• Energy Research

In this paper, we explore the practices and spaces of mobile phone charging in The Gambia and Sierra Leone through the lens of 'electricity scarcity‘ as a means to conceptualise electricity access in West Africa. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is seen as the leading authority on the state of global energy access, and is frequently cited by government and non-government bodies. We, however, suggest that the IEA‘s quantitative and binary framing of electricity access is analytically problematic for understanding energy poverty. Using ethnographic methods, including observation and semi-structured interviews, we provide insights into the changing socio-technological, socio-political and socio-economic dimensions of mobile phone charging including its relationship with the built environment. Comparing mobile phone charging in The Gambia and Sierra Leone, clearly shows that the notion of absolute electricity scarcity which is promulgated by IEA statistics only offers a limited picture of energy poverty, especially at the locale. Instead, drawing on political ecology scholarship, we propose a concept of political electricity scarcity as an approach enables a more human-centred and nuanced understanding of how energy poverty operates or is mitigated through community-based structures or at a household level. By reframing energy poverty issues through this lens, we are able to illustrate the role that political economy dynamics play in shaping the electricity flows in rural Sub-Saharan Africa and who ultimately gets what kind of electricity access.

Abstract Technological advances are increasing interest in the potential role of information and communication technologies (ict) in enabling quality education outcomes in Africa. At present, however, the geographies of ict use in Africa is poorly understood, and ict education policy development has occurred in a relative empirical void. Relevant studies have largely been focused on wealthier African nations, largely neglecting poorer regions where education issues are most acute. This article works to address this lacuna. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork, it provides a detailed snapshot of ict use in education in the northern Sierra Leonean district of Koinadugu. We subsequently argue that a lack of access to electricity, along with limited numbers of qualified teaching staff, presents fundamental barriers for realizing ict use in classroom settings. Nevertheless, we also identify some promising trends with respect to the informal use of mobile Internet by teachers and students to augment learning in the classroom.

Abstract With Sustainable Development Goal 7, the United Nations has declared its ambition to ensure access to modern energy for all by 2030. Aside from broad appeals to differentiated responsibilities and 'greener' technologies, however, the goal leaves significant procedural questions unaddressed. This paper argues that the basic orientation of this approach is problematic, undermining possibilities for progress toward energy justice and equitable development. First, in framing the issue of global energy distribution in broad techno-managerial terms it obscures how particular geographies of energy poverty have been shaped by critical political economic influences. Second, in privileging modern forms of energy and focusing on an end state of universal adoption, over a broader goal of eliminating energy poverty, the approach of SDG7 presents tangible hazards to many of those it seeks to benefit. Using a case study of Sierra Leonean rural cooking energy policy, we demonstrate how the underlying mentality of SDG7 feeds into existing discourses that marginalise producers and users of 'traditional' energy sources, threatening important livelihoods. With such evidence, we argue that for justice in energy policy to be realised holistically, there is a need to question how our knowledge of energy ‘problems’ have emerged to avoid epistemologically autarchic policy positions.

Abstract In this article, I develop a political ecology analysis of Vanuatu’s grid electricity policies, with a specific focus on Espiritu Santo Island. I show how the global political economy looms large in shaping the island’s energy geographies. Colonial legacies, ideologically conflictive donor aid programmes, multinational corporate legal discords, parliamentary political caprices and the vicissitudes of the local environment all intersect to shape the spatial dynamics of electricity access that raises numerous energy justice concerns. The development of the island’s electricity infrastructure is not neutral; rather, it is a socio-technical product of these political economy mediations.

Abstract Over the past two decades there has been a proliferation of energy kiosks across Africa and other parts of the developing world. Typically drawing on solar power, these enterprises provide services such as mobile phone and lantern recharging to (largely) rural communities with limited or no other access to electricity. This article develops a broad analytical framework for evaluating the outcomes of energy kiosks, taking into consideration long-term commercial viability, positive community impacts, the dissemination of improved lighting products, and the provision of credit. Using three energy kiosks as case studies, this article applies the developed framework to critically evaluate a NGO's energy kiosk programme in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Abstract In 2013, Mexico’s energy law was fundamentally changed, facilitating increased private and foreign investment into the Mexican energy industry. As a part of this energy reform, the Mexican Government has also started to promote unconventional gas extraction across the north-east of Mexico, including a private sector tendered process that commenced in early 2018. These changes have been met with opposition from rural social movements, looking to defend their territory and livelihoods against megaprojects. As a part of these initiatives, unconventional gas projects have been dubbed as being part of Los Proyectos de Muerte, a term coined by rural activists to critique the environmental and social impacts of gas pipelines, large-scale extraction projects, and hydroelectric dam megaprojects across Mexico. Death (Muerte) referring to impacts on: human health, the more-than-human, and the cosmological worlds of different rural communities. In this paper, we critically examine the notion of unconventional gas expansion in Mexico as being Proyectos de Muerte. focusing on justice concerns that have emerged. To inform this analysis, we draw upon interviews with organisations associated with unconventional gas developments and communities potentially affected by these projects, as well as private consultants, advocates and activists.

Historically, ‘energy poverty’ in Sub-Saharan Africa has been understood in relatively static terms and its solutions largely understood as a modernist state-led project of expanding centralised distribution to achieve a coordinated ‘transition’ from traditional fuels. In recent decades, however, political economies of energy in the region have exhibited considerable dynamism, changing what energy poverty looks like. The rapid dissemination of mobile phones, for example, has meant that most households now require near daily access to some form of electricity, inducing creative local responses. As well, with increased Sino-African trade, a plethora of cheap lighting products such as dry-cell battery torches and small-scale solar products have become widely available, reducing consumer interest in kerosene lamps and fuel. Finally, charcoal has emerged as a key cooking fuel for growing urban populations—introducing a new/expanded source of rural revenue while disrupting a decades long official campaign to induce ‘transition’ from firewood to LPG. We demonstrate how these particular changes are occurring through the example of dynamics in Sierra Leone in West Africa.