scholarly journals Microgrids for Micro-Communities: Reducing the Energy Burden in Rural Areas

2019 ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Michalski
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
System Development ◽  
Renewable Generation ◽  
Renewable Portfolio Standards ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The North ◽  
Regulatory Changes

Rural communities currently face some of the highest energy costs and lowest reliability in the country, due in part to long transmission distances and low population densities. The North American Supergrid (“NAS”) has been proposed as a solution for increased grid stability, resiliency, and renewable generation with decreased carbon emissions and energy cost across the lower 48 states. Although the NAS could help with these energy goals, it is likely that benefits of the NAS would bypass many rural or isolated communities outside of the transmission step-down points. As the NAS will not help rural communities, states can take regulatory action aimed at promoting microgrid systems of locally generated renewable energy. Remote communities in Alaska have already taken advantage of microgrid systems, and Alaska’s microgrid policies could serve as a model for rural communities in the lower 48. This Note proposes regulatory changes to states’ microgrid policies, based on Alaska’s policies, to bolster renewable generation based microgrid system development for rural communities by (1) identifying and clearly defining important factors affecting microgrid implementation, (2) setting high renewable portfolio standards, (3) increasing financial investment, and (4) collaborating with other states and interest groups to share information. By considering Alaska’s policies as a prototype, states across the country can increase rural residents’ access to affordable energy.

scholarly journals Influence of Wind Turbines on Farmlands’ Value: Exploring the Behaviour of a Rural Community through the Decision Tree

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9630
Author(s):  
Giovanni Ottomano Palmisano ◽  
Annalisa De Boni ◽  
Rocco Roma ◽  
Claudio Acciani
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Decision Tree ◽  
Rural Community ◽  
Wind Turbines ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Main Factors

The relationship between wind energy and rural areas leads to the controversial debate on the effects declared by rural communities after wind farms or single turbines are operative. The literature on this topic lacks dedicated studies analysing how the behaviour of rural communities towards wind turbines can affect the market value of farmlands. This research aims to examine to the extent to which the easement of wind turbines can influence the market value of farmlands in terms of willingness to pay (WTP) by a small rural community, and to identify the main factors affecting the WTP. Starting from data collected via face-to-face interviews, a decision tree is then applied to investigate the WTP for seven types of farmland in a rural town of Puglia Region (Southern Italy) hosting a wind farm. Results of the interviews show a broad acceptance of the wind farm, while the decision tree classification shows a significant reduction of WTP for all farmlands. The main factors influencing the WTP are the education level, the possibility to increase the income, the concerns for impacts on human health and for maintenance workmen. National and local policy measures have to be put in place to inform rural communities about the ‘magnitude’ of the effects they identified as crucial, so that policy-makers and private bodies will contribute to make the farmland market more equitable.

scholarly journals Effect of population dynamics on Livelihood Security in rural Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
pp. 45-67
Author(s):  
Thanuksha Abeywardana
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Livelihood Security ◽  
Head Count

Out of 20.82 million total population of Sri Lanka, 81.70% of the population lives in rural areas (Quandl, 2015). From 2005 to 2016 government expenditure for agriculture based actions shows the trend of decreasing while the development policy gradually changes the path from agricultural based economy to an industrial based economy over last few decades. However, poverty head count measures in 2006/2007 of Sri Lanka indicate that the percentage of people living in poverty in the rural sector is significant and the percentage of underweight children in rural areas is 38.3%, which is considerably higher than that of urban areas (29.9%). Thus, this status brought about the primary research question of how does the country achieve livelihood security. Thus, the objectives of this research are, to examine the factors affecting livelihood security and to understand the view of rural communities’ population dynamics on livelihood security. The research was carried out in mixed research design. The results show that access to livelihood resources also was not affected by gender, age, education and household income. However, in the analysis, both males and females were dissatisfied with the access to livelihood resources. Thus, in forming and implementation of development policies Sri Lanka needs to ensure community livelihood security. 

ЗНАЧЕННЯ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРНОГО ЗАБЕЗПЕЧЕННЯ ІННОВАЦІЙНО-ІНВЕСТИЦІЙНИХ ПРОЦЕСІВ У РОЗВИТКУ СІЛЬСЬКИХ ТЕРИТОРІЙ В УМОВАХ КОНКУРЕНТНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ

2022 ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Іван Іванович Петрецький
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
New Business ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
Competitive Economy

The article provides insights into implications of modern competitive economy for the national economic development and argues that in the new business realia it is critical to search for internal reserves for socioeconomic growth at all levels of administrative and territorial entities including socioeconomic development of rural areas based on natural, technological, human and other factors aimed at attaining competitive advantages. The study demonstrates that in the context of innovation and investment processes, building appropriate infrastructure is the priority objective to boost rural areas development. Such approach will contribute to creating an attractive investment environment, shaping an innovative structure of rural areas able to provide a full chain of creating and disseminating innovations and new technologies in production, enhance investment and innovation capacity of rural areas, modernization and change of territorial industries. The study identifies the terms and determinants in building effective infrastructure support for facilitating innovation and investment process of rural development and its properties that arise within the competitive economy paradigm. Apart from that, the study presents a framework of endogenous and exogenous factors affecting the infrastructure support for innovation and investment processes to foster rural development in Ukraine. The following factors are discussed as the most critical ones: legal, financial, investment-based, organizational, managerial, psychological, motivational, economic, consulting, informational, professional, scientific, industrial, technological, marketing, socioeconomic, etc. The summary outlines the key vectors of institutional, organizational and economic transformation that will promote building effective infrastructure support for further innovative development of rural areas.

scholarly journals Exploration of the views of traditional healers regarding the Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) law

Curationis ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Rakhudu ◽  
AMM Mmelesi ◽  
CPH Myburgh ◽  
M Poggenpoel
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Traditional Healers ◽  
Termination Of Pregnancy ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Educational Programmes ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Field Notes

The North-West Province is predominantly a rural area, and traditional healers remain the most important and influential members of the rural communities. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used. In-depth, individual focused and interactive interviews were held with eight traditional healers from the rural areas of Mmabatho-Mafikeng. In addition, field notes and observations were utilised. The objective of this article is to explore the views of the traditional healers regarding termination of pregnancy (TOP) law. The results reflected the following themes: termination of pregnancy is killing; a child is a precious gift from God and the ancestors; there are alternatives to TOP; people who had any type of abortion should be cleansed with “dipitsa” or herbs; TOP may be allowed only in case of rape and incest, rape and incest offenders should be severely punished; and the traditional healers were not consulted during formulation of the TOP Law. It is therefore recommended that traditional should be involved in TOP workshops and educational programmes to enable them to provide counselling before and after abortion.

scholarly journals New Assessment of Development Status among the People Living in Rural Areas: an Alternative Approach for Rural Vitality

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-192
Author(s):  
Costică Mihai ◽  
Simona-Roxana Ulman ◽  
Mihaela David
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Development Index ◽  
Development Status ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Individual

In the process of development, the rural areas meet a wide range of economic, environmental and social challenges. This study theoretically discusses the concept of rural development and attempts to evaluate the development status among the people living in rural areas. In this scope, we propose the personal rural development index (PRDI), which is composed to, on one hand, an individual dimension and, on the other hand, a community one, related to different aspects of rural vitality. In this regard, three socio-economic components, namely economy, education – including a sub-dimension regarding culture, and health – with an environment sub-dimension were considered. These dimensions are influenced by the rural activities, especially the agricultural ones, that generates, nearby the economic results, as main objective for the individual or economic agent, also a set of economic, social or environmental externalities, from the category of public goods and of which both the stable and transitional residents of the area benefit. So, the complexity of the personal rural development index is high, aiming to put into light both individual and public components. The data used was obtained through a survey applied in seven rural communities from the North-East Region of Romania.

scholarly journals Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural America

2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 2019378118
Author(s):  
J. Tom Mueller ◽  
Kathryn McConnell ◽  
Paul Berne Burow ◽  
Katie Pofahl ◽  
Alexis A. Merdjanoff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Exogenous Shock ◽  
The North ◽  
Scientific Attention

Despite considerable social scientific attention to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on urbanized areas, very little research has examined its impact on rural populations. Yet rural communities—which make up tens of millions of people from diverse backgrounds in the United States—are among the nation’s most vulnerable populations and may be less resilient to the effects of such a large-scale exogenous shock. We address this critical knowledge gap with data from a new survey designed to assess the impacts of the pandemic on health-related and economic dimensions of rural well-being in the North American West. Notably, we find that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural populations have been severe, with significant negative impacts on unemployment, overall life satisfaction, mental health, and economic outlook. Further, we find that these impacts have been generally consistent across age, ethnicity, education, and sex. We discuss how these findings constitute the beginning of a much larger interdisciplinary COVID-19 research effort that integrates rural areas and pushes beyond the predominant focus on cities and nation-states.

scholarly journals DO SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL BACKYARD FARMERS’ HOUSEHOLDS DRIVE INCOME GENERATION FROM BACKYARD FARMING? EVIDENCE FROM NORTH WEST PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-307
Author(s):  
Neo Mokone ◽  
Michael Antwi ◽  
Clarietta Chagwiza
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Household Head ◽  
Income Generation ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
North West Province ◽  
Formal Employment

People in most developing countries’ rural areas around the world face food insecurity and malnutrition due to many factors, including low purchasing power. There is renewed interest in backyard or home gardens as a source of income and a pathway out of poverty and food insecurity among rural households. This paper identifies and analyzes the factors that influence income generation from backyard farming among backyard farmers in the rural communities of Bojanala district municipality in the North West province. Using a structured questionnaire, cross-sectional data was collected from 220 backyard farmers. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the data; the findings reveal that gender of household head, formal employment, farm ownership, farming experience and annual income from livestock had a positive and significant influence on income generation from backyard farming. To maximize the potential of backyard gardens as a source of income generation and livelihood, policymakers and relevant government departments must pay close attention to these variables

scholarly journals Determining Local Economic Development in the Rural Areas of Romania. Exploring the Role of Exogenous Factors

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru Pavel ◽  
Octavian Moldovan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Urban Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
The European Union ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Exogenous Factors

Based on data collected for 398 communes from the North-West development region of Romania between 2007 and 2014, this article presents a local economic development (LED) index for rural communities and identifies the main factors which influence LED in these communities. Our results show that exogenous factors, such as location in the influence area of urban communities and the existence of a direct connection to the European Road Network, influence the level of LED. At the same time nor the aforementioned exogenous factors nor other exogenous factors, such as non-refundable investments programs in local core infrastructure (financed by the European Union and the Romanian Government) which were designed to accelerate/spur economic development, as well as direct connections to the National Roads Network, do not have any statistically significant influence on spurring/accelerating LED (at least in this short period of time).

scholarly journals The Influence of Input Availability and Market Access on Industrial Growth: A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation

1977 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-249
Author(s):  
Steven E. Hastings ◽  
Frank M. Goode
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Educational Facilities ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
The Public

The Report of the President's Task Force on Rural Development, issued in 1970, makes recommendations as to what might be done in the public and private sectors to stimulate the economic and social development of the rural communities of America. Although these recommendations include such things as financial investment, expanding educational facilities and programs to increase the nutritional level in rural communities, the report maintains that the creation of employment opportunities in rural communities is a most essential part of their economic and social development. Since manufacturing activities are one possible source of jobs in rural areas, it is relevant to determine what factors influence the growth (location of new establishments or expansion of existing ones) of manufacturing industries in rural areas.

scholarly journals Preparing Students in Professional Programs for Rural Practice: A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Brook ◽  
Neil Hobbs ◽  
Denise Neumann-Fuhr ◽  
Anne O'Riordan ◽  
Meagan Troop ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Interprofessional Collaboration ◽  
Rural Practice ◽  
Working Relationships ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Professional Programs ◽  
Rural Settings

Understanding the supports and constraints available in rural communities is integral to the education of professionals who choose to practise in rural settings. Previous research has indicated that many professionals do not have an accurate understanding of rural contexts and how rural settings impact personal life and professional practice. To address this gap, an interprofessional course centring on professional practice in rural and remote communities was developed. This course was designed to be reflective of rural practice, not only in content but also in the way the course was delivered. Findings from this case study indicated that students’ understanding of the complexity of rural settings was enhanced on multiple levels. The interactive and experiential nature of the course allowed students to develop working relationships that increased both their understanding of the value of interprofessional collaboration as well as the professional opportunities that are available in rural areas.  

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