Sustainable energy for the rural developing world: The potential for renewable energy to assist developing countries in pursuing sustainable rural development.

摘要

Despite economic growth in the past decades, poverty persists alongside serious environmental degradation in the rural part of the developing world. Allied with worsening conditions of poverty and environmental deterioration is the growing rural energy crisis in which rural populations in the developing world are increasingly suffering from serious shortages of biomass and, due to significant economic, environmental and social constraints, developing countries can no longer rely on centralized, fossil fuel-based energy strategy to address their rural energy needs. When these facts are coupled with requirements for further increase of energy use to meet the needs of the majority of the rural population, it is clear that developing countries need to identify decentralized, renewable energy options as sustainable sources for addressing economic, environmental and social problems.;Renewable energy for rural development has received a great deal of attention in the research community. While many studies have provided valuable information about the current status of renewable energy applications in rural developing areas, there is a lack of a comprehensive analytical framework and methodology built on the criterion of sustainability. By developing a multidimensional analytical model, a Rural Renewable Energy Analysis and Design (RREAD), this dissertation intends to establish an effective method for embodying the concept of sustainable development in the evaluation of decentralized renewable energy options for rural development in developing countries.;The dissertation utilizes a case study of 41 herder families in rural Inner Mongolia of China to evaluate the economic viability and social/environmental value of solar and wind energy in providing off-grid electricity services to remote rural villagers. The case study indicates that decentralized renewable energy is a cost-effective option of addressing rural energy needs while contributing to long-term social and environmental sustainability.;The case study also reveals the existence of significant barriers to the greater use of decentralized renewable energy technologies in rural developing areas. To transcend existing barriers, the dissertation provides policy recommendations based on the objectives of sustainability that will enhance opportunities of using decentralized renewable energy systems in the rural developing world.