Access to energy is crucial in tackling many of the current global development challenges that impact on people’s economic, health and social well-being as well as the ability to meet the commitments of reducing carbon emissions through clean energy use. Despite increased attention from multiple governments and agencies, energy poverty remains a serious sustainable development issue in many developing countries. To date, most research have focused on general access to electricity and the generation of clean energy to replace fossil fuels, failing to address the lack of basic access to clean energy for cooking and heating. More people in the world lack access to clean cooking fuels than to electricity. This issue is one aspect of a broader research which investigates the impacts of optimized energy policy and energy business models on sustainable development in developing countries.

There is an increasing need for the integration of renewable energy into the energy sector in Egypt. As the electricity subsidies are residing for consumers in Egypt, electricity prices are increasing. This increase in energy prices can be mitigated by the integration of renewable energy technologies. One of the most promising renewable energy technologies that will help stabilize the energy situation in Egypt, is Solar Thermal Energy. Solar Thermal Energy has a great potential in Egypt due to the availability and intensity of direct irradiance in Egypt. Therefore, Egypt has an amazing opportunity as a developing country to start perusing solar thermal technologies; these technologies include decentralized and centralized technologies. Decentralized technologies are targeted more for regular consumers and centralized technologies are targeted more for power generation and industries.

The cyclic effect of energy poverty and economic poverty has been conclusively evidenced primarily from the experiences of developing World. In the developing countries, struggle to meet the basic energy needs impacts the life of the poorer section in terms of cost of health, education and quality. However, considering the adequate biomass resources and sustainable technologies for conversion of surplus biomass into useful form of energy; integration of the surplus resources with appropriate technology offers opportunities to address both energy and economic poverty. In this study, feasibility of some proven options of bioenergy based energy technologies and enterprises are investigated to understand their prospects to address energy and economic hardship considering a case study from India and analyzed its replicability in South Africa. Resources inventories, avenues of additional income generation and long term impact of selected bioenergy enterprise options (biogas and producer gas and improved stove) are investigated in the context of both the countries. Organic fertilizer (vermicompost), mushroom and community based agro-industries are some of the prospective entrepreneurial activities which can be supported by the bioenergy options. Considering the abundance and characteristics, feasibility of converting surplus biomass resources (crop residue, manure, food waste) into required energy along with revenue earning avenues is indicated by the study. However, there are social and managerial issues which required to be addressed besides provisions for financial incentives to realize the benefits of such integrated systems.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has gained popularity as an effective way to treat organic materials, produce clean energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is a significant number of large-scale AD facilities operating world-wide, largely treating livestock wastes, and used primarily for electricity production in industrialized countries. At the same time, there are millions of small, household-scale ADs deployed in developing countries, mostly to provide biogas resources for heating and cooking. Decentralized low-volume AD systems could provide a local, renewable energy source (for electricity, heating, or both), reduce or eliminate waste disposal costs, and limit discharges of high strength wastes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of deploying low-volume anaerobic digestion (LVAD) systems at institutions generating significant food waste, using Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as a case study. Mass flows and energy balance, net present value (NPV), and discounted payback period (DPP) were used to assess the feasibility of implementing an anaerobic digestion system utilizing the campus organic waste resources. Our study showed that a positive NPV can be achieved if subsidies and incentives were applied to offset the initial capital investment. However, the economics can be improved by driving down equipment cost and accepting food waste from other establishments to generate revenue from tipping fees.

This review paper describes techniques proposed for applying microwave-induced plasma gasification (MIPG) for cleaning rivers, lakes and oceans of synthetic and organic waste pollutants by converting the waste materials into energy and useful raw materials. Rivers close to urban centers tend to get filled with man-made waste materials, such as plastics and paper, gradually forming floating masses that further trap biological materials and animals. In addition, sewage from residences and industries, as well as rainwater runoff pour into rivers and lakes carrying solid wastes into the water bodies. As a result, the water surfaces get covered with a stagnant, thick layer of synthetic and biological refuse which kill the fish, harm animals and birds, and breed disease-carrying vectors. Such destruction of water bodies is especially common in developing countries which lack the technology or the means to clean up the rivers. A terrible consequence of plastic and synthetic waste being dumped irresponsibly into the oceans is the presence of several large floating masses of garbage in the worlds’ oceans, formed by the action of gyres, or circulating ocean currents. In the Pacific Ocean, there are numerous debris fields that have been labeled the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These patches contain whole plastic litters as well as smaller pieces of plastic, called microplastics, which are tiny fragments that were broken down by the action of waves. These waste products are ingested by animals, birds and fishes, causing death or harm. Some of the waste get washed ashore on beaches along with dead marine life. The best solution for eliminating all of the above waste management problems is by the application of MIPG systems to convert solid waste materials and contaminated water into syngas, organic fuels and raw materials. MIPG is the most efficient form of plasma gasification, which is able to process the most widest range of waste materials, while consuming only about a quarter of the energy released from the feedstock. MIPG systems can be scaled in size, power rating and waste-treatment capacity to match financial needs and waste processing requirements. MIPG systems can be set up in urban locations and on the shores of the waterbody, to filter and remove debris and contaminants and clean the water, while generating electric power to feed into the grid, and fuel or raw materials for industrial use. For eliminating the pelagic debris fields, the proposed design is to have ships fitted with waste collector and filtration systems that feeds the collected waste materials into a MIPG reactor, which converts the carbonaceous materials into syngas (H 2 + CO). Some of the syngas made will be used to produce the electric power needed for running the plasma generator and onboard systems, while the remainder can be converted into methanol and other useful products through the Fischer-Tropsch process. This paper qualitatively describes the implementation schemes for the above processes, wherein MIPG technology will be used to clean up major waste problems affecting the earth’s water bodies and to convert the waste into energy and raw materials in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner, while reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and the release of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

Achieving energy efficiency in buildings is an important factor in developed and as well in developing countries in order to meet its energy demand. Over the past few years, a number of reports have been emerged stating that the buildings sectors are responsible for approximately 31% of global final energy demand. Buildings account for 35% of total final energy consumption in India and building energy consumption is growing about 8% per years. Final energy demand in Indian building sector will grow up-to five times by the end of this century, driven by rapid income and population growth. Hospitals are institutions for the care of people with health problems and are usually functional 24hrs a day, all year around, which demands a lot of energy. Health sector is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors in India. By 2020, it is expected to become a $ 280 billion industry. In India hospitals contribute 23% of total energy consumption and the hospital building growth rate 12–15% in last decade. The World Health Organization estimated that India need 80,000 additional hospital beds every year to meet the demands of India’s population. The aim of this study is to assess the energy demand, energy savings & reduced greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the energy efficiency using advanced retrofitting. Bottom-Up Energy Analysis System (BUENAS) is an end use energy demand projection model for Hospital buildings in India, to normalize the assessment of energy-saving models also going to fill the gap in energy demand reduction by energy system modeling and decomposition analysis. Energy efficiency retrofitting of existing buildings plays a major role in developing country like India in order improve its energy security and minimizing the greenhouse gases. The positive effects of retrofitting of energy efficiency and need the policies and target base proposal for government intention to achieve the potential for energy efficiency are discussed.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) involves the conversion of organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce methane (CH 4 )-rich bio-gas that can be used for heating, vehicle fuel, or for generating electricity. The evolution of AD systems has historically followed two distinct paths: small residential-scale systems in the developing world to provide modest bio-gas resources for heating and cooking, and multi-million dollar facilities in the developed world for grid electricity production. However, there is a strong need to explore the possibility of applying AD technology in the medium-scale range (on the order of 100s of kW to 1 MW), which would be relevant to many farm installations and food processing plants that have significant organic waste resources. In this paper, technical and economic feasibility assessments have been conducted of two specific applications important to New York State: treatment of dairy farm resources in the Upstate region, and treatment of brewery and distillery waste in the New York City region where significant waste disposal barriers exist. In each case, a comprehensive analysis was first conducted of the available waste resources. Then, using data available in the open literature, an estimate of the total amount of renewable bio-gas that can be produced (bio-methane potential, BMP) was developed and used to compute the achievable size of a centralized AD system. For both the farm and brewery applications, it was determined that energy systems based on anaerobic digestion can be economically and environmentally viable, provided that ample organic resources are available, as well as incentives to offset the initial capital investment.

The global population is expected to reach over 9 billion by 2050. The ‘second wave of urbanization’ indicates that developing world cities are growing much faster than their developed world counterparts, and most of these people will live in African and Asian cities where city growth rates are the highest. This, ‘second wave of urbanization’ is a core driver of change in the 21st century and follows the first wave of urbanization that took place in developed countries from 1750, lasted 200 years and resulted in the urbanization of 400 million people. By contrast, the second wave of urbanization is projected to see over 3 billion additional people living in cities in a time-span of just 80 years, bringing unprecedented challenges to city doorsteps. In the current era of development, urban sustainability is threatened by heightened global uncertainty and change. In broad terms, these changes consist of the following global factors: economic change, scarcity of resources, rapid technological and social change, environmental and climate change effects. These drivers of change have broad reach, and threaten multiple sectors — such as food, water, energy, transport and waste — that are critical for urban sustainability. In response, this paper discusses cities’ transition to urban energy sustainability and the role of infrastructures, with focus on transportation planning. The paper highlights the case of Egypt as an example of developing countries. The objectives of the paper are; firstly to identify the different factors affecting Egyptian cities’ transition to sustainability, and secondly to analyze the strategic urban planning process in Egypt which is a bottom-up participatory approach leading to urban sustainability. The paper presents a case study from Egypt, illustrating the preparation of a future urban strategic plan for a small Egyptian city. The case study shows how participatory approach can result in innovative solutions leading to sustainable urban energy planning with focus on transportation.

Energy infrastructure in rural areas of developing countries is currently deployed on an ad-hoc basis via grid extension, public and private sector solar home system (SHS) service using photovoltaic (PV) panels, and community distributed generation systems, also called mini or micro grids. Universal access to energy is increasingly pursued as a policy objective via e.g. the U.N. Millennium Develop Goals (MDG), Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All), and U.S. Power Africa initiatives. Rational allocation of energy infrastructure for 1.6b people currently lacking access requires a screening process to determine the economic break-even distance and consumer connection density favoring topologically diverse energy technology approaches. Previous efforts have developed approaches to determine grid-connection break-even distances, but work on micro-grid and SHS break-even distance and density is limited. The present work develops an open access modeling platform with the ability to simulate various configurations of PV, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), and fueled generator backup systems with exhaust waste heat recovery. Battery and thermal storage options are examined, and typical meteorological year (TMY) data is combined with probabilistic and empirical load curve data to represent the appropriate physical dynamics. Power flow control strategy and infrastructure is optimized for a minimum tariff (USD/kWh) for cost recovery. Cost functions derived from manufacturers’ data enable performance and economic assessment for a case study micro grid in Lesotho.

India has always been victim of power failures or blackouts and the recent July 2012 countrywide blackout is a perfect example for it. It is expected that due to the widening gap between supply and demand, such instances of power failure would occur more regularly in future. Such blackouts are also be foreseen in other parts of the world. The electricity grids in many countries are highly centralized and are mostly dependent on fossil-fuel based energy sources (coal, oil, natural gas etc). Due to the rapid rise in the living standards of developing countries such as India and China, there is an increase in demand for electricity for running various appliances, as well as for heating and air-conditioning equipment. Such an increased in demand places tremendous strain on ailing centralized grid burning fossil fuel. The use of renewable energy sources (such as solar and wind) could potentially allow large amount of demand to be met though alternative means and offset the demand on the grid. The advancement in technology has encouraged the implementation of renewable resources especially solar and wind. Hybrid power systems (HPS) that consist of these resources can significantly lower storage requirements. Furthermore, besides being cost-efficient, it is coherent to the weather conditions since solar and wind complement each other well. For highly efficient hybrid power systems to be developed, a significant degree of research must be applied to further their development. This includes tasks such as modeling these systems and applying proficient control algorithms to maximize efficiency. This paper focuses on simulation of an HPS consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) module, wind turbine (WT), and a lead acid battery through MATLAB/SIMULINK software. Moreover, a control algorithm is proposed, which leads to an efficient and autonomous operation of the HPS, along with maximizing power output from PV module and WT. The model and control system were tested using sample hourly solar radiation, temperature, and wind speed data to generate the power output from the PV module and WT, which was then processed through the proposed algorithm, to power a sample hourly load profile. The results indicate that a simple HPS can meet the type of load demand provided in an efficient and effective manner.

Energy Crisis and Environment Balance have been occupying a leading position internationally in both, the sociopolitical arena and technological developments. A developing country like India is under dual pressure to provide economic prosperity to its burgeoning population while maintaining the energy-environment balance. Current challenging situation is a good opportunity to develop products and systems which not only provide customer satisfaction at competitive prices but also does it in a sustainable, resource-friendly way. This paper outlines a proposal to set up a Research Park in an academic institute with the theme of Sustainability in HVAC field. The idea is to collaborate with the industry and association partners so that the students and faculty together can work on joint R & D projects which ultimately will result into innovative energy-saving and environment-friendly technological products and systems. The metric on which the Research Park will base its output target is the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through a multi-pronged approach. In this paper, a baseline of annual energy consumption by the HVAC sector in India has been drawn which works out to 137,026 GWh translating into 123.32 Million Metric Tonnes of CO 2 equivalent emissions.

The province of Cordoba, Colombia, has a 250.000 tons production of corn, which generate about 45.000 tons of cobs per year, which do not represent any value for farmers. The disposal of this agricultural waste has become a source of contamination because is burned in open areas. On the other hand, this province has a considerable production of raw coal; nevertheless, it is characterized by its high sulfur content (1.65%) and low heat value (5111 cal/gr), as a consequence, it has a limited market, but is still used as a fuel. This study proposes the use of biobriquettes that are a composite fuel prepared from a mixture of biomass (corn cob) and coal in a low die press briquetting machine. They consist of different proportions of milled cob (up to 80%) and coal (up to 40%) mixed with a cassava starch based binder. For the mixtures proximal analysis, including sulfur content and heat values of the material was determined according to their composition. The experimental results showed that the biobriquettes compared with the raw coal have between a 92 to 32% lower sulfur content, while the heat value was reduced by 14 to 29%. Therefore, its use will reduce the amount of burned residue in open spaces and consequently the pollution.

Electrification of remote areas in the developing world can greatly improve the health and economic standing of the population. Unfortunately, providing power to these remote areas can be expensive and determining the most economical solution is not trivial. This paper presents a method to compare the economics of different small-scale power systems for developing world. In this method, models are developed to describe the performance of power systems composed of diesel generators, batteries with photovoltaics or wind turbines, and hybrid systems. These models are coupled to an optimizer to determine the lowest cost solution that meets the desired system reliability. The reliability is expressed as Loss of Load Probability, and is computed using hourly solar and wind data. In this paper, this method is used to design a power system for a small hospital in the developing world. The results are presented for three sample locations in Honduras, Pakistan, and Uganda. Results show that the economic attractiveness of different technologies varies greatly due to local climatic conditions. The variety and soundness of the solutions found using this method show that it can aid in the design of a small-scale power system for any location in the developing world.

Developing nations face increasing economic and environmental challenges and the search for housing design solutions that approach sustainability by meeting thermal comfort, energy efficiency, environmental and low initial cost criteria is underway. This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary research project that aimed at designing a low-income house and a middle-income house that perform well from the architectural, thermal comfort, and energy efficiency standpoint while being cost-competitive. Multiple passive cooling strategies were considered and evaluated by energy modeling tools. The thermal and energy performance of the proposed designs were analyzed throughout the design process and the various design iterations. A full budget was prepared for the proposed low-income housing design and first-costs were found to be competitive with conventional housing. The paper discusses the proposed design features, their impact on thermal comfort and energy efficiency and the feasibility of integrating alternative energy systems to the proposed designs.

The application of greenhouse technology for cultivation of high value crops is rapidly expanding worldwide. But the requirement of electricity imposes a restriction on the emanation of this technology to areas which are remote. In a developing country like India, where a significant number of villages are yet to be connected to any national or regional grid, this restriction assumes considerable significance. The present paper has been divided into two parts: The first part dealing with the performance analysis of a floriculture greenhouse located in the plains of Indian subcontinent equipped with fan induced ventilation system and wet pad along with shading screens. The second part deals with the performance analysis of the greenhouse integrated power system comprising of solar photovoltaic array, electrolyser and fuel cell stacks. The hourly photovoltaic generation, load consumption, cumulative daylong hydrogen gas generation and consumption have been computed for various seasons of a climatic cycle and presented in this paper.

The growth of urban population is increasing quickly worldwide, especially in developing countries. This fact substantially affects the generation of waste, whether liquid, gaseous or solid, which are deposited in places commonly known as landfills. The organic matter in solid residues promotes methane production, which is a high impact greenhouse gas. Researches on uses of biogas from anaerobic fermentation’s processes have been made; nevertheless most have focused on Biogas direct burning or on site generation of electricity, and a few on biofuel production for transportation purposes. Regardless of the development of technologies to use biogas as renewable energy source, there is not wide documentation of projects involving population growth and urban planning with sustainable power generation based on organic residues produced within cities. For the Latin American case the implementation of technologies for biogas utilization is poor and projects that allow the integration of methane production based on population growth with its energy needs would highly promote planning and implementation of policies for sustainable resources exploitation. Their impact in the short, medium and long term would be unprecedented at all levels. The model proposed here serves as analysis tool for developing sustainable energy policies based on urban growth prognostics leading to 100% utilization biogas emissions for both electrical and fuel power generation. In the methodology used is performed an identification and geographic location of the main emissions sources such as landfills and sewage plants. Main solid waste generation sources are identified and an estimation of organic residues amount is made. Based on organic residues and methane production models provided by EPA, it is possible to obtain a long-term estimate of landfill biogas generation according to demographic growth prognostics. The overall power generation provided by a purification and separation plant is obtained from past estimations. Electrical energy and pure methane are produced. Model is validated in Panama City, which authors analyze the implementation of a separation plant whose objective is the adaptation of biogas for automotive purposes covering all their energy demand with electrical energy generated from a percentage of collected biogas. It hopes to have a major impact on the public urban transport fleet of Panama and a future implementation of pipeline that will feed the energy requirements of the city.

This paper describes photovoltaic module assembly as appropriate technology in Pakistan. The paper begins by describing a three-week workshop in July 2009, in which a group of twenty unemployed people in Karachi, Pakistan were successfully trained in photovoltaic module assembly. Module components and assembly techniques are summarized. Factors pertinent to sustaining the project as a viable business enterprise, including the beneficial social externalities are discussed and analyzed. System designs for use in both urban and off-grid rural settings are proposed and energy outputs from the systems are simulated. In summary, the paper presents a thorough case study for expanding the utilization of photovoltaic technology in developing nations.

In this paper we present a road-map for rural electrification in developing countries by means of Renewable Energy based MiViPPs (Microutility virtual power plants). First and foremost a feasibility and viability analysis of the various upcoming and alternative renewable energy options is performed with respect to rural environmental constraints and demands. Renewable Energy based DDG’s (Decentralized Distributed Generation Units) offer the potential for affordable, clean electricity with minimal losses and effective maintenance and local cost recovery. But Independent DDG projects are fraught with their own issues mainly stemming from the unreliable and intermittent nature of the generated power and high costs. We propose an alternative approach to rural electrification which involves off grid DDG units operated at the local level taking advantage of feasible renewable energy technologies, which can effectively serve rural areas and reduce the urgency of costly grid extension. In MIVIPP model, a multitude of decentralized units (renewable energy based units and a non-renewable energy based unit for last mile backup) are centrally controlled and managed as part of an interconnected network, resulting into a virtual power plant that can be operated as a distributed power plant large enough to reliably serve all the local electricity demands in a cost effective manner. Finally, by a set of simulation results we establish how an automated MIVIPP (based on an Intelligent Auto Control System) effectively addresses all the issues pertaining to Dispersed DDG units by leveraging the scalability achieved by mutually augmenting the supplies from different Renewable Energy Based DDG units.

The reduction of anthropogenic green house gas emissions through increased building energy efficiency is a global effort, which is a responsibility of both developed and developing nations. The Passive House concept is a building design methodology that advocates for a systematic optimization and integration of the building envelope and internal loads in order to achieve a passive yet comfortable performance. Multiple passive houses have been built and monitored in Europe and the United States. The present paper attempts to determine what design features are required for tropical residential buildings to meet the Passive House Standard. This study was conducted in El Salvador, which experiences a warm and humid climate throughout the year. For economic and cultural reasons, few residential buildings in the country have air conditioning systems. However, the vast majority of residential buildings have not been designed using passive principles, causing great occupant discomfort and increasing energy consumption for cooling. Both the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) software and EnergyPlus were used in order to determine the design parameters that would yield a passive house for this climate. In addition, the paper discusses the technical and economic feasibility of modifying a typical house to meet the standard. The potential benefits related to occupant comfort and energy cost savings are also discussed.

In this paper the feasibility of using photovoltaic cells to reduce electricity generation from fossil fuels in North Cyprus (N. Cyprus) was studied. In this work it is proposed to use photovoltaic systems to power heating and cooling systems (i.e., mainly heat pumps) in household units and it was found that this is economically feasible. It was also discovered that despite the extensive use of solar water heaters in N. Cyprus, the awareness of photovoltaic cells is still very low and few house owners take advantage of its economic and environmental friendliness. It was also observed that PV cells are not widely available in the local market; coupled with the fact that formal awareness of energy friendly electricity means is not well promoted in developing countries. The result of this work shows that about 40% of yearly electricity consumption in N. Cyprus, which is mainly generated from plants using fuel oil no. 6, can be reduced if all household units use PV systems to heat or cool the house depending on the weather conditions. According to the electricity forecast carried out in this paper it was observed that the annual net electricity consumption is expected to increase by 30.65% in the year 2015. This means that the utility company will need to augment its current facilities to accommodate the increment; by expanding its facilities or opting for energy conservation policies. The latter has proved to be inefficient in this part of the world; the former will increase the use of fossil fuel thereby increasing the CO 2 emission. This work also provides economic analysis for PV systems investment for household owners and policies to help increase availability of PV cells in N. Cyprus market.