A cross-sectional review: Impacts and sustainability of small-scale renewable energy projects in developing countries

Terrapon-Pfaff, Julia C.; Dienst, Carmen; König, Julian; Ortíz, Willington

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.161

Cited by 156 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In addition to such large-scale effects, which are not noticeable by community inhabitants on a daily basis, the health component of the human capital can be improved when vaccines are refrigerated and when indoor air pollution is reduced when coaland wood-based stoves are replaced by solar stoves [5,65,68,71,80]. The use of firewood and biomass inside households is a major health threat due to the smoke produced, which causes respiratory infections in the long term [79] (see R5 in Figure 3).…”

Section: Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

et al. 2016

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Rapid population growth and increasing concern related to improving the living standards in impoverished communities without damaging the natural environment have drawn attention to the adoption of renewable energy systems (RES) around the world. Despite this global trend, the implementation of these projects has not succeeded completely in rural poor communities due to several factors, including social barriers faced at the time of their execution. These social barriers lead to poor acceptance of the projects and their consequent abandonment. Acceptance is a social construct that is influenced by several factors that need to be understood to achieve successful and sustainable results in the future. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model, based on principles of sustainability and systems thinking, to understand the interrelationships among the main factors that have been reported in the literature as key to determining the sustainability and community acceptance of RES projects. To do so, we review the existing literature on sustainability and social acceptance of RES and then construct a causal-loop diagram of their driving factors. While doing so, we also view the problem through the lens of the sustainable livelihoods framework, aiming to maintain the perspective of rural communities and observing the impacts of RES on their contextual reality. The resulting model helps to understand the multiple interactions that RES projects have with rural communities as well as identify potential intervention points for future projects. We end the paper with a discussion of the implications of the model and how can it be used to inform future rural energy decision making.

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Section: Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

et al. 2016

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“…In fact, the lack of access to energy indicates a deficient situation as regards lowering poverty and accelerating development [2], but climate change issues have emerged due to greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fossil fuels [3]. Therefore, a longer dependence on such fuels in national conventional sources of energy and their supply network, combined with high primary investment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Renewable Energy Drive Sustainable Economic Growth? Multivariate Panel Data Evidence for EU-28 Countries

2017

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Abstract:Energy is crucial to economic progress, but the contemporary worldwide population increase that demands greater energy generated from conventional exhaustible resources, an energy price upsurge, and environmental concerns, imperils sustainable economic growth. Nevertheless, switching to renewable energy produced from naturally replenished resources promotes energy security, likewise addressing issues such as global warming and climate change. This paper aims at exploring the influence and causal relation between renewable energy, both overall and by type, and sustainable economic growth of European Union (EU)-28 countries for the period of 2003-2014. We notice that the mean share of renewable energy in the gross final energy consumption is 15%, while the mean share of renewable energy in transport fuel consumption is 3%, which are below the thresholds of 20% and 10%, respectively, as set by the EU Directive 2009/28/EC. By estimating panel data fixed-effects regression models, the results provide support for a positive influence of renewable energy overall, as well as by type, namely biomass, hydropower, geothermal energy, wind power, and solar energy on gross domestic product per capita. However, biomass energy shows the highest influence on economic growth among the rest of renewable energy types. In fact, a 1% increase of the primary production of solid biofuels increases GDP per capita by 0.16%. Besides, cointegrating regressions set on panel fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares regressions confirm the positive influence related to the primary production of renewable energies on economic growth. A 1% increase in primary production of renewable energies increases GDP per capita by 0.05%-0.06%. However, the results of Granger causality based on panel vector error correction model indicate both in short-run and long-run a unidirectional causal relationship running from sustainable economic growth to the primary production of renewable energies, being supported the conservation hypothesis.

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“…Many studies attempted to evaluate the performance of DES by focusing on a given community (geography), on single energy technology, and only on 'social-economic', 'socio-technology', or 'ecological-technology' aspects (Schäfer et al 2011;Terrapon-Pfaff et al 2014).…”

Section: Research Gaps and Contributions Of The Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The performance of DES depends on the political setting, socio-cultural tradition and cooperation among multiple stakeholders, legal rules and regulations (Terrapon-Pfaff et al 2014;Wirth 2014; USAID/ARE 2011). Participation is a key factor and reduces "bureaucracy and transaction costs" (Gollwitzer 2014).…”

Section: Social Factors and Decentralized Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Decentralized Energy in Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus in Developing Countries: Case Studies on Successes and Failures

et al. 2015

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. We would like to thank Prof. Joachim von Braun for his guidance and important suggestions. Terms of use: Documents inWe would also like to thank Dr. Manfred Denich and Dr. Nicolas Gerber for their insightful comments and suggestions on the paper. We also express our appreciation to Dr. Katharina Gallant for editorial assistance. AbstractAccess to modern energy is vital for sustainable development. In rural areas, decentralized energy solutions may play a significant role in reducing poverty, supporting community institutions and facilitating the generation of basic services such as communication, water access, education and health services. However, the majority of dwellers in off-grid communities in developing countries have little or no access to modern energy technologies, although they are endowed with a vast potential of renewable energy resources.Decentralized energy solutions could serve as an option to solve this energy access problem.However, the previous literature indicates that there are financial, technical, infrastructural, and institutional constraints to scale up decentralized energy options. This paper seeks to study the underlying factors behind the successes and failures of household-and community-based decentralized energy technologies through local case studies from different parts of the world, analyzed through the lenses of the Water-Energy-Food Security (WEF) nexus. First, the paper reviews the literature on the main benchmarks used to evaluate the success and failure of community-based energy. Second, the conceptual framework relating decentralized energy to the WEF nexus elements is briefly described.Thirdly, the methods and data used in the paper are described, followed by the presentation of the case studies. Lastly, the paper is concluded by drawing policy lessons and recommendations. Further empirical studies are recommended to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of decentralized energy solutions on the welfare of households and communities within the framework of the Water-Energy-Food nexus.

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A cross-sectional review: Impacts and sustainability of small-scale renewable energy projects in developing countries

Cited by 156 publications

References 17 publications

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

Does Renewable Energy Drive Sustainable Economic Growth? Multivariate Panel Data Evidence for EU-28 Countries

Decentralized Energy in Water-Energy-Food Security Nexus in Developing Countries: Case Studies on Successes and Failures

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