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Biogas production is a clean renewable energy source that can improve lives in developing countries. However, winter temperatures in some areas are too low to enable enough biogas production in small unheated digesters to meet the energy requirements of households. Low-cost, high yield reactors adapted to the local climate are needed in those situations. A decision-support model was developed to assist in the design of biogas reactors capable of meeting households’ year-round energy needs. Monthly biogas production relative to household energy needs was calculated for the scenario of suburban Hanoi, Vietnam. Calculations included pig number, slurry (manure water mixture) dilution, retention time and biogas/solar heating. Although using biogas to heat the digester increased biogas production, it did not lead to an energy surplus, particularly with the 1:9 slurry dilution rate commonly used on pig farms. However, at a 1:3 slurry dilution, the use of solar heating to provide 90% and biogas 10% of the heat required to heat the digester to 35 °C improved the biogas production by 50% compared to psychrophilic production. The energy needs of an average five-person family throughout the year required 17 fattening pigs. This model can establish the best solution for producing sufficient energy throughout the year.

SummaryAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID‐19 pandemic has been the greatest challenge to humanity since World War II. Spain is one of the countries experiencing severe consequences from the COVID‐19 pandemic outbreak. In such a situation, when the population is quarantined, hospitals are crowded, and industries are shutting down; energy supply becomes a critical and “hard to predict” service. In this way, the study of the impact of COVID‐19 on the selling price of electricity in Spain is highlighted more comprehensively. Given the high level of uncertainty in global energy markets, there is a research gap that needs to be filled, that is, the creation of new decision support mechanisms that can reduce risks and ensure more significant forecasting for investments and energy management to deal with seemingly unprecedented effects experienced through the current pandemic. This study examines and develops econometric models to determine the impact of COVID‐19 on the Spanish electricity market. This article's main result is a framework that predicts the dynamic electricity market's behavior during shifting periods, that is, the COVID‐19 pandemic period. Noteworthy that the result of this article is useful in electricity market management and strategic developments.

Abstract Increasing fuel prices, concern about climate change and future energy security have led to tremendous global interest in the use of liquid biofuels in the transport sector which, in turn, has driven large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries for biofuel feedstock production. However, regardless of the vast nature of reported land deals and widespread concern about their potential negative consequences, implementation of most of the reported biofuel land deals in Ethiopia has not yet happened. Using a case study of large-scale jatropha plantation in Ethiopia, this paper examines the main causes underpinning the disappointing agronomic performance and finally termination of large-scale jatropha plantations. Although it has been argued that jatropha can be commercially grown well on marginal land without irrigation, this study indicates that moisture stress was the key factor in the failure of many large-scale jatropha plantations in Ethiopia. Furthermore, the use of untested planting material and conflict with local communities over the land were other important factors that contributed to termination of jatropha projects.

We analyze how countries with different institutional settings use natural resources for economic growth. For a panel of 159 countries over the period 1992–2010, we estimate how the effect of a permanent increase in the growth rate of GDP on the growth rate of resource use depends on political institutional quality. We study this relationship for total resource use and for its subclasses fossil fuels, biomass, non-metallic minerals, and metal ores. Our results show that the effect of an increase of economic growth on total resource use growth is higher for countries with higher political institutional quality. This result holds for the subclasses biomass and non-metallic minerals and in most specifications for metal ores. In contrast, we find no positive association for fossil fuels. We reconcile our results with endogenous growth theory and suggest technology and input prices as transmission channels. In this interpretation, our results highlight that institutions provide important framework conditions, but they are no general panacea to further decrease the resource dependency of economic growth.

Abstract Background Residents of informal settlements in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) are vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change. Little is known about the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of inhabitants of informal settlements in SSA regarding climate change and its health impacts. The aim of this study was to investigate how inhabitants of an informal settlement in SSA experience climate change and its health impacts and assess related knowledge, attitudes and practices. The study was conducted in Mukuru informal settlement in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in September 2021 using a structured, semi-closed KAP questionnaire. Inclusion criteria were ≥ 18 years of age and living in one of the three main sections in Mukuru: Kwa Njenga, Kwa Reuben or Viwandani. By spinning a pen at the geographic centre of each section, a random direction was selected. Then, in every second household one individual was interviewed, creating a representative mix of ages and genders of the local community. To assess participant characteristics associated with climate change knowledge multivariable logistic regression was used. Thematic content analysis was performed for qualitative responses. Results Out of 402 study participants, 76.4% (n = 307) had heard of climate change before the interview, 90.8% (n = 365) reported that climate change was affecting their community, and 92.6% (n = 372) were concerned with the health-related impact of climate change. Having lived in Mukuru for more than 10 years and living in a dwelling close to the riverside were factors significantly associated with having heard of climate change before (aOR 3.1, 95%CI 1.7 – 5.8 and aOR 2.6, 95%CI 1.1 – 6.1, respectively) and experiencing a climate change related impact on the community (aOR 10.7, 95%CI 4.0 – 28.4 and aOR 7.7; 95%CI 1.7 – 34.0, respectively). Chronic respiratory conditions, vector-borne diseases, including infectious diarrhoea, malnutrition and cardiovascular diseases were identified by respondents as climate related health risks. Conclusions Most respondents were knowledgeable about climate change and were experiencing its (health-related) impact on their community. This study provides insights which may prove useful for policy makers, intervention planners and researchers to work on locally adapted mitigation and adaption strategies.

The access to modern energy services are deeply embedded in most aspects of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of human development. In Mozambique, just a small fraction of the rural population has access to electricity, as the electrification process so far has relied on a leastcost approach, only inciting the development and extension of the national grid. As the population of rural off-grid communities are often highly dispersed, having low purchasing power, low technical skill etc., keeping current unilateral electrification approach, will mean that the many isolated communities will be left in the dark in the many years to come. This therefore calls forward the need to apprehend other approaches to make electricity accessible in the rural off-grid areas of Mozambique. In present thesis the opportunities and constraints of providing electricity to rural offgrid areas are assessed. Meeting the potential of the rural off-grid challenge, which Mozambique currently faces, takes outset in the establishment of community-based electrification pilot projects.

The goal of providing universal energy access to all by 2030 under the UN‐led SE4ALL initiative calls for new and innovative solutions to rural electrification and is fuelling the recent interest in mini‐grids. Mini‐grid solutions are emerging as a third alternative to rural electrification, coming between the option of large‐scale grid extension and pico‐scale stand‐alone solutions like solar home systems or solar lanterns. International expectations of mini‐grids are high, with the International Energy Agency suggesting that they will play a significant role in reaching the goal of universal access. Based on a detailed review of past, ongoing, and planned mini‐grids in East Africa, this study seeks to deconstructs the popular notion of mini‐grids for rural electrification in East Africa. The study reveals that so far activities carried out under the heading of mini‐grids to a large extent consist of the hybridization of existing utility‐owned electricity systems for medium‐size towns located far from the grid, which does not necessarily contribute to rural electrification. However, limited but increasing activity is identified regarding the use of mini‐grids to bring electricity to rural villages and smaller rural towns. This is of specific interest because it is for this type of mini‐grid that the main challenges are to be found with respect to identifying and testing adequate financing, ownership, and business models. Based on the trajectories identified for mini‐grids for rural electrification and the challenges identified in the literature, the study concludes by proposing three avenues for further research. WIREs Energy Environ 2016, 5:570–587. doi: 10.1002/wene.205This article is categorized under: Energy and Development > Systems and Infrastructure Energy and Development > Climate and Environment

Since no previous study assesses the relative efficacy of government versus private investment on energy consumption in South Asia under the reform initiatives, in this study, we try to fill this gap in a panel framework over the period 1980–2016. As the panel data shows cross-dependencies across the cross-sections, the Pesaran’s Cross-Sectionally Augmented Dickey–Fuller (CADF) and Cross-Sectionally Augmented IPS (CIPS) tests are used to check the stationary properties. Besides, a structural break augmented panel unit root is also done to find the stationary properties in the presence of structural breaks. The Durbin–Hausman test is further applied to identify the variables’ cointegrating relationship. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test finds a one-way causality between energy consumption and private investment but no causality between government investment and energy consumption. According to Pool Mean Group (PMG) Panel Autoregressive-Distributive Lag (ARDL) estimation results, there is no significant linkage between government and private investments and energy consumption in the absence of the reform initiatives. On the contrary, in energy sector reform, private investment efficiently stimulates energy consumption in the selected South Asian countries; however, government investment is ineffective in promoting energy consumption. We recommend that policymakers find an optimal institutional reform policy to improve government investment efficiency in South Asia.