provision of electricity to african households the importance of democracy and institutional quality how can differences in per capita household electricity consumption across african countries be understood based on theories that highlight the importance of democracy and institutional quality for provision of public goods the aim of the paper is to analyse the degree to which the level of per capita household electricity consumption in african countries can be attributed to the countries democratic status and their institutional quality we rely on regression analysis employing a pooled data set for 44 african countries over the time period 1996 2009 the analysis shows that democracy and institutional quality both have significant positive effects on per capita household consumption of electricity our results have implications for how energy sector reforms are promoted in developing countries at a more general level they illustrate that institution building policy efforts are relevant also in areas where contemporary debates have tended to primarily centre on economic development financial prerequisites and ownership issues

stacking up the ladder a panel data analysis of tanzanian household energy choices energy use statistics in tanzania reflect the country s low level of industrialization and development in 2016 only 16 9 of rural and 65 3 of urban inhabitants in mainland tanzania were connected to some form of electricity we use a nationally representative three wave panel dataset 2008 2013 to contribute to the literature on household energy use decisions in tanzania in the context of the stacking and energy ladder hypotheses we firstly adopt a panel multinomial logit approach to model the determinants of household cooking and lighting fuel choices secondly we focus explicitly on energy stacking behaviour proposing various ways of measuring what is inferred when stacking behaviour is thought of in the context of the energy transition and presenting household level correlates of energy stacking behaviour thirdly since fuel uses have gender differentiated impacts we investigate women s bargaining power in the decision making process of household fuel choices we find that whilst higher household incomes are strongly associated with a transition towards the adoption of more modern fuels especially lighting fuels this transition takes place in a context of significant fuel stacking in tanzania government policy has been aimed mostly at connecting households to the electric grid however the public health environmental and social benefits of access to modern energy sources are likely to be diminished in a context of significant fuel stacking lastly we present evidence that the educational attainment of women in the household is an important aspect of household fuel choices

fuel demand elasticities for energy and environmental policies indian sample survey evidence india has been running large scale interventions in the energy sector over the last decades still there is a dearth of reliable and readily available price and income elasticities of demand to base these on especially for domestic use of traditional fuels this study uses the linear approximate almost ideal demand system la aids using micro data of more than 100 000 households sampled across india the la aids model is expanded by specifying the intercept as a linear function of household characteristics marshallian and hicksian price and expenditure elasticities of demand for four main fuels are estimated for both urban and rural areas by different income groups these can be used to evaluate recent and current energy policies the results can also be used for energy projections and carbon dioxide simulations given different growth rates for different segments of the indian population

willingness of rural communities to adopt biogas systems in pakistan critical factors and policy implications abstract biogas is a methane rich gas that is produced by the anaerobic fermentation of organic material such as animal dung pakistan has the sixth largest livestock based economy in the world and thus demonstrates great potential for biogas production the government has already started the biogas support program bsp in a few selected areas of the country with that in mind this study was designed to determine a household s predicted willingness to adopt a biogas system in khyber pakhtunkhwa kp province the study is based on primary data collected from four districts peshawar nowshera charsadda and mardan data was collected from 200 livestock farming households selected through an equal allocation technique probit analysis was used to identify those factors influencing the willingness of a household to adopt a biogas system the results of the probit model reveal that the education level of the respondents total daily electric shortfall the effect of electric shortfall on childrens education and female drudgery and respondents awareness regarding the pros and cons of using biogas were statistically significant factors on the basis of p

can multinational enterprises light up developing countries evidences from the access to electricity in sub saharan africa summary this paper examines the role that multinational enterprises mnes and foreign direct investments fdi can have in enhancing the access to electricity for local communities in developing countries based on the quality of home and host institutions access to electricity is a marker for development but it is far from being universal in developing countries the shortage of electricity is mainly the consequence of inability of governments in planning financing and developing necessary electricity infrastructure in this context investments from other actors can be essential particularly we focus on the role of fdi and mnes we claim that when mnes invest in developing countries they are incentivized to solve the lack of electricity infrastructure mainly for two reasons to guarantee their business activities and to gain legitimacy with their local stakeholders in addition we argue that mnes and fdi from institutionally underdeveloped countries will be more prone to develop infrastructure for the provision of electricity to local population as generally they suffer from a negative stereotype for this study we rely on 1 547 observations composed of pairs of 83 home countries and 15 host countries in sub saharan africa observed from 2005 to 2011 due to the nature of the database we adopt panel data techniques i e system gmm and corrected least square dummy variable estimators we find that fdi promotes access to electricity in developing countries with weak institutions and this is more likely true when fdi come from institutionally underdeveloped countries these results are far from obvious as they controvert common idea among institutional scholars that a regulatory authority is essential in the provision of infrastructure in conclusion with this paper we partially rehabilitate the image of mnes investing in developing countries by demonstrating that under certain conditions they could contribute to energy poverty alleviation of local population

corporate led sustainable development and energy poverty alleviation at the bottom of the pyramid the case of the cleancook in nigeria summary corporations are increasingly viewed as key actors in poverty alleviation bottom of the pyramid bop advocates suggest that multinational corporations mncs can simultaneously alleviate poverty and make profits by selling scaled down products to the poor our paper investigates this claim using the case of the cleancook stove and fuel technology introduced in nigeria by an mnc working through a nonprofit organization and local business actors supply and demand side analyses show that the cleancook is least likely to reach the energy poor bop households originally targeted the evidence suggests that serving the bop requires greater differentiation than can be achieved with profit driven business models

modeling household cooking fuel choice a panel multinomial logit approach we use three rounds of a rich panel data set to investigate the determinants of household cooking fuel choice and energy transition in urban ethiopia we observe that the expected energy transition did not occur following economic growth in ethiopia during the decade 20002009 regression results from a random eects multinomial logit model suggest that households economic status price of alternative energy sources and education are important determinants of fuel choice in urban ethiopia the results also suggest the use of multiple fuels or fuel stacking behavior by households we argue that policy makers could target these policy levers to encourage transition to cleaner energy sources

satisfying the rural residential demand in liberia with decentralized renewable energy schemes abstract with the lowest access to electricity in the world the country of liberia west africa has efforts underway for electrification through a fossil based centralized scheme around its capital city and possible connections to the larger western africa power pool network these plans leave a large part of the rural population with no access to electricity this work analyzes the potential of decentralized generation to provide electricity to the rural liberian population the suppressed demand of the rural population is calculated at 235 gwh yr there is sufficient renewable energy potential to supply this demand the capital costs and electricity prices of decentralized generation with different fuels are calculated and compared to the ability and willingness to pay of rural liberians small diesel units have the lowest capital cost but photovoltaic small hydropower and small biomass projects provide lower electricity prices biomass and small hydro electricity are affordable for liberians at 0 08 kwh and 0 11 kwh respectively diesel and photovoltaic with levelized cost of electricity of 0 62 kwh and 0 33 kwh respectively exceed liberians willingness to pay centralized and decentralized electricity developments are not mutually exclusive both may be used within a comprehensive electrification plan decentralized generation with emphasis on rural areas can complement the existing plans to achieve the government of liberia s goal of universal access to electricity providing social equity and economic progress in order to become a reality rural decentralized electrification will need policy support and focused funding

electricity planning and implementation in sub saharan africa a systematic review abstract universal electricity access is an important development objective and the focus of a number of key global un initiatives while robust electricity planning is widely believed to be a prerequisite for effective electrification to date no comprehensive overview of electricity planning research has been undertaken on sub saharan africa the world region with the lowest access rates this paper reviews quantitative and qualitative electricity planning and related implementation research considering each of the 49 sub saharan african countries the four regional power pools and the sub continent as a whole applying a broad understanding of electricity planning and a practical limit of 20 reviewed articles per country and region 306 relevant peer reviewed journal articles are included in this review a general classification scheme is introduced that classifies the planning literature along the addressed value chain depth number of different analysed criteria and number of evaluated decision alternatives the literature is found to be strongly clustered in a few countries with less than 5 identified relevant articles in 36 of the 49 countries the total amount of articles per year is clearly increasing over time addressing technology choice operation distribution and implementation analyses although including different high level criteria in analysing electricity systems is common the literature is only starting to use formalised multi criteria decision making mcdm tools the review indicates that 63 of relevant articles favour renewable energy technologies for their given problems frequently mentioned success factors for electrification in sub saharan africa include adequate policy design sufficient finance and favourable political conditions while considerable regional and methodological literature gaps are apparent the literature in this review identifies a rich and fruitful ground for future research to fill these gaps

rural electrification in developing countries abstract rural electrification programmes take up significant proportions of energy investment expenditures in developing economies conventional economic criteria for judging investments are not always thought appropriate for rural electrification because of the largely non quantifiable benefits that are thought to ensue including its bias towards helping the poor its catalytic role in stimulating rural development its role in reducing the adverse consequences of rural urban migration and the enabling of improved literacy rates and its general contribution to political stability this paper looks at each of these benefits in turn and asks what evidence there is to substantiate them the paper argues that conventional rate of return criteria should play a stronger role in determining rural electrification expenditures and that some of the non monetary benefits appear neither to be widespread nor as strong as supporters of rural electricity suggest while rural electrification is nonetheless important in the development process it is more usefully integrated into wider rural energy development schemes

rural electricity in the philippines planning issues abstract the government of the philippines is committed to reducing the country s dependence on imported oil an element in its plan to accomplish this goal is the generation of electricity using indigenous energy sources wood biomass hydro geothermal and coal wood fired generation in the philippines has drawn worldwide attention from other developing countries interested in embarking on similar programmes this investigation reveals the difficulties inherent in implementing such a programme primary concerns include the institutional issues in the generation and distribution of power by the national power corporation npc the national electrification administration nea the rural electric cooperatives recs and the tree farmer associations tfas the influence of demand patterns on the financial viability of rural electric cooperatives and the influence of low load factors small size and remote locations on the cost of dendro thermal power plants the conclusions s should be of interest to other countries interested in pursuing similar programmes

fuel choices for cooking in china analysis based on multinomial logit model abstract ensuring household access to affordable reliable sustainable and modern energy for all the people is one of the 17 united nations sustainable development goals sdgs china has achieved 100 electricity access while the traditional solid fuels such as firewood are still widely used in its rural area this paper using a long term and large micro dataset and multinomial logit model investigates quantitatively the determinants of cooking fuel choice in rural china the results show that in addition to the previous knowledge on household income occupation is crucial to the cooking fuel transition in average if the head of household changes its occupation from farm to non farm the possibility of using firewood would reduce by around 14 21 the impact of income is slightly small a 10 increase in income may result in 0 5 of possibility of firewood use these conclusions are robust after considering the possible energy ladders using ordered logit regressions olr and generalized olr after controlling other factors such as income and occupation we have not found concrete evidence on the influences of education and gender of the household head and household member numbers to accelerate the fuel transition in addition to increase the household income the government should pay attention to create more non farm work opportunities for the rural

can product demonstrations create markets for sustainable energy technology a randomized controlled trial in rural india abstract the literature on sustainable energy technology sees informational barriers as a major obstacle to technology adoption in the case of solar home systems recent studies report positive socio economic effects on households but technology adoption remains underwhelming in collaboration with a local solar technology provider we conduct a randomized controlled trial in 75 large villages in the state of uttar pradesh india to examine the ability of village solar demonstrations to create markets for solar home systems we find no effect of such demonstrations on technology sales awareness or perceptions of solar technology technology adopters report high levels of satisfaction with product quality and service suggesting that the null finding cannot be attributed to poor technology these findings suggest that lack of awareness is not a binding constraint on the growth of solar technology markets in the study area based on additional surveys we find evidence suggesting that access to credit from rural banks is an important explanation for variation in sales across villages these results do not prove that information and awareness are irrelevant in general but they show that even carefully designed marketing campaigns cannot increase demand for new products in the presence of a binding credit constraint

evaluating the relative strength of product specific factors in fuel switching and stove choice decisions in ethiopia a discrete choice model of household preferences for clean cooking alternatives switching from conventional stoves to modern clean safe and efficient stoves will improve health and social welfare for the 2 7 billion people worldwide that lack reliable access to modern energy services in this paper we critically review some key theoretical dimensions of household consumer behaviour in switching from traditional biomass cooking stoves to modern efficient stoves and fuels we then describe the results of empirical research investigating the determinants of stove choice focusing on the relative strength of product specific factors across three wealth groups a stated preference survey and discrete choice model were developed to understand household decision making associated with cooking stove choice in addis ababa ethiopia the study found that with the exception of price and usage cost factors for the high wealth group the product specific factors that were investigated significantly affect stove and fuel choices the relative strength of factors was assessed in terms of marginal willingness to pay and provides some evidence that consumer preference for higher quality fuels and stoves tends to increase with increasing wealth

from linear fuel switching to multiple cooking strategies a critique and alternative to the energy ladder model abstract promoting sustainable development requires evaluating the technical and policy options that will facilitate the adoption and use of energy efficient and less polluting cooking stoves and practices the transition from traditional to modern fuels and devices has been explained by the energy ladder model that suggests that with increasing affluence a progression is expected from traditional biomass fuels to more advanced and less polluting fuels in this paper we evaluate the energy ladder model utilizing data from a four year 1992 96 case study of a village in mexico and from a large scale survey from four states of mexico we show that an alternate multiple fuel model of stove and fuel management based on the observed pattern of household accumulation of energy options rather than the simple progression depicted in the traditional energy ladder scenario more accurately depicts cooking fuel use patterns in rural households the multiple fuel model integrates four factors demonstrated to be essential in household decision making under conditions of resource scarcity or uncertainty a economics of fuel and stove type and access conditions to fuels b technical characteristics of cookstoves and cooking practices c cultural preferences and d health impacts this model also allows better estimates of the expected fuelwood demand and indoor air pollution in rural households

household biomass energy choice and its policy implications on improving rural livelihoods in sichuan china abstract it is widely known that a switch from traditional biomass energy to modern clean safe and efficient energy could improve local rural livelihoods by enhancing the access to high quality energy and reducing the negative impacts of traditional biomass energy on health environment and living standards hence in this paper we used alternative specific conditional logit model asclm to examine the rural household energy choice behaviors in sichuan province of china from the perspective of revealed and stated preferences the results show that the fuel switching in our study region is not a simple unidirectional process from traditional biomass energy to modern fuels as incomes improve household energy choice behaviors could be not only affected by energy specific characteristics such as fuel price smoky level and safety risk but also influenced by household specific factors such as income level age and educational level of the decision maker household demographic structure number of people frequently eating at home distance to the nearest biomass collecting spot and household location suggesting that government should attach more importance to simultaneously improve energy quality control energy price and enhance household socio economic status

on measuring energy poverty in indian households summary the relationship between energy and poverty is obvious and goes both ways recognizing this this paper provides a short overview of different approaches to measuring energy poverty it then presents a novel two dimensional measure of energy poverty and energy distribution that combines the elements of access to different energy types and quantity of energy consumed an assessment of the extent of energy poverty and changes in energy distribution pattern are analyzed by applying this measure to indian household survey data for 1983 2000 the analysis shows a significant reduction in the level of energy poverty and a rapidly developing subcontinent the new measure is a good complement to conventional monetary measures and is general enough to be applied to other developing countries

information shocks and cigarette addiction views from dynamic panels with common structural changes in this article we attempt to evaluate the impact of various information shocks on cigarette consumption in contrast to the existing studies we do not impose any break points a priori we use recently developed techniques for sample splitting in the data on us cigarette demand and find that using a time index as a transition variable can cluster cigarette demand into four distinct regimes in the past four decades a myopic to rational switch in cigarette consumption behaviour was observed in response to various anti smoking information events in particular we find strong evidence in support of the rational addiction model in the 1980s and 1990s moreover in line with the theoretical prediction our estimate of the long run elasticity is twice as large as the short run elasticity our empirical framework should improve policy makers understanding of the dynamics of cigarette consumption in response to various anti smoking campaigns and stress the role of sound policy making in improving smoking con

examining behavioral patterns in household fuel consumption using two stage budgeting framework for energy and environmental policies evidence based on micro data from pakistan abstract prime objective of this study is to analyze fuel consumption patterns at national as well as at provincial level for pakistan dynamic patterns in household fuel choices have been examined under two stage budgeting framework through quadratic approximation of almost ideal demand system quaids using hies data for year 2015 16 to obtain reliable estimates of price and budget elasticities quadratic engel estimates reflect households energy expenditures allocation decisions while the probit estimates explore how alternate fuels are chosen by households for consumption the engel estimates highlight that the share of fuel expenditures in total household expenditures is higher in rural areas than in urban areas the computed compensated price elasticities suggest that firewood and kerosene are relatively more price inelastic in rural areas as compared to the urban areas furthermore our estimates also indicate that cleaner fuels are more price inelastic in urban areas than in rural areas with inter provincial variations in computed elasticities these estimates can be used as an effective policy making tool for transition towards cleaner fuels energy policy simulations to evaluate taxation and subsidy frameworks and energy system forecasting to prevent environmental degradation

factors underlying rural household energy transition a case study of china abstract this paper identifies factors underlying the energy transition of rural households in china based on province level panel data for years of 1991 2014 it indicates that there exists the energy stacking process of rural household energy transition characterized by the significant consumption inertia effects of traditional biomass energy tbe traditional commercial energy tce and advanced commercial energy ace respectively the insignificant substitution effect of tce and ace for tbe and the significant partial substitution of ace for tce with regard to the factors underlying rural household energy transition 1 per capita disposal income is negatively correlated with tbe tce and ace consumption 2 the number of motorcycles is positively correlated with tce and ace consumption 3 the number of firewood saving stoves and the price for ace are positively correlated with tbe consumption 4 household size and the number of motorcycles and the number of appliances are positively correlated with ace consumption 5 education level is positively correlated with tbe but negatively with tce consumption 6 the number of rural energy management institutions is positively correlated with tbe but negatively correlated ace consumption therefore some policy implications are discussed

a firm level analysis of outage loss differentials and self generation evidence from african business enterprises abstract this study examines the outage loss differential between firms that engage in backup generation and those that do not unmitigated outage losses were estimated to be us 2 01 23 92 per kwh for firms engaging in self generation and range from us 1 54 to 32 46 per kwh for firms without self generation we also find that firms engaging in self generation would have suffered additional 1 183 outage losses had they not invested in self generation on the other hand firms without self generation would have reduced their outage losses by around 6 46 if they had engaged in self generation further analyses however reveal that although engagement in self generation reduced outage losses a firm engaging in self generation may still suffer a greater unmitigated outage loss relative to a firm without a backup generator the relative outage losses depend on the relative vulnerability of the operations of the two sets of firms to power interruption and the relative generating capacity of a self generating firm to its own required electricity loads policy reforms that allow firms whose operations are highly vulnerable to outages to make a binding contract with utilities in order to get preferential supply are recommended

off grid electricity interventions for cleaner livelihoods a case study of value chain development in dhenkanal district of odisha lack of access to electricity in rural areas hinders productive activities which in turn affects sustainable rural development off grid electrification options can offer an alternative but in order to develop productive uses of electricity in off grid area a detailed study of livelihoods and potential areas for improvement in the value chain is required this paper reports such a study where a livelihood baseline survey was undertaken in a cluster of five remote off grid villages in dhenkanal district of odisha india and through a series of interviews focused group meetings and stakeholder interactions the study finds that value added services can be developed through an off grid electrification intervention electrification can support productive activities thereby offering an opportunity for improved income generation and a better quality of life and a transition to cleaner energy sources the study provides a novel value chain framework for linking off grid projects with local livelihoods replicable across multiple geographies ensuring sustainability of these projects

energy consumption practices of rural households in north china basic characteristics and potential for low carbon development reducing the climate impact of rural household energy consumption in china is complicated since it is bound up with deeply routinized daily practices and dependent from existing infrastructural systems of energy supply to assess the potential for low carbon development we first estimate the overall co2 emissions of rural households followed by a more in depth description and characterization of the different energy use practices within the households space heating turns out to be the largest emission source among domestic energy practices in north china we present lifestyle and context related factors that help to explain existing differences in domestic energy use practices of households the potential for low carbon development is discussed both at the demand side and the supply side at the demand side the use of more efficient technologies and cleaner energy sources for space heating seems to be a high potential measure for achieving low carbon households at the supply side the reduction of rural domestic co2 emissions could be effectively supported by making available to householders renewable and cleaner energy sources and technologies in order to be effective such low carbon energy options should take into account the income characteristics and lifestyles of rural householders

research and development aspects on decentralized electrification options for rural household abstract low income households living in the rural areas suffer from energy poverty and lack of human and economic development currently many governments of less developed countries are committed in improving access to electricity the same commitment should be adapted globally as part of human right because providing electricity access to low income households improves health and education generates income increases productivity reduces inequality and enhances the quality of life rural electrification is a complicated issue because of user affordability rural inaccessibility and remoteness low population densities and dispersed households low project profitability fiscal deficit scarcity of energy resources population growth lack of professionalism and over dependence on subsidies the demand for electrification cannot be accomplished because of the increasing gap between rural electrification rate and population growth therefore this review aims to study various decentralized household sized energy technologies available in rural areas such as battery diesel generator pedal generator pico hydro photovoltaic pv solar home system and wind preference for one of the options depends on energy source availability economic feasibility rural economic development disposal of residues nature of end user application and government programs and policies pico hydro is the preferred electricity generation source in most rural households followed by wind pv and diesel generators this paper concurs that households in rural areas will be able to afford for electricity access if the payment schedule of the electrification cost is extended and interest rates and taxes if any are dropped

household energy demand in kenya an application of the linear approximate almost ideal demand system la aids abstract this paper estimates price and fuel expenditure elasticities of demand by applying the linear approximate almost ideal demand system la aids to 3665 households sampled across kenya in 2009 the results indicate that motor spirit premium msp automotive gas oil ago and lubricants are price elastic while fuel wood kerosene charcoal liquefied petroleum gas lpg and electricity are price inelastic kerosene is income elastic while fuel wood charcoal lpg electricity msp and ago are income inelastic the results also reveal fuel stack behaviour that is multiple fuel use among the households main policy implications of the results include increasing the penetration of alternative fuels as well as provision of more fiscal incentives to increase usage of cleaner fuels this not withstanding however the household income should be increased beyond a certain point for the household to completely shift and use a new fuel

financing renewable energy in africa key challenge of the sustainable development goals abstract given the challenge of offering a development perspective to a rapidly growing population it might be tempting for africa to pursue a strategy of fueling growth with the cheapest source of energy available and take care of the environment later such an approach however would disregard the social cost of fossil fuels which the population would have to bear using the sustainable development goals as a benchmark for inclusive and sustainable growth we identify the synergy effects provided by renewable energy already substantial efforts of financing the additional cost of re are under way an analysis of possible leverage points available instruments and involved actors shows that there remains a large additional potential

a theory of rational addiction we develop a theory of rational addiction in which rationality means a consistent plan to maximize utility over time strong addiction to a good requires a big effect of past consumption of the good on current consumption such powerful complementarities cause some steady states to be unstable they are an important part of our analysis because even small deviations from the consumption at an unstable steady state can lead to large cumulative rises over time in addictive consumption or to rapid falls in consumption to abstention our theory also implies that cold turkey is used to end strong addictions that addicts often go on binges that addicts respond more to permanent than to temporary changes in prices of addictive goods and that anxiety and tensions can precipitate an addiction

cigarettes and addiction information simulating the demand effects of the tobacco industry s conspiracy of silence although cigarette manufacturers were aware of the addictive properties of nicotine as early as 1962 the information did not become available to the us public until 1979 when the surgeon general disclosed it us department of health education and welfare 1979 this study simulates the impact this information would have had on the demand for cigarettes had it been released in 1962 the simulations build on past work by fenn et al 2001 who found evidence that the release of addiction information resulted in a structural shift in demand in 1979 in the present study the econometric results from fenn et al 2001 are used to compute simulated time paths for state level per capita consumption under the hypothetical scenario involving the earlier release of the addiction information using these simulated consumption paths the projected reductions in cigarette sales revenue are calculated these dollar figures provide a benchmark against which to judge the compensation amounts that the industry must

information addiction and bad choices lessons from a century of cigarettes abstract this study describes government interventions during the 1900s and their effects on cigarette consumption within a rational addiction framework with annual data for the 20th century impacts of specific antismoking information events disappear u s per capita cigarette demand changed before any information about health effects of smoking was widely distributed

beyond fuelwood savings valuing the economic benefits of introducing improved biomass cookstoves in the purepecha region of mexico article i nfo half of the world population relies on biomass for cooking with very significant health as well as climate change impacts improved cookstoves have been disseminated as an alternative to reduce these impacts however few detailed studies about the economic benefits of improved cookstoves ics interventions including environmental and health co benefits exist to date in this paper we perform a comprehensive economic evaluation of a dissemination program of ics in rural mexico the resulting cost benefit analysis cba of the patsari improved cookstove is presented utilizing estimation of direct costs and benefits including fuelwood savings income generation health impacts environmental conservation and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions the analysis is based on comprehensive data obtained through monitoring studies carried out in the study area from 2003 to the present results show that patsari cookstoves represent a viable economic option for improving living conditions of the poorest inhabitants of rural mexico with benefit cost ratios estimated between 11 4 1 and 9 1 the largest contributors to economic benefits stemmed from fuelwood savings and reductions in health impacts which constituted 53 and 28 of the overall benefit respectively

rural electrification in the developing world abstract rural electrification does not cause development electricity is a derived demand occurring only when an area has reached a certain economic level this has important consequences for the choice of areas for electrification rural electrification subsidies are generally excessive and tariffs need to be greatly increased renewable energy sources should be analysed on the same technical and economic basis as conventional supply systems particular care is required when considering photovoltaic systems for pre electrification community management may provide a means of electricity supply for some villages but the key questions are likely to be institutional and managerial rather than technical

community based electric micro grids can contribute to rural development evidence from kenya summary in this paper we clarify the mechanisms through which rural electrification can contribute to rural development through a detailed case study analysis of a community based electric micro grid in rural kenya we demonstrate that access to electricity enables the use of electric equipment and tools by small and micro enterprises resulting in significant improvement in productivity per worker 100 200 depending on the task at hand and in a corresponding growth in income levels in the order of 20 70 depending on the product made access to electricity simultaneously enables and improves the delivery of social and business services from a wide range of village level infrastructure e g schools markets and water pumps while improving the productivity of agricultural activities we find that increased productivity and growth in revenues within the context of better delivery of social and business support services contribute to achieving higher social and economic benefits for rural communities we also demonstrate that when local electricity users have an ability to charge and enforce cost reflective tariffs and when electricity consumption is closely linked to productive uses that generate incomes cost recovery is feasible 2008 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

household energy mix in uganda abstract this paper presents evidence that household energy use in uganda conforms to the energy ladder theory as household income increases solid and transitional fuel use evolves in an inverse u manner while electricity consumption shows a direct relationship with income public infrastructure provision income and education are the key variables which can be targeted to reduce household dependence on solid fuels while increasing non solid fuel use while education and public infrastructure have varying impacts on rural and urban households energy mix these variables generally reduce rudimentary fuel use and increase modern fuel consumption timely investment in electricity infrastructure is necessary to cater for burgeoning electricity demand as households become affluent strategies for reforestation dissemination of improved cookstoves relieving supply side constraints for modern fuels and staggered payment options to lower the cost of entry for modern fuels can improve ugandan households energy security

socio economic determinants of charcoal expenditures in tanzania evidence from panel data abstract compared to firewood charcoal is a relatively clean and convenient fuel nevertheless the mass production of charcoal can contribute substantially to deforestation rendering it imperative to regulate charcoal use this article uses nationally representative panel data on tanzania conducted in 2008 and 2010 to examine how charcoal expenditures change over time within any given household the focus of the analysis will be on identifying certain socio economic factors that affect charcoal use at the household level the framing of the analysis on variation in time within each household addresses the omitted variable bias that often undermines inference from comparisons across different households we find that while charcoal expenditures increase with household income the rise in charcoal use with income is relatively gradual household size is unrelated to charcoal expenditures but urban rural differences in fuel choice are large even though we include household fixed effects in all specifications in this regard policymakers and urban planners need to pay particular attention to the role of urbanization in predicting trends in charcoal expenditures in developing countries like tanzania

the forbidden fuel charcoal urban woodfuel demand and supply dynamics community forest management and woodfuel policy in malawi abstract this article examines woodfuel policy challenges and opportunities in malawi two decades after woodfuel crisis narratives and counter narratives a nuanced examination of woodfuel supply demand use and markets illuminated options to turn stagnant policies based on charcoal bans and fuel substitution into proactive realistic ones acknowledging woodfuel dominance and its socio economic importance findings revealed growing spatially differentiated woodfuel deficits in southern and central malawi and around blantyre zomba and lilongwe cities poverty limited electricity access reliability and generation exacerbated by tariff subsidies and complex fuel allocation decisions restricted energy ladder transitions from woodfuels to electricity producing an enduring urban energy mix dominated by charcoal thereby increasing wood consumption diverse socio political interests prevented lifting of the charcoal ban despite progressive forest laws despite implementation challenges lessons already learnt efficiency and poverty reduction arguments limited government capacity growing illegal production of charcoal in forest reserves and its staying power make targeted community based forest management cbfm approaches more practical for regulated commercial production of woodfuels than the status quo new differentiated policies should include commercial woodfuel production and licensing for revenue and ecological sustainability under cbfm or concessions within and outside selected reserves an enterprise based approaches for poverty reduction smallholder private tree growing woodfuel energy conserving technologies improved electricity supply and agricultural productivity

household energy choice and consumption intensity empirical evidence from bhutan abstract this paper uses data from three bhutan living standard surveys blss 2003 blss 2007 and blss 2012 to examine the trends and patterns of household energy consumption and identify and analyze the factors that influence household energy choices consumption intensity and the per capita household expenditure on energy sources in bhutan during the last decade significant numbers of bhutanese households have switched to cleaner energy sources empirical results show that a household s choice of cleaner energy sources is driven by income level and household wealth the age gender and education of the household heads access to electricity and location education and income have a differential role on the choice of clean or dirty fuel wealthier and more educated households use and rely more on clean sources of energy like electricity and liquid petroleum gas while poorer households use and rely on dirty fuel such as fuelwood and kerosene the study shows that female headed households are more likely to choose cleaner fuels and above all the availability of a clean and cost effective source of energy within proximity to the household is an important factor in the adoption of clean energy several models using a variety of alternative independent variables such as proxies for education and wealth were estimated and confirmed the robustness of the results

connective power solar electrification and social change in kenya summary market based rural electrification with solar energy is increasingly common in developing countries this article revolves around three main claims about solar electrification in kenya s unsubsidized market 1 the benefits of solar electrification are captured primarily by the rural middle class 2 solar electricity plays a modest role in supporting economically productive and education related activities but connective applications such as television radio and cellular telephone charging often receive a higher priority 3 solar electrification is more closely tied to increased television use the expansion of markets more rural urban communication and other processes that increase rural urban connectivity than to poverty alleviation sustainable development or the appropriate technology movement

comparison of energy transitions in the united states and developing and industrializing economies summary we compare the energy transitions of the united states with several developing and industrializing economies the analysis reveals three important differences between trends first the developing world experiences energy related transitions at lower levels of income with faster rates of change in conditions over time and in a more simultaneous fashion than that of the united states second over similar income ranges i e segments of economic growth current developing economies are using less energy per capita than the united states did historically finally this more efficient economic growth translates into lower systemic environmental impact per capita than that of the united states

a model of addiction and social interactions many consumer behaviors are both addictive and social understanding how these two phenomena interact informs basic models of human behavior and matters for policymakers when the behavior is regulated i develop a new model of demand that incorporates both addiction and social interactions and show that under certain conditions social interactions reinforce the effects of addiction i also show how the dynamics introduced by addiction can solve the pernicious problem of identifying the causal effects of social interactions i then use the model to illustrate a new and important identification problem for studies of social interactions existing estimates cannot be used to draw welfare conclusions or even to deduce whether social interactions increase aggregate demand finally i develop a method that allows researchers to distinguish between two common forms of social interactions and draw welfare conclusions jel d11 h20

effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio economic factors on household bio based energy use and energy substitution in rural ethiopia abstract in ethiopia biomass is predominantly utilized for household energy needs often using inefficient rudimentary stoves which cause adverse environmental and welfare effects this paper examined the contribution of biomass resources to rural household energy use and energy substitution the analysis applied the ordinary least square in the final stage estimation of fuelwood and overall biomass energy consumption by using predicted shadow prices the paper used tobit model to estimate charcoal and agricultural fuel consumption due to the presence of censoring an increase in fuelwood shadow price was associated with reduced household fuelwood consumption with price elasticity of 0 38 the cross price elasticity between fuelwood and agricultural fuels revealed no evidence of energy substitution which conforms to the findings of previous studies household access to electricity was associated with lower household biomass energy utilization but kerosene was not fuelwood substitute household energy use conformed to the fuel stacking or multiple fuel use concept but households preferred modern energy options as welfare increased in areas where modern energy is available this suggests that there is a promising prospect for fuel transition but access to modern energy and economic growth have key roles the findings suggest that a concerted policy effort is required that would help diversify rural livelihoods improve living standards and encourage economic growth encourage inter fuel substitution through improved modern energy access and afforestation to increase biomass supply

global policy of rural electrification energy poverty and lack of electricity in the rural area exacerbate the poverty of the developing countries the sustainable renewable technologies can be considered as efficient tools to reduce energy poverty whenever they are conducted based on an appropriate policy electricity can improve the human s lifestyle by increasing the level of health education welfare and technology currently sub sahara africa with only 14 2 of rural electrification has the first rank in the world with lowest access to electricity in that region around 585 million citizens has almost no access to electricity the present study focuses on the general global policies to electrify the rural areas in this regard variety of plans and programs conducted by governmental and private institutes are investigated in the year 2011 the international energy agency iea has developed three global strategies based on the world energy market that defines the overall world energy approach in the present work different technologies for rural electrification are taken into account in two major categories of grid connected and off grid systems furthermore based on sustainable development with emphasis on environmental consideration the feasibility of electrification by using different types of renewable energies such as solar biomass hydro wind and wave have been studied despite reliability of grid connection results indicate that renewable energy sources are the best choice especially in areas far from grid connections challenges between financial institutes and executive agencies result in resource management and technology development in order to overcome existing barriers and issues

the geography of energy and education leaders laggards and lessons for achieving primary and secondary school electrification even though large scale electricity networks have existed for more than a century thousands of primary and secondary schools have no electricity more than 80 percent of children in sub saharan africa attend primary schools that lack electricity more than a quarter of village schools in india lack electricity access and fewer than half of peruvian schools are electrified collectively nearly 200 million children attend schools not connected to any type of electricity supply a number greater than the populations of nigeria bangladesh russia or japan throughout the globe certain countries and regions lead the way in school electrification while others lag behind through the lens of energy and education geography this article identifies a series of interconnected challenges to electrifying schools obstacles span financing and technical reliability to bias in educational and energy funding to inability of electrification to yield net positive learning outcomes despite these challenges solutions do exist as the activities of emerging energy leaders demonstrate high upfront costs can be mitigated by tapping into diverse financing streams and distributing risk through public private partnerships technical problems can be countered by stable policy frameworks with strong technical standards and certification schemes electrification efforts can be coupled with household and cooking programs that build community this article shows that schools can provide students with the light heat and modern tools of teaching they deserve if planners investors and policymakers make determined coordinated efforts at providing energy for education

mattel inc global manufacturing principles gmp a life cycle analysis of a company based code of conduct in the toy industry over the last 20 years multinational corporations mncs have been confronted with accusations of abuse of market power and unfair and unethical business conduct especially as it relates to their overseas operations and supply chain management these accusations include among others worker exploitation in terms of unfairly low wages excessive work hours and unsafe work environment pollution and contamination of air ground water and land resources and undermining the ability of natural government to protect the well being of their citizens mncs have responded to these accusations by creating voluntary codes of conduct which commit them to specific standards for addressing these issues these codes are created at both the industry wide and the individual company level unfortunately these codes have generated little credibility and public trust because their compliance claims cannot be independently verified and they lack transparency and full public disclosure in this article we present a case study of the voluntary code of conduct by mattel inc the world s largest toy company the code called the global manufacturing principles gmp confronts the general criticism leveled against voluntary codes of conduct by a creating detailed standards of compliance b independent external monitoring of the company s compliance with its code of conduct and c making full and uncensored public disclosure of the audit findings and company s response in terms of remedial action we present a detailed account of how mattel s voluntary code of conduct was created implemented and ultimately abandoned over 9 years we provide an evaluative analysis of the company s gmp compliance throughout its life span which suggests a bell shaped curve where early top management commitments were met with pockets of resistance from operational groups who were concerned about balancing gmp compliance efforts with traditional performance criteria the early stage response from mattel s top management was quick and supported with the requisite resources as a result the compliance process accelerated becoming increasingly more robust and effective the success of code compliance and increased transparency in public disclosure energized field managers with a sense of professional satisfaction and publicly recognized accomplishments the decline in gmp compliance was equally steep when all the easily attainable targets had been reached at the company operated plants addressing vendor plants compliance presented a new set of challenges which taxed corporate resources and management commitment it would seem that value based and ethics oriented considerations i e doing the right thing for the right reason were no longer the driving force for mattel s management mattel did not see any economic benefit from its proactive stance when competitors did not seem to suffer adverse consequences for not following suit the final contributing factor to the code s abandonment was a widely publicized series of product recalls which absorbed top management s attention

overcoming obstacles against effective solar lighting interventions in south asia abstract basing on our devised world bank s design principles for effective renewable energy projects in developing countries and an in depth analysis of our two solar lighting projects in bangladesh and india this paper explores three key obstacles that constrain poor people from obtaining solar lighting financial exclusion weak governance and passive ngo and customer participation the low take up rate has a social and psychological impact this paper recommends creating easy access to credit establishing a robust complaint system and developing strategic partnership to overcome the obstacles

rural household energy consumption the effects of access to electricity evidence from south africa this paper examines household energy consumption patterns in rural areas in the light of energy transition theories in particular the study aims to identify the effects of access to electricity on fuel choice the analysis uses data from an extensive household survey conducted in south africa and examines the prevalence of different fuels energy expenditure the end uses of fuels and multiple fuel use patterns it is concluded that evidence exists for the presence of an energy transition in rural households largely driven by income access to electricity affects the nature of this transition and there is weak evidence to suggest that it accelerates the process

united nations global compact the promise performance gap the united nations global compact ungc was created in 2000 to leverage un prestige and induce corporations to embrace 10 principles incorporating values of environmental sustainability protection of human rights fair treatment of workers and elimination of bribery and corruption we review and analyze the gc s activities and impact in enhancing corporate social responsibility since inception first we propose an analytical framework which allows us to assess the qualities of the ungc and its principles in the context of external and internal elements that influence code effectiveness and implementation second we analyze ungc performance in encouraging companies to become signatory members and bring about demonstrable change in corporate csr sustainability activities in its 10 year report ungc has proclaimed growth in both membership and program activity however all credible and publicly available data and documentation conclusively demonstrate that the ungc has failed to induce its signatory companies to enhance their csr efforts and integrate the 10 principles in their policies and operations the result has been a loss of public trust and support of ungc from important constituencies among civil society organizations and those individuals and groups adversely impacted by corporate activities and resultant negative externalities this diminished credibility has also made ungc largely dependent on the corporate sector for its very survival we conclude that this dependence has in turn impaired and would continue to hinder ungc s ability to fulfill its mission such an outcome raises serious questions as to the viability usefulness and continued existence of ungc

mandated social disclosure an analysis of the response to the california transparency in supply chains act of 2010 in this study we examine investor and firm response to the california transparency in supply chains act ctsca of 2010 the ctsca requires large retail and manufacturing firms to disclose efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their supply chains and is a rare example of mandated corporate social responsibility disclosure based on a sample of 105 retail companies subject to the ctsca we find a significant negative market reaction to the passing of the ctsca furthermore we find that the reaction is significantly more negative for larger firms and companies facing greater supply chain risks apparel and footwear retailers suggesting that investors place a negative value on exposure to legitimacy threats in the social domain with respect to company disclosure response we document relatively high compliance with the legislation although we also find that the disclosure response appeared to be more symbolic than substantive in nature finally our analysis indicates that both disclosure choice and disclosure extensiveness were significantly higher for the high supply chain risk companies suggesting that the response was influenced by concerns with strategic legitimation overall the limited quality of disclosure suggests that without additional rules and guidance mandates alone may not lead to meaningful social disclosure

using contingent behavior analysis to measure benefits from rural electrification in developing countries an example from rwanda hundreds of millions of people in sub saharan africa do not have access to electricity and will not receive it from national grids in the next few decades electricity makes up an important component of rural development and so increasing access can have positive socioeconomic benefits in this study we use contingent behavior analysis to quantify the potential benefits of electricity in rural rwandan villages which currently do not have electricity the proposed method allows for calculation of net benefits as well as electricity bills we find that even relatively poor isolated households would pay for electricity though amounts vary across households and this affects the financial viability of electrification common uses for electricity include lighting battery charging and agricultural processing despite heterogeneity opportunities exist to improve rural economic welfare through increased electricity access

prospects progress policies and effects of rural electrification in bangladesh abstract energy is instrumental for the development and economic growth of a country although bangladesh is known as a developing country in south asia it has been recognized as a model country by the united nations for its remarkable achievements in attaining the united nations millennium development goals successive governments of the country have taken several developmental initiatives that aim to improve the standard of living and to provide basic rights to the citizens an increase in the demand for energy particularly electricity is a normal consequence of many of these initiatives thus the provision of sufficient electricity has become a genuine challenge for the government studies have indicated that even if the national demand for electricity remains static another 35 years is required by the government to provide electricity to all given the current production pace providing electricity to all may nearly be an impossible task because of the ever increasing demand for electricity the situation in rural areas where many people are deprived of electricity supply is even severe fortunately this coastal and agro based country is geographically located in an area that has a potential in exploiting different renewable forms of energy therefore renewable energy sources can be considered potential solutions to satisfy the future energy demand of the country and to provide electricity particularly in rural areas bangladesh is one of the countries that is seriously vulnerable to the effects of climate change hence the use of renewable energy can contribute to mitigate the effects of both climate change and environmental degradation in the country

an empirical analysis of household energy choice in ghana abstract using data from two recently available living standards surveys we trace the dynamics in cooking fuel choice among ghanaian households over the period 2005 6 and 2012 13 and further investigate the main forces driving households choice of a cooking fuel evidence from this paper reveals a significant transition from fuelwood use towards lpg over the period results further reveal factors such as price reliability in supply of lpg income and other household attributes as significant factors influencing households choice of a given energy type for cooking relevant policy prescriptions are offered to engender sustainable energy use and reduce over reliance on the already depleted forest resources for biomass energy

preferences for improved cook stoves evidence from rural villages in north india abstract because emissions from solid fuel burning in traditional stoves impact global climate change the regional environment and household health there is today real interest in improved cook stoves ics nonetheless surprisingly little is known about what households like about these energy products we report on preferences for biomass burning ics attributes in a large sample of 2120 rural households in north india a global hotspot for biomass fuel use and the damages that such use entails households have a strong baseline reliance and preference for traditional stoves a preference that outweighs the 10 and 5 willingness to pay wtp for realistic 33 reductions in smoke emissions and fuel needs on average respectively preferences for stove attributes are also highly varied and correlated with a number of household characteristics e g expenditures gender of household head patience and risk preferences these results suggest that households exhibit cautious interest in some aspects of ics but that widespread adoption is unlikely because many households appear to prefer traditional stoves over ics with similar characteristics the policy community must therefore support a reinvigorated supply chain with complementary infrastructure investments foster experimentation with products encourage continued applied research and knowledge generation and provide appropriate incentives to consumers if ics distribution is to be scaled up

application of an almost ideal demand system aids to ethiopian rural residential energy use panel data evidence abstract it is well known that poor rural households in low income economies are reliant on traditional fuels to meet basic domestic energy needs but little is known about the specific underlying socio economic drivers of residential fuel choices in ethiopia i used the linear approximation almost ideal demand system laaids with normalized prices to compute expenditure elasticity and a multinomial logit model mlm to examine household fuel use the laaids model result showed that expenditure was elastic for modern fuels but inelastic for traditional fuels regression results from the mlm indicated that fuel choice behaviour of rural households could be more accurately described as fuel stacking behaviour as opposed to the energy ladder hypothesis in rural areas household fuel choice may be constrained by limited access to commercial fuels and efficient cook stoves supply dependency and affordability consumer preferences and a web of other intricate factors rural households had less incentive for fuel switching due to underlying factors and the availability of fuel wood without direct financial cost with continued deforestation and receding forests households are expected to develop inter fuel substitution and switching behaviour conditional on access to modern energy technologies

urban fuelwood challenges and dilemmas abstract this paper explores the use of fuelwood in third world cities the importance of fuelwood and the factors which condition its use in cities are set out and three fuelwood problems are identified the cost to urban consumers fuel supply security and the impact of urban fuelwood markets on rural areas urban fuelwood interventions are evaluated with four categories identified interventions in marketing conservation increased wood production and fuel switching of these fuel switching by improved supply systems and increased production from smallholders and better management of natural woodlands appear to have the greatest potential the need for flexibility community participation in planning is stressed

fuel switching in slum and non slum households in urban india improving access to modern fuels is essential in developing countries for reducing adverse human health and environmental impacts caused by traditional fuels fuels use in developing countries is heterogeneous across households this paper estimates drivers of fuel switching in non slum and slum households in urban india using a discrete choice model on a nationally representative micro data the choices considered are three categories of cooking fuels traditional firewood dung crop residue and coal charcoal modern kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas lpg and mixed fuels the results suggest that the patterns of fuels use are consistent with the energy ladder theory in urban india in addition to income the major determinants of modern fuels uptake are fuels prices access to electricity and water supply and education attainment the increasing price of lpg affects the willingness to change fuels for low income non slum and the high income slum households negatively the analyses make a strong case for applying differential subsidies on modern fuels employing multidimensional aspects of poverty moreover there is a need for partial diversion of existing fuels subsidies on improving physical and social capitals which will result in uptake of modern fuels particularly among disadvantaged communities

woodfuels livelihoods and policy interventions changing perspectives in the 1970s it appeared that fuelwood use was growing rapidly and this could have major adverse impacts on the resource and poor users by the mid 1980s revised assessments indicated that there was less of a problem than had been foreseen and much less of a need for forestry interventions to maintain supplies as a result many of the latter were sharply scaled back additional information and analysis that has become available since the 1980s support the view that there is no need for large scale interventions devoted just to provision of fuelwood however declining access to supplies or markets can raise significant problems in some areas and for particular categories of user growing urban demand for charcoal can also cause local problems in particular in africa the potentials for appropriate forms of intervention are discussed

towards understanding the benefits and challenges of smart micro grid for electricity supply system in nigeria the poor state of electricity supply system in nigeria is threatening the welfare and security of life and properties of millions of individuals with adverse economic consequences for the country the inadequacy of the national grid especially the inability of the electricity generation capacity to match increasing demand in the country has led to increasing agitation for increased penetration of renewable energy sources ress into the electricity supply mix while great attention has been focused on the potential of ress for electricity generation in the country little or no attention has been given to the application of smart micro grid sm g technologies to the ageing nigeria grid infrastructures and electrification of the rural areas the aim of this paper is to bring into focus the benefits and challenges of enabling sm g in the electricity supply system in nigeria sm g will bring benefits to the electricity stakeholders in form of improvements in reliability efficiency economics environment security and safety the paper gives an overview and reviews the current state of the electricity supply system in the country it discusses the sm g concepts and associated technologies and highlights how they can help address the electricity problems in the country the challenges of applying these concepts in nigeria context are also discussed enabling sm g in the country will not only lead to improvement in the quality efficiency and reliability of the electricity grid but also promote the provision of electricity supply to the remote rural areas using ress

electricity demand and basic needs empirical evidence from china s households an increasing block tariff ibt has been implemented nationwide in the residential sector in china since 2012 however knowledge about ibt design is still limited particularly how to determine the electricity volume for the first block of an ibt scheme assuming the first block should be set based on some measure of electricity poverty we attempt to model household electricity demand such that the range of basic needs can be established we show that in chinese households there exists a threshold for electricity consumption with respect to income which could be considered a measure of electricity poverty and the threshold differs between rural and urban areas for rural urban families electricity consumption at the level of 7th 5th income decile households can be considered the threshold for basic needs or a measure of electricity poverty since household electricity demand in rural urban areas does not respond to income changes until after 7th 5th income decile accordingly the first ibt block for some provinces e g beijing appears to have been set at a level that is too high over time however given continued rapid growth the ibt will begin to better reflect actual basic needs

the prospects for local private investment in tanzania s rural electrification abstract the aim of this paper is to investigate whether local investors are capable of establishing and managing power sector enterprises in tanzania the paper then examines the extent to which this capability could be harnessed to enhance rural electrification especially of the poor the data used were obtained from interviews of power sector stakeholders three major conclusions arise from the findings first it seems that substantial local ownership is possible in small power enterprises but is limited in the larger ones second available evidence suggests that the terms and conditions of local financial institutions are major constraining factors on the ability of local investors to mobilise finance locally third it appears that on the overall technical managerial and professional capabilities needed to set up operate and manage independent power production ipp and independent power distribution ipd enterprises exist locally

globalization and the connection of remote communities a review of household effects and their biodiversity implications abstract the remote regions of the world provide refuge to a disproportionate amount of the earth s biodiversity as globalization continues isolated human communities in these regions are increasingly connected to global market migration and technology networks we review the diffuse literature on the household effects of changing market access migration and technology adoption in remote regions and implications for native biodiversity market access affects biodiversity in remote communities through changes in household economics and social networks migration either to or from remote settlements affects biodiversity through changes in population remittances human capital and social networks finally we consider effects due to production public infrastructure and information and communication technologies there is much ambiguity surrounding these causal pathways and thus we also examine the roles of various ecological household community and institutional mediating factors in determining the impacts of global connection finally we explore the limitations of our current knowledge and research practices and propose directions for future work to address key uncertainties in theory and evidence as well as weaknesses in methodological approaches we recommend a broad and interdisciplinary mode of inquiry as the best means toward clarifying globalization s impacts on human settlements and the biodiversity harbored in the earth s remaining remote regions

bioenergy consumption in rural china evidence from a survey in three provinces abstract biomass in the form of crop residues and firewood is a major energy source for rural households in china a survey conducted in the provinces of shanxi zhejiang and guizhou shows that 37 percent of rural households use bioenergy for heating and cooking and that bioenergy accounts for 18 percent of their total energy consumption most of the biomass used for energy is burned in traditional stoves contributing to indoor air pollution in rural homes crop residues also are commonly burned in the fields contributing to the high level of outdoor air pollution in china our econometric analysis of the key determinants of bioenergy use shows that bioenergy consumption falls modestly with income growth increased time required for biomass collection and less farmland hence open burning of some biomass is an optimal choice and is likely to become more of a problem without policy intervention these findings suggest that a more sustainable use of biomass requires policies that promote cleaner more efficient bioenergy combustion technologies and increase the economic value of biomass such that local households can benefit from biomass collection

labour leverage in global value chains the role of interdependencies and multi level dynamics the global segmentation of production and distribution has resulted in highly complex global value chains gvcs where vertical and horizontal dynamics are equally important in determining working conditions and providing points of leverage for labour borrowing notions of multi level governance we propose an analytical framework for describing and explaining success and failure of labour agency when attempting to improve working conditions along gvcs our starting point is that the high complexity of gvcs and the absence of a global overarching authority have been balanced by the emergence of governance mechanisms of different forms and at different levels an assessment of these mechanisms which emphasize process over institutions reveals how different types of interactions and interdependencies along gvcs impact on labour s use of power we argue that in order to fully situate labour agency within governance debates any future research agenda needs to be driven by micro level bottom up approaches

enabling mini grid development in rural india summary rural electrification rates in india lag behind government goals in part due to the inability of distribution companies discoms to fund central grid expansion in the absence of central grid electrification mini grids offer significant potential for an immediate pathway toward rural electrification and the attendant gains in economic growth and productivity yet private investment in mini grids has been virtually absent in india using a comprehensive life cycle cost analysis we find that mini grids based on solar pv power and storage are more economical than incumbent energy services available to households without central grid connection under current law a prospective entrepreneur in india does not require a license or certification in order to build a mini grid and subsequently provide electricity services in the area covered by said installation conversely there is no legal or regulatory framework that specifies what is to happen if the central grid were to be extended to an area that is already covered by a mini grid we report detailed survey evidence from interviews with entrepreneurs analysts and policymakers whose assessments converge on the same point mini grid investments would be jeopardized in the event of central grid extension precisely because discoms would by regulatory order provide electricity services at highly subsidized rates well below their full economic cost our fieldwork suggests that the threat of central grid extension is a gateway barrier preventing mini grid development in india the issues associated with the gateway barrier have common elements with the so called holdup problem as identified in the economics of organizations there have been two recent federal policy guidelines and one actual state level policy addressing the regulatory status of mini grids we examine the effectiveness of these policies proposals in terms of an entrepreneur s willingness to develop mini grids in the future