Stimulating competition, diversification, or re-enforcing entrepreneurial barriers? Exploring small-scale electricity systems and gender-inclusive entrepreneurship

This article provides empirical contributions to our understanding of how small-scale renewable electricity systems (RES) can generate gender-equal opportunities for entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. This ties with our recent enquiry into the gender-electricity-entrepreneurship nexus (Osunmuyiwa & Ahlborg, 2019). Conceptually, we apply our recently developed Gender and Socially Inclusive Electricity for Entrepreneurship framework to explore the degree to which small businesses are growing or changing their production processes through access to RES and the gendered dimensions of these processes. This approach allows us to first; unpack how entrepreneurs in local spaces interact with RES and how this stimulates entrepreneurial opportunities and enables small businesses to develop new product or service offerings. Second, examine how RES reliance on existing socio-political systems and institutions might perpetuate socio-economic and gendered imbalances and affect entrepreneurial outcomes in case communities. We operationalise the analytical approach in a case study of small-scale RES in a rural district of Njombe, Tanzania. Our results reveal a boost in entrepreneurial activities. However, we found gendered differences in the capacity to initiate and sustain new product or service offerings. Similarly, while access to RES affected entrepreneurs\u27 perception about social status by spurring significant changes in views around female business ownership, most women remained in low-growth enterprises due to existing socio-economic and power imbalances. We conclude by providing critical reflections for policy and developmental organisations aiming to deploy RES to promote inclusive electricity use for entrepreneurship in low-income communities

What matters? Unlocking householders’ flexibility towards cooling automation in India

In emerging economies like India, where air conditioners are projected to triple by 2050 — mostly from household use — demand response programs such as cooling automation have gained currency as a suitable approach to address peak electricity from cooling demand. Environmentally commoning/intentional communities are classic contexts in which flexible cooling consumption might be easily realised. Utilising materialist theory and a six-month cooling automation trial and workshops with twenty households in an intentional community in South India, this study explores factors that shape householders’ pliability or rejection of cooling automation. Results reveal that while commoning identity plays a significant role in householders\u27 flexibility towards automation, extreme heat creates a clash between householders\u27 environmental beliefs and comfort needs, altering their response to automation. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications arising from these findings and suggest how utilities could respond to these dynamics to foster a transition to a low-carbon energy system

Politics of Energy Transitions:A decade after Nigeria's biofuels crusade, a tale of non-commercialization and lost opportunities

There is a growing literature on the politics of sustainability transitions and its correlation with policy changes at the national level. This paper contributes to this debate by taking stock of energy transition processes in Nigeria's biofuels sector. It explores the socio-economic externalities that influenced the biofuels policy, how this policy process was negotiated and why it failed. Based on expert interviews and document analysis, it was observed that a drop in oil production and the need for economic diversification (GDP growth) created a favourable condition for the development of biofuels in 2005. However, the biofuels policy was insufficiently articulated when the window of opportunity opened. In the last 10 years, fluctuations in oil prices and changes in government have closed the window of opportunity for biofuels. Taken together, the results suggest that to successfully engineer transition, policy processes of this nature require a re-articulation of vision based on emerging externalities

Inclusiveness by design? Reviewing sustainable electricity access and entrepreneurship from a gender perspective

There is a substantial literature analysing the role of electricity as a catalyst for economic development. However, there are significant knowledge gaps in whether such systems are or can indeed be designed in a gender sensitive way to promote equal opportunity for socially inclusive entrepreneurship at the local level. We make three main contributions with this paper. First, we carry out a literature review to unpack the gender-electricity-entrepreneurship nexus by identifying the agenda of the gender-energy and gender-entrepreneurship literature respectively and how they intersect and understand gender over time. Second, we synthesise key factors identified as hindering and driving empowerment in relation to electricity and entrepreneurship and identify the weaknesses of the respective literature. Third, we outline the contours of the conceptual intersection and develop a framework which shows how electricity systems can be designed to become favourable and economically empowering for both men and women. Furthermore, we demonstrate how local value chains can benefit from this electric inclusiveness. Finally, with our framework, we develop recommendations for strategic action and identify points of intervention in policy, planning, design and operation of electricity systems

Transitions in unlikely places: Exploring the conditions for renewable energy adoption in Nigeria

This paper examines conditions and pathways that explain variation in the adoption of renewable energy (RE) in Nigeria's 36 states based on a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis. Using three analytical lenses proposed by the multi-level socio-technical theory (niches, regimes, and landscapes), we examine RE adoption in these states. While all three lenses explain variation to some extent, a combination of regime and landscape characteristics, enables states to overcome dependence on oil while triggering the adoption of RE. States with high income and a regime featuring institutions and coalitions supporting transitions establish themselves as pioneers. States with medium/low income and a regime characterised by a weak pro-RE political coalition support emerge as laggards. Hence we conclude that the role of the regime and particularly political actors therein, is central in energy transition processes among Nigerian states. This has implications for future transition attempts in Nigeria and developing (rentier) countries, generally

What matters? Unlocking householders’ flexibility towards cooling automation in India

In emerging economies like India, where air conditioners are projected to triple by 2050 — mostly from household use — demand response programs such as cooling automation have gained currency as a suitable approach to address peak electricity from cooling demand. Environmentally commoning/intentional communities are classic contexts in which flexible cooling consumption might be easily realised. Utilising materialist theory and a six-month cooling automation trial and workshops with twenty households in an intentional community in South India, this study explores factors that shape householders’ pliability or rejection of cooling automation. Results reveal that while commoning identity plays a significant role in householders\u27 flexibility towards automation, extreme heat creates a clash between householders\u27 environmental beliefs and comfort needs, altering their response to automation. We conclude by discussing the theoretical implications arising from these findings and suggest how utilities could respond to these dynamics to foster a transition to a low-carbon energy system

Accelerating Farmers Move on the Irrigation Ladder Understanding the Potential of Solar-Powered Irrigation in Nigeria

Imagine you are a smallholder vegetable or rice farmer living in a rural area in a lowmiddle-income country. It has been three months since the government’s restrictions on movement. You are unable to visit the farm for work and you do not have an irrigation system installed. Instead, you rely on rainwater to provide irrigation to your crops. However, rainfall has been inconsistent. The lockdown is over, and you have little to nothing to harvest. Like the above scenario, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge debate on the vulnerabilities and uncertainties around global and local food systems.</p

A Mixed-Methods Approach for Evaluating the Influence of Residential Practices for Thermal Comfort on Electricity Consumption in Auroville, India

With rapid global economic growth and a rise in disposable household income, particularly within a progressively warming planet, the escalating demand for energy to achieve thermal comfort has become a salient concern in the Global South, notably in emerging economies like India. This burgeoning need for cooling solutions has not only underscored the vital role of energy consumption but has also accentuated the imperative of comprehending the ensuing implications for electricity policy and strategic planning, particularly within the ambit of the Global South. This study explored the nuanced landscape of active cooling within an intentional community, Auroville, in southern India, aiming to discern the factors underpinning household preferences and practices in the pursuit of thermal comfort. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study contributed empirically and methodologically to the interdisciplinary discourse by analysing residential electricity consumption patterns and cooling practices within selected households in the specified community. The study unfolded in three methodological stages: firstly, an analysis of climatic data coupled with an environmental stress index (ESI) assessment; secondly, the monitoring of end-user electricity consumption followed by rigorous data analysis; and lastly, the utilisation of qualitative in-depth interviews and observational techniques. This study’s outcome yielded empirical insights into the unprecedented shifts in the ESI for Auroville since 2014. Furthermore, the study unravelled the intricate complexities inherent in occupant behaviour within residential structures, thereby offering valuable insights into the practices that shape householders’ cooling preferences. This research enriched the understanding of the dynamics of energy consumption in the pursuit of thermal comfort and contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable development and energy policy in the context of climate change

A Mixed-Methods Approach for Evaluating the Influence of Residential Practices for Thermal Comfort on Electricity Consumption in Auroville, India

With rapid global economic growth and a rise in disposable household income, particularly within a progressively warming planet, the escalating demand for energy to achieve thermal comfort has become a salient concern in the Global South, notably in emerging economies like India. This burgeoning need for cooling solutions has not only underscored the vital role of energy consumption but has also accentuated the imperative of comprehending the ensuing implications for electricity policy and strategic planning, particularly within the ambit of the Global South. This study explored the nuanced landscape of active cooling within an intentional community, Auroville, in southern India, aiming to discern the factors underpinning household preferences and practices in the pursuit of thermal comfort. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study contributed empirically and methodologically to the interdisciplinary discourse by analysing residential electricity consumption patterns and cooling practices within selected households in the specified community. The study unfolded in three methodological stages: firstly, an analysis of climatic data coupled with an environmental stress index (ESI) assessment; secondly, the monitoring of end-user electricity consumption followed by rigorous data analysis; and lastly, the utilisation of qualitative in-depth interviews and observational techniques. This study’s outcome yielded empirical insights into the unprecedented shifts in the ESI for Auroville since 2014. Furthermore, the study unravelled the intricate complexities inherent in occupant behaviour within residential structures, thereby offering valuable insights into the practices that shape householders’ cooling preferences. This research enriched the understanding of the dynamics of energy consumption in the pursuit of thermal comfort and contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable development and energy policy in the context of climate change