Evaluating impacts of distributed solar home systems in rural communities: Lessons learnt from Ghana Energy Development and Access Project in the Upper West Region of Ghana

This article made a modest impact assessment of isolated solar home systems (SHSs) installed via recently ended five-yearflagship Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP) on the livelihoods of rural households in the Upper WestRegion. A total of 250 solar users in both private households and rural clinics in 65 rural communities across 6 districts wereinterviewed. Lessons learned in the aspects of energy services provision, financial model, local energy preference and practicalsetbacks facing installed SHSs through GEDAP are discussed. For instance, in terms of energy preference, majority of rural solarusers (50%) preferred grid-tied electricity, although they were not connected to the grid yet as compared to 35% who preferredboth grid-tied and off-grid forms of electrification while 15% preferred off-grid solar technology. This then suggests that althoughoff-grid SHSs are a viable alternative energy generation option, they may not necessarily be a panacea for the energy povertysituation in rural Ghana due to setbacks. For off-grid solar electrification to achieve parity with conventional energy sources, acombination of increased system capacity, investment and political will is needed to make SHSs more competitive and deliversustained quality energy services for deprived rural communities where such place-based energy services are needed most forsustainable rural development.

Driving forces for fuelwood use in households in the Thulamela municipality, South Africa

Energy is a fundamental requirement to sustain human life, but most people in rural areas do not have enough access to efficient and affordable energy resources. Socio-economic measures are increasingly used to determine household energy consumption patterns. The pattern of household energy consumption represents the status of welfare as well as the stage of a country’s economic development. Household energy consumption is expected to increase in the future, along with growth in the economy and a rise in per capita incomes. This study was undertaken to understand the driving forces for energy preference in rural households, while reassessing the energy ladder and multiple fuel use. Two hundred questionnaires were administered to elicit information from respondents in Altein, Botsoleni, Makhovha and Thenzheni in the Thulamela municipality of South Africa. A non-parametric test (Chi-square) was used to determine the relationships amongst the factors influencing the use of fuelwood in the study area. Cramer’s V was used to test the association of the variables, the strength and the direction of the relationship. The results indicate that household income, educational level and employment status, cultural norms and values, are among the key determinants of the energy preference scale.Keywords: rural households; energy consumption; energy ladder; energy preference

Mississippian pelmatozoan community reorganization: a predation-mediated faunal change

Crinoid genera of the subclass Camerata generally dominated Late Silurian through Middle Mississippian pelmatozoan echinoderm assemblages. This dominance reached a peak during the early and middle Mississippian (Kinderhookian-Meramecian), but abruptly ended at the close of the Genevievian Stage (=lowermost Chesterian) in eastern North America. During the Genevievian Stage, crinoids of the subclass Inadunata became taxonomically more diverse but a few camerates, especiallyPlatycrinitesandBatocrinus,continued to be numerically dominant in many pelmatozoan assemblages. In eastern North America, platycrinids and batocrinids were reduced drastically near the Genevievian-Gasperian boundary. So obvious is this faunal change that, until recently, the Meramecian-Chesterian Series boundary was recognized as the last occurrence ofPlatycrinites penicillus.The sudden and drastic decline of numerically dominant platycrinids and batocrinids in eastern North America suggests a mass extinction, but is better interpreted as a range contraction and loss of dominance. Platycrinids, in particular, continued to be significant components of pelmatozoan assemblages in Europe and Asia long after the end of the Genevievian Stage. We infer that this reorganization of pelmatozoan assemblages in eastern North America was a product of predation, siliciclastic tolerance, and current-energy preference, with predation playing a major role. Reorganization resulted in post-Genevievian dominance by (1) cladid crinoids, (2) camerate crinoids that were cladid homeomorphs, and (3) the blastoidPentremites.Foraminifera, conodonts, corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, and other echinoderm groups were affected little, if any, during this same time.