EXPLOITATION PRODUCTIVE DE L’ENERGIE POUR UN ACCES DURABLE A L’ENERGIE EN MILIEU RURAL AU TOGO

The objective of this work is to contribute to energy justice in rural areas in Togo by promoting entrepreneurship based on the productive use of energy. To this end, in 2019 we conducted surveys of 650 rural households spread across the five economic regions of Togo. The data were collected with CSPro 6.3 software, cleaned with STATA software and analyzed with Microsoft Office EXCEL 2013 software. Based on the results obtained, three electricity supply scenarios for a rural wet coffee processing company, envisaged in the plateau region, were simulated with the HOMER Pro 3.14.4 software. The results of the surveys show that only 16% of households are connected to the electricity grid and therefore indicate to develop the available energy resources expressed, namely solar (80.9%), biomass (68.9%), water sources (47.1%) and agricultural residues (44.5%). Respondents, 64.77% of whom work in agriculture and breeding, expressed the need for the use of productive electrical equipment. The best-case scenario simulated, a mini-grid supplying the wet coffee processing company and households, revealed a levelized cost of electricity of XOF 394/kWh; lower than the cost of electrification of the company, XOF 814/kWh or that of households, XOF 488/kWh. However, this cost must be further reduced if energy is to be financially accessible to rural populations. To validate this concept, two other rural entrepreneurial initiatives will be simulated in two different agro-ecological zones of Togo

“La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí”: Translating Collective Struggles for Environmental and Energy Justice in Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay Communities

Rural, coastal communities in the Jobos Bay region of southeastern Puerto Rico confront disproportionate harms as an energy sacrifice zone. This space is constituted by imported fossil fuel dependency, economic and climate injustices, environmental racism, ecocide, US colonialism and imperialism, neoliberalism, and racial capitalism. In response, many grassroots actors mobilize against the toxic assault on their communities to push for alternatives beyond the suffocating status quo via apoyo mutuo [mutual support]. This survival work and movement building occur literally in “the outdoors” and in other intertwined multispecies environments, challenging narrow, oppressive colonial, and consumerist constructs that reduce “the outdoors” to recreation and thus erase the numerous ways that people labor in, honor, and defend places and spaces to lead good lives. Thus, critical examinations of communication and race/racism/racialization in and about this colonial US territory must grapple with the brutalities and pain caused by systemic and structural cruelties and translate how, where, and with whom self-determined and potentially liberatory environmental and energy justice advocacy takes shape to refuse a trauma-only narrative. Studying these embodied and emplaced efforts positions energy and power broadly construed, including in the form of collective action. This article centers on the collaborative energies of local grassroots actors and scholars who ideologically and politically align and who value working together toward anti-colonial praxis. To provide one example of how these collaborations can yield public-facing projects that contribute to struggles tied to the survival and well-being of the most impacted communities, this essay focuses on the creation of an environmental justice children’s book. This bilingual text documents and translates the pollution caused by a US-owned, coal-fired power plant and mobilizations to topple this corporate invader. The article concludes by reflecting on some of the difficulties and possibilities that emerged during multi-year coalitional relationships that inform and exceed the children’s book. To reject racist and colonial dominant assumptions and discourses about outdoor spaces as only privileged recreational areas or as a “blank slate” devoid of people and culture, this project narrates how grassroots organizers and scholars persist in continued study and struggle for power(ful) transformations in Jobos Bay and beyond.

Achieving Energy Justice in Malawi: From key Challenges to Policy Recommendations

Addressing energy provision and access in Sub-Saharan Africa is a key global challenge. This paper builds a deep understanding of how fair and just energy policies and realties are in this context. It qualitatively assesses the perceptions of stakeholders in Malawi, where electricity access remains amongst the lowest in the region. Insufficient and unreliable systems of grid energy generation and distribution limit access to electricity in both urban and rural settings. Using wood fuel remains high for meeting cooking, heating, and lighting needs. Responding to these dual challenges, of lacking electricity access and ongoing wood fuel use, must be rooted in notions of equity, fairness, and justice. This paper argues that energy justice provides key insights into how best to respond to complex and interconnected issues of energy generation and access in low-income settings. Drawing on interviews with key stakeholders in policy and Malawi on addressing these challenges, this paper also outlines recommendations for policy. Overall, a just response to these energy challenges is possible, but only if it is built on local inclusive governance with fairer and effective systems of investment.