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Sep 15 2015
More than one billion people in the world still do not have electricity. Over three billion cook on dirty, inefficient and harmful stoves and four million people die prematurely each year as a result. The UN’s Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative aims to achieve universal access to modern energy services by 2030. The Smart …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/southeast-asia-media-dialogue-seoul-workshop-report/
Sep 01 2015
The Smart Villages Initiative held its second major international workshop in Kuching, then capital city of Sarawak, Malaysia in January 2015. The workshop was the outcome of a collaboration between the Smart Villages Initiative, Akademi Sains Malaysia (the Malaysian Academy of Sciences) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). It brought together a diverse group of around …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/findings-from-the-kuching-smart-villages-workshop/
Aug 19 2015
What are the characteristic features of a smart village? How might progression towards a smart village model improve lives in those communities? This brief provides a vision for improving the lives of rural villagers based on the smart villages concept (a rural analogue to smart cities). It also explores two prototypical case studies in Malaysia …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/a-vision-for-smart-villages/
Aug 17 2015
Whilst gender inequality is not something that can be solved purely by energy access, with the Smart Villages Initiative’s integrated vision for energy in rural villages, we can aim towards a coordinated and effective approach to gender in rural development more broadly and have a positive effect on the fight against gender inequality. This report …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-the-gender-and-energy-context/
Jul 31 2015
Opinion pieces from experts tackling the idea of energy as a catalyst for sustainable development – health, food security, education gender equality, governance, security and employment. Smart Villages: New Thinking for off-grid communities worldwide comprises 16 essays written by scientists and leading thinkers from around the world. 1.3 billion people worldwide still lack access to …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/book-of-collected-essays-from-world-experts-released/
Jul 27 2015
[:en]Smart Villages presents 16 essays by leading scientists and thinkers, providing policy makers, donors and development agencies concerned with rural energy access with new insights on the barriers to energy access in villages in developing countries – technological, financial and political – and explores opportunities and efforts to overcome them. The book describes the personal …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-new-thinking-for-off-grid-communities-worldwide/
Jul 18 2015
This policy brief summarises key gender issues associated with rural energy access for development and establishing smart villages. It draws on a more detailed technical report (Welland, 2015) which identifies the reports and papers on which this review has been based.
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-and-gender/
Jul 16 2015
Nepal’s energy situation reflects its challenging terrain (over 75% mountainous) and very low income levels (UNDP, 2013). About 25% of Nepal’s 26.5 million people live below the poverty line, which varies by region but averaged 19,261 NPR per year (or about USD 0.75 per day) in FY 2010/2011 (Central Bureau of Satistics, 2012). The nation …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/energy-for-off-grid-villages-in-nepal-and-the-role-of-minigrids/
Jul 09 2015
Project aims to provide rationale for wider investment in last mile communities throughout the developing world as new Sustainable Development Goals come into operation The Smart Villages Initiative today announced that it has completed the first phase of a specially designed study to quantify and understand the impact of sustainable modern energy access on rural …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-completes-first-phase-of-ground-breaking-study-into-the-impact-of-sustainable-energy-access-in-remote-off-grid-rwandan-village-2/
Jul 07 2015
This paper uses Practical Action’s experiences with micro-hydro schemes to connect global nexus debates to the experiences of and solutions for remote off-grid communities and smallholder farmers. Through examples in Peru, Nepal, and Zimbabwe we exemplify the need for an integrated approach to energy, water, and food security. We show that decentralized energy provision has …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/the-energy-water-food-nexus-at-decentralized-scales/
Jul 07 2015
There is a growing interest in how to deliver energy services to people on a low income, not just for household use but to earn a living: the so-called ‘productive uses’ of energy. One sector that deserves particular attention is smallholder agriculture. Expanding access to modern energy services and equipment for farmers could help address …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/growing-power-exploring-energy-needs-in-smallholder-agriculture/
Apr 30 2015
The Smart Villages Initiative, working with its local partner Practical Action Consulting South Asia, held a workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal on 10th April 2015. The aim of the workshop was to learn lessons from Nepal’s experience of micro/mini-hydroelectric schemes for off-grid rural communities and associated initiatives to stimulate productive enterprises which could be shared with …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-in-nepal-kathmandu-workshop-report/
Apr 28 2015
The Smart Villages Initiative together with its local partner, Practical Action Consulting South Asia, held a workshop in Kathmandu on 10th April 2015 to consider off-grid energy systems in Nepal. The workshop focused on Nepal’s substantial experience of micro/mini-hydro schemes, and on initiatives to stimulate productive enterprises enabled by the availability of sustainable electricity supplies. …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/findings-from-the-nepal-smart-villages-workshop/
Apr 14 2015
Smart Villages and Practical Action Consulting off-grid village energy workshop in Nepal highlights key role of mini-hydro schemes In the latest of a series of workshops across the SE Asia region, the Smart Villages Initiative and Practical Action Consulting brought together a diverse cross-section of participants in the Nepali off-grid energy sector. The Smart Villages …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/off-grid-village-energy-workshop-in-nepal-highlights-key-role-of-mini-hydro-schemes/
Mar 16 2015
Approximately 360 million people in India lack adequate access to grid-electricity and another 20 million households receive less than four hours of electricity per day. To help close this gap, the Government of India has set a target of generating 100 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. But while grid connectivity is expected to improve …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/the-business-case-for-off-grid-energy-in-india/
Mar 16 2015
The Smart Villages Energy Innovation Challenge, launching today, challenges young East African entrepreneurs to form teams and come up with imaginative ways of distributing or implementing novel or existing energy technologies for off-grid villages. Each team should include one engineer or scientist. The teams with the best entries will win a spot in the Cambridge …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/energy-innovation-challenge/
Feb 13 2015
Universal electricity access – one of the targets of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative for 2030 – will remain unachievable unless countries adopt a market-based approach to off-grid renewable energy deployment. This report highlights key findings and recommendations of the Second International Off-grid Renewable Energy Conference (IOREC 2014), organised by the International Renewable …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/accelerating-off-grid-renewable-energy-iorec-2014-key-findings-recommendations/
Feb 04 2015
This ‘State of Play’ ‘technical report provides a review of the literature relating to the issues around provision of electricity to off-grid villages in 2015. It summarises key challenges associated with the provision of electricity to off-grid villages, and views set out in the literature on the opportunities and required framework conditions to address those …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/electricity-off-grid-villages-overview-current-state-play/
Feb 02 2015
Innovation competitions for new technologies and business models are one tool used by policy makers in a range of contexts and countries to help businesses in new fields overcome practical barriers blocking progress between successful pilots and commercialisation. This brief note discusses competitions relevant to African off-grid energy and how they could be designed and …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/role-innovation-competitions-off-grid-energy-africa/
Jan 30 2015
Summary This report summarises the information presented at, and conclusions arising from, the second major international workshop of the Smart Villages Initiative. The workshop took place in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak, Malaysia, on the campus of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), and marked the beginning of a 12-month programme of engagement by the Smart …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/kuching-workshop-report/