Nov 27 2016
Interview with Shazia Khan Co-founder and Executive Director, Eco Energy, an off-grid company in Pakistan Location: Washington, DC and Pakistan “Instead of thinking like a manufacturer, I ask how I can best meet people’s needs” In 2010, less than a year after Shazia Khan co-founded Eco Energy, devastating floods hit Pakistan. Through her non-profit organisation, …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/raising-us1-million-equity-take-off-grid-energy-pakistan-next-level/
Nov 23 2016
PUNTA CANA: At an international workshop organised by the Smart Villages Initiative and the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic there was unanimous agreement on the potential of renewable energy in its various forms—solar, wind, biomass and mini-hydro—to play a major role in both rural development and enhancing the climatic resilience of off-grid communities …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/off-grid-innovation-already-impacting-rural-development-climatic-resilience-across-central-america-caribbean-mexico/
Nov 17 2016
At an international workshop organised by the Smart Villages Initiative and the Academy of Sciences of the Dominican Republic delegates will discuss how renewable energy can play a major role in both rural development and enhancing the climatic resilience of off-grid communities in Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. Opened by Vice Minister Ernesto Villa …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/international-workshop-highlights-key-role-sustainable-energy-rural-development-climatic-resilience-off-grid-communities-central-america-caribbean-mexico/
Oct 29 2016
The discussions in both state-level workshops in India discussed in this report revealed that the biggest gains from an integrated sustainability solution for the smart city-smart village linkage would be to address the challenge of youth unemployment in both rural and informal urban communities. The introduction of disruptive technologies that generate the opportunity for rural youth to learn new skills—installing and maintaining rural …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/workshop-report-india-state-level/
Oct 10 2016
Smart Villages is pleased to announce the launch of the Off-grid Energy Challenge for West Africa. Building on the success of annual East African competitions in collaboration with the Cambridge Development Initiative, this inaugural West African competition challenges entrepreneurs to tell us how they want to grow their existing businesses. Winners will work with consultant …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/smart-villages-launches-off-grid-energy-challenge-west-africa/
Sep 29 2016
[:en]Agriculture continues to be central to the lives and economies of rural communities in India. Many of those communities have little or no access to modern energy services. These realities motivated the holding of the workshop “Energy and agriculture for smart villages in India” in September 2016 at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, Telangana, India. The workshop …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/findings-workshop-energy-agriculture-smart-villages-india/
Jul 25 2016
A major objective of the Smart Villages Initiative is to raise public awareness of rural energy access issues, sustainable energy technologies, and entrepreneurial approaches to energy in the developing world. In line with this objective, the Smart Villages Initiative, in partnership with the Green Building Council of Paraguay, held an international media dialogue for media professionals in Asuncion, Paraguay, …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/workshop-report-paraguay-media/
Jun 15 2016
Interview with Vernie Sannoo, Managing Director Barefoot Power India Location: India; Barefoot Power is active in the global south “The only barrier is affordability.” While Vernie Sannoo didn’t found Barefoot Power India, he has a rich experience in sales and marketing for rural energy, rural distribution, and overall business operations that he uses to help continue to …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/interview-with-vernie-sannoo/
May 28 2016
[:en]There is substantial potential across West Africa to develop renewable energy resources for electricity generation. Despite the potential, a substantial portion of the population across the region remains without access to electricity. For cooking, a large majority of the population remains dependent on using biomass as the basic fuel in rudimentary cook stoves to meet …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/westafricabrief/
May 15 2016
[:en]2.5 million people in Bolivia live without a clean and sustainable energy source, and rely on diesel, kerosene, and candles for lighting. Many of them live in remote rural communities. The Political Constitution of Bolivia establishes that access to electricity is a citizen’s right, and the country aims to be fully electrified by 2025. To examine the opportunities and challenges of achieving universal energy access in …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/findings-workshop-sustainable-energy-sources-off-grid-communities-bolivia/
May 12 2016
South Asian governments would do well to integrate off-grid with grid options in their quest to achieve universal electrification, says a new study. “The governments prefer to extend the grid even to those regions in which renewable energy sources are available in plenty,” says Debajit Palit, associate director, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/off-grids-can-power-south-asian-electrification/
May 05 2016
[:en]Key Points: Off-grid technology can catalyse sustainable development for even the 1.1 billion without electricity in the remotest “last mile” communities Bottom-up approach key to achieving SDG7 Energy Access for All Goal Hub and spoke models combining hybrid mini-grids and solar home systems can provide starting point Governments need to create integrated off-grid and grid …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/new-report-claims-off-grid-smart-villages-can-deliver-sustainable-path-rural-development/
Apr 30 2016
The Smart Villages Initiative organised a workshop on access to, and use of, renewable energy sources for rural communities in Bolivia on April 28, 2016, in La Paz, Bolivia to facilitate analysis and exchange of experiences of electrification of off-grid rural communities in Bolivia. The workshop brought together representatives of the public sector, international, and regional …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/sustainable-energy-sources-off-grid-rural-communities-bolivia-opportunities-challenges-perspectives/
Apr 09 2016
[:en]Co-authored by a science journalist and an energy researcher, WGSI’s OpenAccess Energy Brief is an engaging overview of energy access issues that identifies challenges, knowledge gaps and opportunities. This version incorporates feedback collected by our advisory group who met in October 2015 to evaluate version 1 of the Brief and Summit goals. This version of …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/open-access-energy/
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/
Jun 22 2015
Ed- How can science and research help bridge the gap in energy access for some 1.3 billion people living in off-grid communities worldwide? Anna gives her report after attending the Smart Villages Seoul Media Workshop. A potential solution lies in mapping on-ground activities of prototype ‘smart villages’ that use off-grid electrification solutions to deliver energy, …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/more-applied-research-news-needed-on-off-grid-smart-villages/
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/
Mar 31 2015
We are poised on the brink of a unique moment the history of electricity supply where decentralised networks are set to rapidly expand, fulfilling the needs of the worlds poor. This is the bold conclusion from a group of researchers based at Berkeley, lead by Dr. Dan Kammen. Their recent perspective piece, published in Nature …
Permanent link to this article: https://e4sv.org/past-the-pilot-stage-for-off-grid-energy/
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/