Renewable energy for rural communities in Maharashtra, India

Blenkinsopp, Thomas J.; Coles, Stuart R.; Kirwan, Kerry

doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2013.04.077

Cited by 36 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Energy demand [5,21,22,79,90] "Energy plays an important role in human welfare. The dynamic hypothesis is: the more development, more energy demand" [22] (p. 203).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The financial sustainability of RES interventions is often determined by the existence of incomegenerating activities (businesses) in the communities. Then, if communities are not capable of breaking the poverty cycle, the RES intervention may not survive either because the high costs associated with its installation and maintenance may be seen as an unaffordable and unnecessary expense [79,98]. Energy services are better welcomed when people perceive opportunities of income gains or productive uses.…”

Section: Financial Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By having more knowledge about the benefits of RES, communities are more likely to accept and embrace them [73][74][75][76][77][78]. Educating the target population about the benefits of RES is vital to counteract any negative preconceptions or scepticism associated with the use of these technologies [79].…”

Section: Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to such large-scale effects, which are not noticeable by community inhabitants on a daily basis, the health component of the human capital can be improved when vaccines are refrigerated and when indoor air pollution is reduced when coaland wood-based stoves are replaced by solar stoves [5,65,68,71,80]. The use of firewood and biomass inside households is a major health threat due to the smoke produced, which causes respiratory infections in the long term [79] (see R5 in Figure 3). Therefore, RES can improve the health conditions of people in this regard, allowing rural communities to access health technologies that require electricity in order to function, as well as providing access to drinkable water and sanitation services.…”

Section: Human Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Leisure time [60,62,63] "There are alternative energy technologies (AETs) that offer significant potential in terms of reducing women's drudgery, improving health conditions, freeing time for involvement in income-generating, social, and community development activities for their self-enhancement and empowerment" [62] Health conditions [2,3,5,8,62,65,68,70,71,79,80,109] "Traditional technologies have a negative impact on women's health due, for example, to the smoke from firewood and to their heavy workload" [62] (p. 409). "Since the diesel generator had been removed and there was therefore no more noise and air pollution from this source, an improvement in health could be expected" [109] (p. 652).…”

Section: Factor Articles Excerpts Of Potential Causal Linksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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On the Acceptance and Sustainability of Renewable Energy Projects—A Systems Thinking Perspective

et al. 2016

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Rapid population growth and increasing concern related to improving the living standards in impoverished communities without damaging the natural environment have drawn attention to the adoption of renewable energy systems (RES) around the world. Despite this global trend, the implementation of these projects has not succeeded completely in rural poor communities due to several factors, including social barriers faced at the time of their execution. These social barriers lead to poor acceptance of the projects and their consequent abandonment. Acceptance is a social construct that is influenced by several factors that need to be understood to achieve successful and sustainable results in the future. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model, based on principles of sustainability and systems thinking, to understand the interrelationships among the main factors that have been reported in the literature as key to determining the sustainability and community acceptance of RES projects. To do so, we review the existing literature on sustainability and social acceptance of RES and then construct a causal-loop diagram of their driving factors. While doing so, we also view the problem through the lens of the sustainable livelihoods framework, aiming to maintain the perspective of rural communities and observing the impacts of RES on their contextual reality. The resulting model helps to understand the multiple interactions that RES projects have with rural communities as well as identify potential intervention points for future projects. We end the paper with a discussion of the implications of the model and how can it be used to inform future rural energy decision making.

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“…Energy demand [5,21,22,79,90] "Energy plays an important role in human welfare. The dynamic hypothesis is: the more development, more energy demand" [22] (p. 203).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Financial Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%