This text highlights the role that renewable energy can play in achieving sustainable development. It focuses on rural areas of developing countries, looking in particular at stand-alone solar home systems and grid-connected biomass cogeneration plants. It analyzes the main barriers to the successful transfer of renewable energy technology, with case studies from a range of South-East Asian, South Asian, Pacific and African countries, and explains the ways in which these obstacles can be overcome. The roles of the key players involved and how the Kyoto Protocol can facilitate the transfer in order to mitigate climate change are also discussed.
Biography
Gil Wilkins is a Principal Consultant with AEA Technology, an Energy Adviser to the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and an Associate Fellow with the Sustainable Development Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.