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Recently, development projects have provided support to governments to facilitate technology transfer for climate change adaptation and mitigation. These include the Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). In the TNA project, which was implemented in ten African countries from 2010 to 2013, dedicated government committees have prioritized climate change mitigation technologies and developed action plans for the diffusion of the selected technologies. The project results show that solar PV is high on the agenda in Africa. Six out of ten countries in the region prioritized solar PV, and action plans for the diffusion of solar home systems were put forward in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mali and Senegal, while the implementation of grid-connected systems was proposed in Rwanda, Mali and Senegal. The project reports and technology action plans prepared in these six countries are used as the basis for comparing how solar PV is perceived in these countries and how policy measures enabling environmental adjustments and investment programmes are being planned to promote diffusion of the technology in these different contexts. 1st Africa Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition Proceedings, AfricaPVSEC 2014

A Sendegeya, P J M Ssebuwufu and I P da SilvaMakerere University and Ssebuwufu Associates ; This paper discusses the socio-economic benefits of using biogas based on the experience of a long term user as a typical example. A floating drum type of digester was installed with a capacity of 6.5 m3 in the year 2000 at a total cost of US$ 1,830. The gas generated is used exclusively for cooking. For the user, his typical kitchen day consists of three meals for a household of 8 people. Prior to the installation of the biogas plant, the user was using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplied in 15 kg cylinders at an average cost of US$ 23 per cylinder and used to consume an average of 3 cylinders in 2 months bringing a monthly expenditure on the kitchen fuel of US$ 35 including transport costs for the cylinder. The user has now totally substituted LPG with biogas which translates into an annual average saving of US$ 420. At this rate of saving, the break-even point for the full recovery of the installation costs is about five years. Since installation the digester has not had any significant breakdown, so no major maintenance has been required. The water used for mixing the cow dung into slurry is harvested rainwater. Thus according to his experience it indicates that the use of biogas offers a substantial cost saving on domestic energy. In addition to the economic benefits, other benefits include increased organic agricultural production when the sludge is used as fertiliser. The use of the slurry as bio-fertiliser on his small vegetable farm (about 0.5 ha), has helped him to save money that would have been used to buy the imported artificial fertilisers. Fermenting the cow dung in a biogas digester instead of composting it in open air provides several other advantages, ranging from a foul odour-free environment to improvements in the general health conditions in the home. Thus, a reduction in the unhealthy smell from the compost dumps where the cow dung used to be deposited, as well as a reduction in free methane gas (one of the green house gases, GHG) which used to be emitted direct into the atmosphere by the decomposing dung. ; This paper discusses the socio-economic benefits of using biogas based on the experience of a long term user as a typical example. A floating drum type of digester was installed with a capacity of 6.5 m3 in the year 2000 at a total cost of US$ 1,830. The gas generated is used exclusively for cooking. For the user, his typical kitchen day consists of three meals for a household of 8 people. Prior to the installation of the biogas plant, the user was using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplied in 15 kg cylinders at an average cost of US$ 23 per cylinder and used to consume an average of 3 cylinders in 2 months bringing a monthly expenditure on the kitchen fuel of US$ 35 including transport costs for the cylinder. The user has now totally substituted LPG with biogas which translates into an annual average saving of US$ 420. At this rate of saving, the break-even point for the full recovery of the installation costs is about five years. Since installation the digester has not had any significant breakdown, so no major maintenance has been required. The water used for mixing the cow dung into slurry is harvested rainwater. Thus according to his experience it indicates that the use of biogas offers a substantial cost saving on domestic energy. In addition to the economic benefits, other benefits include increased organic agricultural production when the sludge is used as fertiliser. The use of the slurry as bio-fertiliser on his small vegetable farm (about 0.5 ha), has helped him to save money that would have been used to buy the imported artificial fertilisers. Fermenting the cow dung in a biogas digester instead of composting it in open air provides several other advantages, ranging from a foul odour-free environment to improvements in the general health conditions in the home. Thus, a reduction in the unhealthy smell from the compost dumps where the cow dung used to be deposited, as well as a reduction in free methane gas (one of the green house gases, GHG) which used to be emitted direct into the atmosphere by the decomposing dung.

This research determines the effects of ICT (Information and Communication Technology ) on the upcoming generation of urban and suburban communities. For this study, private schools in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan are chosen. First of all, trainings are conducted at selected area. Based on the trainings, the tests are prepared and then students are examined. It was found that if proper management of ICT tools are put in place, the students exhibits more tendencies towards the understanding and application of ICT tools. Moreover, the interviews with different stakeholders are made to validate the findings

Production of indigenous African leafy vegetables such as African nightshade (Solanum scabrum Mill.), whose high nutritional and medicinal value is well documented is still limited due to insufficient preharvest techniques. Electric current is known to improve quality in food crops. Therefore, in the present study, the effects of direct-electric-current (DC) on growth and characteristic bioactive and health promoting compounds were evaluated in different morphological sections, i.e., leaves and stems of African nightshade cv. Olevolosi. Six weeks old plants were exposed to different DC applied with a voltage of 8 and 16 V, 10 h/day for 12 days. Non-treated plants served as control. Plant growth, primary and secondary plant compounds were evaluated. Applying DC increased leaf fresh (11.5-14.4%) and dry (12.1-24.2%) weight as well as marketable leaves (29.1-55.3%). Biosynthesis of chlorophylls and carotenoids was enhanced by increased DC. Furthermore, dietary fibre fractions such as hemicellulose was promoted (23.3-45.3%) by DC applications, while cellulose and lignin remained unaffected. Minerals accumulated with increasing DC. Alteration of cell membrane permeability due to DC may enhance physiological processes leading to the improved growth and acceleration of bioactive compounds in African nightshade leaves. Journal of Applied Botany and Food Quality, Vol 89 (2016), p.49-55

This paper investigates the optimization of the electricity grid network in rural community of Chegutu district, in Zimbabwe. The Kruskal’s algorithm is used for the minimum spanning tree to carry out the optimization process.The project seeks to find how a network with a number of possible connections can have the least possible distance. The main objective of the optimization procedure is to minimize the total distance of the network connections, so as to minimize resources that are used when carrying out projects. Rural Electrification Agency has been failing to meet their targets for extension of the electricity grid network because of shortage of resources and input capital, thus the researcher adopts the idea of network optimization as a way of saving resources so that they can be used for other projects. The researcher used the algorithm to carry out the manual computation of the optimization process and also used C sharp programming language to create a code that is able to minimize the total distance of the network. In this dissertation the Kruskal’s algorithm has been translated into a simple model that can be easily used to map distances between nodes and vertices. The model presented in this dissertation help network service providers such as electricity, telephone and information technology to optimize their network resources so as to save money and resources for other uses in the future. The optimisation process shows that a total of 74km of 11kV power line could be saved from the network.