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International Energy Initiative Newsletter
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International Energy Initiative Newsletter |
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Dear reader,
You are receiving the second issue of the International Energy
Initiative-IEI Newsletter. Our President, Eric Larson, writes our
Editorial this time and shares his view about the recent changes at IEI.
This second issue also brings to you some activities and publications IEI
is involved in. We hope you enjoy it.
Gilberto M. Jannuzzi, Executive-Director, International Energy
Initiative
Editorial
Since being launched in 1992, the International Energy Initiative (IEI)
has grown into a highly-capable and effective international organization
dedicated to addressing energy problems of developing countries through a
variety south-south-north collaborative activities. The IEI's
non-governmental public-interest mission, its global network of regional
offices (REIs), its internationally-recognized and geographically-diverse
Board of Directors, and its widely-recognized journal, Energy for
Sustainable Development, give it a unique position and uniquely-effective
capabilities among the many good organizations that are working worldwide
to help solve energy-related problems in developing countries. In this
context I was honored to be asked by the Board of Directors to serve a
one-year term as President of IEI beginning in February 2004. Professor
Anton Eberhard, President of IEI for the preceding three years, stepped
down to pursue other commitments. All of us at IEI wish Prof. Eberhard
good luck in his new endeavors, and we look forward to continuing
interactions with him in the future. The Board of Directors also
recognized that IEI would benefit from an Executive Director to help run
its operations, and I am delighted that Professor Gilberto Jannuzzi
accepted the Board's invitation to serve in this capacity. Gilberto and I
have been working together closely since February to insure that IEI has
the active and capable personnel, communications infrastructure, and
funding support to continue to make important contributions on energy
issues worldwide.
While the core activities and networks of IEI remain as vibrant as
ever, IEI is also branching out in some new directions. Some of the
changes this year: This newsletter has been launched; Stephen Karekezi,
the distinguished Director of the African Energy Policy Research Network
(AFREPREN), is the newest member of the IEI Board of Directors (as of June
2004); IEI will be devoting an increasing part of its energies to
addressing the long- term challenge of establishing universal access to
fuels for clean cooking in rural and peri-urban areas of developing
countries. REI activities will increasingly emphasize this theme. The
September 2004 issue of Energy for Sustainable Development will be devoted
to papers on this topic; Energy for Sustainable Development celebrates its
10th year of publication in 2004. Special recognition of this fact is in
planning; With Anton Eberhard's departure from IEI, the Cape Town REI is
being closed; Opening of new REIs is being actively explored.
All-in-all, it is an exciting time to be part of IEI!
Eric Larson, President
IEI
Global website
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Coming soon on Energy for Sustainable Development
(ESD) |
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| IEI's highly-regarded quarterly journal, Energy
for Sustainable Development (www.ieiglobal.org/esd.html), is
devoting a special issue (September 2004) to reviewing current
knowledge on important issues related to production and use of
cleaner cooking fuels in developing countries. The invited authors
are leading experts in their respective fields and their
contribution will provide a solid set of background studies. A
preliminary list of articles commissioned for this special issue (A
Manifesto on Fuels for Clean Cooking) is presented as follow:
Health effects of cook stove emissions; Global warming impacts of
cooking with direct burning of solid fuels; Safety issues with gas
and liquid fuels; LPG in Brazil: lessons and challenges; UNDP's LPG
Challenge Program; Pilot experience with cooking with DME in China;
Policy analysis of DME for cooking in China; Assessment of the China
improved stoves program; Lessons for clean fuels implementation in
rural areas based on India s biogas experience; Health benefits of
interventions to reduce indoor air pollution from solid fuel use;
Use of LPG for cooking in India; Ethanol gel as a cooking fuel; The
future of LPG supplies.
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Energy for Sustainable Development: A Policy
Agenda |
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 In 2002, two IEI Board Members,
Prof. Thomas Johanssen and Prof. José Goldemberg, collaborated with
UNDP (The United Nations Development Programme) on the book "Energy
for Sustainable Development: A Policy Agenda". It is a follow up on
the 2000 report "World Energy Assessment: Energy and the Challenge
of Sustainability" (WEA), a comprehensive analysis of available
energy resources and technological options to support sustainable
development to which more than 100 scientists and development
experts contributed.
Another purpose of "Energy for Sustainable Development: A Policy
Agenda" is to offer informed guidance on how to shape public policy
so that it accelerates the growth of energy systems that support
sustainable development.
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Biomass Gasification Technologies in Brazil and other
Countries |
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| This is a project of comparison between the
biomass gasification technologies existing in Brazil and in other
countries and formation of human resources in the Brazilian northern
region. The central objective of the project is to develop a
sustainable alternative to meet the growing demand for electrical
energy in the isolated communities of the Northern Region of Brazil.
The project develops the biomass gasification technology for
electricity generation and evaluates the viability of the technology
in Brazil.
Financially supported by International Energy Initiative's Latin
American office, Biomass Users Network of Brazil (BUN) and Fund for
Studies and Projects on Energy Sector (FINEP-CTENERG) of the
Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, the project is being
executed by CENBIO (National Reference Center in Biomass).
IEI supported a trainning programme to local users in the Amazon
region and is supporting a one-day seminar where the project results
will be presented. The event is being organised by CENBIO.
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Integrated Resource Planning for the Power
Sector |
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| The article "Integrated resource planning (IRP)
and power sector reform in developing countries", written by
Antonette D'Sa, the Asian Regional Energy Initiative (REI) director,
has been accepted for publication in the 2004 Energy Policy journal.
The integrated resource planning approach is one that considers
both supply and demand-side options to meeting the need for a
resource, while minimising the costs accruing to the firm and to
society. IRP can be used as a tool to address the existing problems,
particularly as reforms are taking place in developing countries.
However, the advantages that IRP would afford have to be juxtaposed
with the barriers to such a planning process - those encountered in
the past as well as the possibilities in view of structural changes.
Most importantly, one should consider the policies that would enable
the IRP approach to be usefully employed. Although IRP has receded
in importance in some areas of the world, there are perceptible
benefits for developing countries; these could adopt such planning
methods through the agents and the instruments suggested.
IEI's Latin American office is preparing a short online
introductory course on IRP. The course will make use of e-learning
methods and will be first tested on a pilot- scale during
november-december/2004.
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Coffee effluent treatment-cum-electricity
generation |
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| The integration of environmentally benign waste
disposal with power generation and industrial processing has obvious
benefits for the surrounding environment. Technologies for the
anaerobic digestion of waste from coffee processing have been in
existence. The option of using a bioreactor permits biogas to be
generated; this can then be used for other energy services, thereby
yielding positive returns to the investor. Given the importance of
coffee production to the South-Indian economy, it was considered
useful to estimate the financial viability of investment in such
bioreactors. An economic cost- benefit analysis of investment in
such a scheme has therefore been made, based on the case of a
particular estate. The effluent-discharge from the coffee-
processing unit is rendered ecologically benign and water is
recycled for non-potable uses. The replacement of a part of the
diesel requirement with biogas for fuelling an electricity generator
makes the investment financially profitable.
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Clean Cooking Fuels: switching household fuels in
Tanzania |
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| As an output of the "Sustainable energy
solutions in North and South" partnership, an analysis on clean
cooking fuels is being prepared by an exchange student from
Tanzania. The work involves studies on international experience on
household cooking fuel inter- substitution and development of
alternative means to improve the household cooking through clean
fuels and energy efficiency in Tanzania and Brazil.
The project "Sustainable energy solutions in North and South" is
a partnership between International Energy Initiative (IEI),
Tanzania Traditional Energy Development and Environment Organization
(TaTEDO), and Sweco Grøner (Norway) whose one of the objectives is
to enhance the capabilities of the involved partners and their staff
through the exchange of personnel.
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R&D, Energy Efficiency and the Power Sector Reforms in
Brazil |
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| The article "Power sector reforms in Brazil and
its impacts on energy efficiency and research and development
activities" has been accepted for publication in the 2004 Energy
Policy journal. The author is Gilberto De Martino Jannuzzi, the
Latin American Regional Energy Initiative (REI) director and IEI's
executive-director.
Since the mid-nineties Brazil has implemented significant changes
in the country's power sector, including privatization, introduction
of competition and the creation of regulatory agency. As reform
started in Brazil traditional support to energy efficiency and
energy research and development suffered a discontinuation, budget
cuts and re- definition of roles of the public agents in charge. At
the same time, new regulatory measures and the creation of a
national public interest fund have helped to maintain and
potentially enhance the country's effort to promote energy
efficiency and investments in energy R&D. This paper analyses
the impacts of these changes in the areas of energy efficiency and
energy research and development and argues for an increased role of
developing countries to provide solutions for a meeting energy
demand requirements more suitable to their internal markets.
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