The majority of Niger’s population faces a widespread lack of access to electricity. Although the country lies in the Sahara belt, exploitation of solar energy is so far minimal. Due to ongoing fossil fuel exploration in the country, this fuel might dominate the future electricity supply. Today, Niger imports the most of its electricity from Nigeria. There is a need to expand electricity generation and supply infrastructures in Niger. When doing so, it is important to choose a proper set of electricity generation resource/technology that fulfils sustainability criteria. Thus, the objective of this work is to analyze a methodology in order to assess different energy technologies for Niger. A multi-criteria decision approach was selected to assess the most accessible energy system for the country. For this purpose, indicators were developed and weighted for ranking electricity generation options. Altogether 40 indicators are selected under six dimensions (availability, risk, technology, economics, environment and social) to assess eight different alternatives, considering the aggregated results and corresponding scores under each dimension. A merit list of technology and resources for electricity generation presented in this work could support the stakeholders in their decision-making for further projects implementation in the country.

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Remote rural populations do not often have the luxury of viable multisource electricity generation systems. Considering fossil fuels for remote populated areas is not often a viable option due to the fuel transportation costs and the population’s socioeconomic status. Extending the grid is often economically prohibitive. This paper proposes possible ways in which Mali could increase the rate of population with access to electricity by 2050 using Low Emission Analysis Platform (LEAP) and geographical information tools. The current energy situation is assessed, and multiple demand and supply scenarios are created to find the most viable option in environmental and economic dimensions. A minimum of 50% reduction of biomass consumption in the residential sector and a maximum of 71% was achieved through the combination of grid extension and decentralized solar PV. Solar PV becomes the preferable option when enough time for the effects of electricity on income is given. When these effects are not present, solar PV is still a better option, as the amount of biomass replaced with electricity is reduced.

The European heating sector is currently heavily dominated by fossil fuels. Composting is a naturally occurring process in which heat is liberated from the composting substrate at a higher rate than the process needs to support itself. This difference could be harnessed for low-heat applications such as residential consumption, alleviating some of the impacts fossil fuel emissions represent. In this study, the composting heat recovery reported in the literature was compared to the energy demand for space and water heating in four European countries. A review of potential heat production from the waste representative of the residential sector was performed. We found that the theoretically recoverable composting heat does not significantly reduce the need for district heating. However, it can significantly reduce the energy demand for water heating, being able to supply countries such as Greece with between 36% and 100% of the yearly hot water demand, or 12% to 53% of the yearly hot water of countries such as Switzerland, depending on the efficiency of heat recovery.