The Linkage Between Income Distribution and Clean Energy Investments: Addressing Financing Cos

With a focus on alternative methods for accelerating clean energy policy adoption, this study introduces an innovative financing scheme for renewable and energy efficiency deployment. Financing barriers represent a notable obstacle for energy improvements and this is particularly the case for low-income households. Limited access to credit, due to socio-economic status and the lack of guarantees, are key issues related to financing barriers. Implementing a policy such as PACE – Property Assessed Clean Energy – allows for the provision of up-front funds for residential property owners to install electric and thermal solar systems and make energy-efficiency improvements to their buildings. This paper will inform the design of better policies tailored to the creation of the appropriate conditions for such investments to occur, especially when the lack of access to capital tends to stall them.Financing Barriers, Energy Efficiency, Solar PV, Energy Investments

Clean energy deployment: addressing financing cost

New methods are needed to accelerate clean energy policy adoption. To that end, this study proposes an innovative financing scheme for renewable and energy efficiency deployment. Financing barriers represent a notable obstacle for energy improvements and this is particularly the case for low income households. Implementing a policy such as PACE—property assessed clean energy—allows for the provision of upfront funds for residential property owners to install electric and thermal solar systems and make energy efficiency improvements to their buildings. This paper will inform the design of better policies tailored to the creation of the appropriate conditions for such investments to occur, especially in those countries where most of the population belongs to the low–middle income range facing financial constraints

The health impacts of exposure to indoor air pollution from solid fuels in developing countries: knowledge, gaps, and data needs.

Globally, almost 3 billion people rely on biomass (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and dung) and coal as their primary source of domestic energy. Exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) from the combustion of solid fuels is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. In this paper, we review the current knowledge on the relationship between IAP exposure and disease and on interventions for reducing exposure and disease. We take an environmental health perspective and consider the details of both exposure and health effects that are needed for successful intervention strategies. We also identify knowledge gaps and detailed research questions that are essential in successful design and dissemination of preventive measures and policies. In addition to specific research recommendations, we conclude that given the interaction of housing, household energy, and day-to-day household activities in determining exposure to indoor smoke, research and development of effective interventions can benefit tremendously from integration of methods and analysis tools from a range of disciplines in the physical, social, and health sciences

Informing the Financing of Universal Energy Access: An Assessment of Current Flows

Energy poverty is widely recognized as a major obstacle to economic and social development and poverty alleviation. To help inform the design of appropriate and effective policies to reduce energy poverty, we present a brief analysis of the current macro financial flows in the electricity and gas distribution sectors in developing countries. We build on the methodology used to quantify the flows of investment in the climate change area. This methodology relies on national gross fixed capital formation, overseas development assistance, and foreign direct investment. These high-level and aggregated investment figures provide a sense of scale to policy-makers, but are only a small part of the information required to design financial vehicles. In addition, these figures tend to mask numerous variations between sectors and countries, as well as trends and other temporal fluctuations. Nonetheless, for the poorest countries, one can conclude that the current flows are considerably short (at least five times) of what will be required to provide a basic level of access to clean, modern energy services to the “energy poor”.Energy Access, Energy Finance, Financial flows