removing the need to collect fuelwood, thus freeing up time for other activities. This paper reports on a study that introduced electric cooking as an alternative to biomass-based cooking in 10 households in Simli, a rural Western Nepali community

Depreciating costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity, increasing government support and initiatives, and rising prices of grid electricity have spurred the production of electricity through solar PV systems. The Chandigarh government in India has installed a 200 kWp on-grid PV system on the roofs of pre-fabricated portable cabins (PPC) to fulfil their local energy demand at the Indian Reserve

Industrial process heating has been identified as a potential field for solar thermal applications. In this paper, a comparative study was carried out on the performance of an individual solar collector under laboratory conditions and performance of the collector array under field condition. Compound Parabolic Concentrator (CPC) has been used as a solar collector for the application of boiler feed

Cross-border power trade in the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) has been very low for nearly 15 years since its inception in 2005. This analysis uses a least-cost generation and transmission capacity expansion model to assess economic and CO2 emissions reduction benefits from different levels of integration. These benefits are assessed for several policy scenarios around renewable energy, national

Electricity access and appliance usage are integral parts of developing a modern economy in rural areas. Unfortunately, many households in rural India struggle to access reliable electricity and, therefore, are unable to power appliances throughout the day. We use household survey data from 10,249 households across the Indian states of Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh to explore potential

Solar inverter providers optionally offer plant operators online access to their installed photovoltaic (PV) systems. Benefits consist of better system monitoring, faster response to maintenance needs, and a more comfortable data acquisition. Data mining from an online database enables a comparative statistical analysis for a large number of plants about specific productivity parameters, emission reductions

The Indonesian Government, in the last decade, attempted to increase modern energy consumption through the implementation of the Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) conversion program and the construction of numerous power generators. The attempt hoped to increase access to modern energy. This study investigates the Government modern energy projects by assessing both the accessibility and affordability of modern

Ghana is one of the few countries within the sub-Saharan region which has been successful in reducing energy poverty. However, ensuring energy security, affordability, and environmental sustainability remains a significant challenge for the future development of the sub-region. Here, we examine how the electricity supply can evolve into the future to meet potential emission obligations for the period

Recent development in spectral selective metamaterials makes daytime radiative cooling possible by engineering the material surface to achieve high reflectance in the solar irradiation waveband (0.3–2.5 μm) but high emissivity in the 8–13 μm atmospheric window. In this paper, a spectral selective polymer-based metamaterial was applied on top of a shallow aluminum box that contained with an enclosed

The rural electrification-based literature reports a limited knowledge of the long-term socio-economic changes that electricity access can bring in remote contexts and the consequent feedback on electricity demand. Such lack of understanding causes an inefficient allocation of economic resources for rural energy projects and inappropriate sizing processes. We model the multifaceted dimensions of the

Off-grid renewable energy technologies are important in improving electricity access for rural communities. However, methods for ensuring their sustainable operation are often poorly understood. In this article, existing approaches for the assessment of off-grid projects are examined. Reliability of the technology, financial viability and community engagement are identified as the 3 key areas governing

Mini grids are increasingly filling the supply gap between government supplied electricity and the requirements of households and enterprises. We present a descriptive analysis of enterprise development within a large mini grid based rural electrification initiative launched in India in 2015. Using data from two surveys conducted with 229 enterprise operators, we explore the change in aspirations among