This study explores the question of how sustainable energy development-specifically, decentralized renewable energy technologies-can complement and benefit from the goal of increasing women's role in development. It is based on a paper originally presented at the World Renewable Energy Congress-V held in Florence, Italy, in September 1998, as a contribution to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) program on gender and energy.Many of the examples given in the paper draw on contributions to and thinking developed in connection with ENERGIA News, the newsletter of the International Network on Women and Energy. The author would like to thank both the contributors and her fellow editors (Joy Clancy, Margaret Skutsch and Saskia Everts) for making this material available and for stimulating her thinking on this subject.The author would also like to thank Barbara C. Farhar of NREL, who managed the project, and Agnes Klingshirn of GTZ and Joy Clancy of the University of Twente, who acted as peer reviewers, for their helpful comments and suggestions. Special thanks are due to David Crawford and Stuart Smoller for editing the report, and Jane Adams and Irene Medina for word processing support. iv Executive SummaryRenewable energy will play an increasingly important role in both developing and developed countries in the future. The different implications of the wider use of renewable energy sources for women and men have hardly been examined, even though women's roles and interests in energy use and production have been well-documented. Experience in other sectors, and anecdotal evidence from the energy sector, suggest that women indeed have an important role to play in sustainable energy development. This paper, originally prepared to address the concerns of renewable energy technical experts at the World Renewable Energy Congress, reviews the literature on women's involvement in renewable energy and presents some examples of the results of including or excluding women in renewable energy development.It addresses four questions: Why do women need renewable energy? Are women really interested in renewable energy technologies (RETs)? Will women automatically benefit from RETs? Why is a gender perspective relevant in the energy sector? Why Do Women Need Renewable Energy?Renewable energy development can in particular address women's needs in:(1) The biomass cooking crisis: fuel scarcity, health and safety. Women need renewable energy to address their critical need for cooking energy. Women need cooking energy that is less labor-using, more convenient, and safer. A broad view of the entire household fuel cycle needs to be taken, including not just improved stoves but kitchen and housing design, food preparation and processing, and improved technology for the ergonomic collection and transportation of firewood. Some programs have sought to do this, but compared to other energy initiatives, household energy programs have been under-resourced and marginalized.Furthermore, biomass-based renewable energy projects need...

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This article assesses the possibilities of establishing more efficient patterns of energy use in Haiti, a country increasingly dependent on imported petroleum products to fuel its economy. The author examines the various consuming sectors of the economy and the options for the use of indigenous fuels in place of petroleum. She next describes the potential roles national energy planning and foreign assistance can play in solving the more pressing of Haiti's energy problems. Four functions are urgently needed: collection of basic energy data, co‐ordination of alternative energy development, establishment of an energy office in the government and an effort to co‐ordinate bilateral and multilateral assistance in the energy field. Cet article évalue les possibilités d'établir des modèles d'utilisation d'énergie plus efficaces en Haïti, pays de plus en plus dépendant des importations de produits pétroliers pour son économie. L'auteur examine les divers secteurs de consommation de l'économie et les choix qui existent en ce qui concerne l'utilisation des combustibles domestiques à la place du pétrole. L'auteur décrit ensuite les rôles potentiels que peuvent jouer la planification nationale de l'énergie et l'assistance extérieure dans la résolution des problèmes énergétiques les plus urgents du pays. Quatre lignes d'action sont requises d'urgence: le rassemblement des données énergétiques de base, la coordination du développement de sources d'énergie de remplacement, la création d'une direction de l'énergie à l'échelon gouvernemental et la mise en oeuvre d'une politique coordonnée d'assistance bilatérale et multilatérale dans le domaine de l'énergie. Este articulo evalúa las posibilidades de establecer estructuras de consumo de energía mas eficientes en Haiti, pais que tiene una dependencia creciente en el petróleo importado. El autor examina varios sectores consumidores de energia y las opciones existentes para sustituir el petróleo por fuentes energéticas nacionales. Luego examina el rol potencial de la planificación energética nacional y la asistencia extranjera en resolver los problemas energéticos más agudos en Haiti. Se establece la necesidad urgente de las siguientes funciones: colección de información básica sobre energía, coordinación del desarrollo energético, establecimiento de una institución que se ocupe de energía en el gobierno y coordinación de la asistencia bilateral y multilateral en el campo de la energía.

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