scholarly journals Revitalization: Living Lab as a format for accelerating energy transition in Polish rural areas

2022 ◽  
pp. 155-184
Author(s):  
Bartosz Pietrzykowski ◽  
Gabriela Rembarz ◽  
Adam Cenian
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Living Lab

scholarly journals An inter-disciplinary approach to the energy transition in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Todd ◽  
Darren McCauley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Static Approach ◽  
Tackle Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuel Industry ◽  
Energy Justice

AbstractThe compelling need to tackle climate change is well-established. It is a challenge which is being faced by all nations. This requires an approach which is truly inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on the expertise of politicians, social scientists, and technologists. We report how the pace of the energy transition can be influenced significantly by both the operation of societal barriers, and by policy actions aimed at reducing these effects. Using the case study of South Africa, a suite of interviews has been conducted with diverse energy interests, to develop and analyse four key issues pertinent to the energy transition there. We do so primarily through the lens of delivering energy justice to that society. In doing so, we emphasise the need to monitor, model, and modify the dynamic characteristic of the energy transition process and the delivery of energy justice; a static approach which ignores the fluid nature of transition will be insufficient. We conclude that the South African fossil fuel industry is still impeding the development of the country’s renewable resources, and the price of doing so is being met by those living in townships and in rural areas.

scholarly journals Socio-Individual Prerequisites of Energy Transition in Iran: Investigating Public Acceptance of Solar Panel Technology in Rural Areas

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Karimzadeh ◽  
Eva Kašparová
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Iranian Government ◽  
Acceptance Model ◽  
Adoption Intention

Iran has inordinate natural capacity to benefit from solar energy all year. Interim plansby the Iranian government have been implemented to develop energy transition in ruralareas, however, the outcomes have not been promising so far. This research seeks toaddress the question of what factors influence villagers’ tendency towards solar panelacceptance for domestic usage. To answer the question, a survey was conducted amongresidents who had not installed the new technology in the survey time. A model basedon the modified framework of the Technology Acceptance Model for energy transitionwas developed and data was collected from the northern part of Iran—Mazandaranprovince. The data revealed that through the mediating role of attitude, the strongesteffect on adoption intention relates to perceived usefulness. The paper discusses whysolar energy technology is not welcomed in the studied community. The findingscontribute to increase our knowledge about underlying factors on the development ofpublic adoption of renewable energies in a developing country.

Energy Transition in Metropolises, Rural Areas and Deserts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Boisgibault ◽  
Fahad Al Kabbani
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Transition

scholarly journals Determinants of Lighting Energy Transitions in Rural Ethiopia: Lessons from Mida Oromo and Wonisho Districts of Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Kindeye Fenta Mekonnen ◽  
Yohannes Abera
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Available Energy ◽  
Energy Transitions ◽  
Lighting Energy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Energy Choice

Modern renewable energy is an important tool to achieve socio-economic transformation, particularly in rural areas of developing countries like Ethiopia. However, most people do not access modern energy and thus providing it is one of the daunting tasks that the government has faced. Knowing energy choice of households is one of the important factors to bring energy transition. However, limited studies are undertaken in the Country on this area. Thus, this paper tried to address the gap by investigating factors affecting households lighting energy choice by taking sample of 442 households in Mida Oromo and Wonisho Districts of Ethiopia. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for analyzing the data. The result shows that households consume a range of traditional, transitional and modern lighting energy sources available in their areas. Wealthy households prefer lighting energy sources that are clean and relatively expensive including, grid electricity and solar energy unlike households in lower income category who opt to cheap and easily available energy sources. The study further highlighted that income is not the only factor affecting household energy transitions. Family size, access to market and road infrastructure, asset of the household and the district of the households, mobile and radio ownership and education attainment of the head or family members are found to be an important determinants affecting energy transition of rural households. The study concluded that any program that aim to provide modern lighting energy sources need to consider all these diverse factors and local contexts.

scholarly journals Energy Transition toward Cleaner Energy Resources in Nepal

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4243
Author(s):  
Pokharel Tika Ram ◽  
Rijal Hom Bahadur
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Electricity Use ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Cooking Fuels

Energy is an important input for socioeconomic development and human well-being. The rationality of energy transitions toward cleaner energy resources is not only to improve individual living conditions, but also to enhance the economic growth of a nation. Nepal is considered to be one of the countries with a low per-capita electricity use, heavily relying on traditional energy resources such as firewood and agricultural residues. The country is rich in hydropower resources. However, various economic and socioeconomic constraints have left the significant potential for hydroelectricity untapped. This study describes the energy transition patterns in Nepal based on a literature review and field survey of household energy use in the winter. We collected data from 516 households in the Solukhumbu, Panchthar, and Jhapa districts of Nepal. The rate of per-capita electricity consumption was 330 kWh/capita/year, which is significantly lower than that of other contemporary global societies such as India 1000 and China 4900 kWh/capita/year. The increasing trend in hydroelectricity production has optimistically transformed the energy sector toward cleaner resources; this correlates with the GDP per capita. Solar home systems, mini- and micro-hydropower plants, biogas technology, and improved cook stoves have been widely used, which has lowered the health and environmental burdens in rural areas. By analysing the survey data, we found that 25% of the households only relied on traditional cooking fuel, while 67% and 8% of the households relied on mixed and commercial cooking fuels, respectively. Moreover, 77% and 48% of traditional and mixed-fuel-using households were unhappy with current cooking fuels while 40% and 66% of these households preferred to use clean cooking fuels. The share of traditional energy resources decreased from 78% to 68%, while that of commercial energy resources increased from 20% to 28% from 2014/15 to 2019/20. This study suggests that future energy policies and programs should acknowledge the reality of energy transition to achieve sustainability by establishing reliable and clean sources of energy.

scholarly journals Living Labs for Rural Areas: Contextualization of Living Lab Frameworks, Concepts and Practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 3797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Zavratnik ◽  
Argene Superina ◽  
Emilija Stojmenova Duh
Keyword(s):  
Rural Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Sustainable Rural Development ◽  
Sustainable Living ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Living Lab ◽  
Living Labs

Living Labs are spaces for innovative and participative research, development and activities that use multidisciplinary approaches and promote the co-creation paradigm. Our specific interest lies in exploring the value of the Living Lab concept for creating environments that enable equal opportunities for people living in rural and urban areas, and for making rural areas attractive places to live. Moreover, through the existing practices and research results available, Living Labs are seen as one of the important building blocks of smart rural development and an important step towards establishing a Smart Village environment. Living Labs are a valuable player in enhancing circular economy, digital transformation, local self-sufficiency and other elements of sustainable living. The main aim of this paper is therefore to put Living Labs in the context of rural areas and evaluate their possible contributions for sustainable rural development. This paper argues that the element of community and social change should be considered as a key element in enabling sustainable living.

scholarly journals Implementing SDGs to a Sustainable Rural Village Development from Community Empowerment: Linking Energy, Education, Innovation, and Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 12946
Author(s):  
Isabel del Arco ◽  
Anabel Ramos-Pla ◽  
Gabriel Zsembinszki ◽  
Alvaro de Gracia ◽  
Luisa F. Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Energy Education ◽  
Rural Depopulation

Rural depopulation is a worldwide fact and has a domino effect on medium and small cities, which act as a nucleus of reference for small towns. Moreover, the United Nations (UN) stressed that disparities between rural and urban areas are pronounced and still growing over time. Globally, people in rural areas lack access to modern energy services, which affects productivity, educational and health services, exacerbating poverty, among other things. Given this reality, the following research questions arise: how can we act to reverse this reality? Are there examples of transformation in rural contexts where community empowerment is a key strategy? This paper aims at describing the transformation process of a small rural municipality towards a sustainable development, in parallel to the activation of the local productivity that helps to eliminate the effects of rural depopulation. Therefore, the project ALMIA was established as an example of a sustainable village that is Almatret (Catalonia-Spain). The backbone of such project is the commitment to community empowerment, where the main results are the generation of networks with experts and researchers to help the municipality’s energy transition, the involvement of the local administration, the commitment to technological development, as well as the socio-community development. Moreover, the activities developed within the project ALMIA are aligned with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, alignment that is analyzed in detail. Thus, this paper aims to further highlight existing sustainable development practices related to community empowerment in order to promote similar practices.

scholarly journals Barriers and Drivers of Renewable Energy Penetration in Rural Areas

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 6452
Author(s):  
Dalia Streimikiene ◽  
Tomas Baležentis ◽  
Artiom Volkov ◽  
Mangirdas Morkūnas ◽  
Agnė Žičkienė ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Energy ◽  
Change Mitigation

The paper deals with the exposition of the main barriers and drivers of renewable energy usage in rural communities. Climate change mitigation is causing governments, policymakers, and international organizations worldwide to embark on policies, leading to increased use of renewable energy sources and improvement of energy efficiency. Climate change mitigation actions, including the Green Deal strategy in the EU, require satisfying the expanding energy demand and complying with the environmental restrictions. At the same time, the prevailing market structure and infrastructure relevant to the energy systems are undergoing a crucial transformation. Specifically, there has been a shift from centralized to more decentralized and interactive energy systems that are accompanied by a low-carbon energy transition. Smart Grid technology and other innovations in the area of renewable energy microgeneration technologies have enabled changes in terms of the roles of energy users: they can act as prosumers that are producing and consuming energy at the same time. Renewable energy generation that is allowing for deeper involvement of the citizens may render higher social acceptance, which, in turn, fuels the low-carbon energy transition. The collective energy prosumption in the form of energy cooperatives has become a widespread form of renewable energy initiatives in rural communities. Even though renewable energy consumption provides a lot of benefits and opportunities for rural communities, the fast penetration of renewables and energy prosumption encounter several important barriers in the rural areas. This paper analyses the main barriers and drivers of renewable energy initiatives in rural areas and provides policy implications for the low-carbon energy transition in rural areas.

Seasonal storage of hydrogen in porous formations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katriona Edlmann ◽  
Niklas Heinemann ◽  
Leslie Mabon ◽  
Julien Mouli-Castillo ◽  
Ali Hassanpouryouzband ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Hydrogen Storage ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Geological Storage ◽  
Porous Rocks ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

<p>To meet global commitments to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the energy mix must reduce emissions from fossil fuels and transition to low carbon energy sources.  Hydrogen can support this transition by replacing natural gas for heat and power generation, decarbonising transport, and facilitating increased renewable energy by acting as an energy store to balance supply and demand. For the deployment at scale of green hydrogen (produced from renewables) and blue hydrogen (produced from steam reformation of methane) storage at different scales will be required, depending on the supply and demand scenarios. Production of blue hydrogen generates CO<sub>2</sub> as a by-product and requires carbon capture and storage (CCS) for carbon emission mitigation.  Near-future blue hydrogen production projects, such as the Acorn project located in Scotland, could require hydrogen storage alongside large-scale CO<sub>2 </sub>storage. Green hydrogen storage projects, such as renewable energy storage in rural areas e.g. Orkney in Scotland, will require smaller and more flexible low investment hydrogen storage sites. Our research shows that the required capacity can exist as engineered geological storage reservoirs onshore and offshore UK. We will give an overview of the hydrogen capacity required for the energy transition and assess the associated scales of storage required, where geological storage in porous media will compete with salt cavern storage as well as surface storage such as line packing or tanks.</p><p>We will discuss the key aspects and results of subsurface hydrogen storage in porous rocks including the potential reactivity of the brine / hydrogen / rock system along with the efficiency of multiple cycles of hydrogen injection and withdrawal through cushion gasses in porous rocks. We will also discuss societal views on hydrogen storage, exploring how geological hydrogen storage is positioned within the wider context of how hydrogen is produced, and what the place of hydrogen is in a low-carbon society. Based on what some of the key opinion-shapers are saying already, the key considerations for public and stakeholder opinion are less likely to be around risk perception and safety of hydrogen, but focussed on questions like ‘who benefits?’ ‘why do we need hydrogen in a low-carbon society?’ and ‘how can we do this in the public interest and not for the profits of private companies?’</p><p>We conclude that underground hydrogen storage in porous rocks can be an essential contributor to the low carbon energy transition.</p>

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