Powering Health Care: Measuring Impact of Clinic Electrification
Subhrendu Pattanayak, faculty director of the Energy Access Project, will participate in Powering Health Care’s “Designing Research and M&E Strategies to Measure Impact of Clinic Electrification.” This working group call will focus on how to design for monitoring and measuring impact (e.g. types of studies, types of indicators). The call will feature a scene-setting by Duke University’s Energy Access Project, followed by in-depth presentations on impact designs by CEEW, We Care Solar, and WHO/UNF.
October 25, 2018Read more
Powering Health Care: Measuring Impact of Clinic Electrification
What do dusty solar panels, biomass cookstoves, biogas-fueled sanitation systems, and renewable project finance have in common? Each is featured in a new volume of energy access case studies from Duke student authors. It’s the second volume of case studies published by Duke University’s Global Energy Access Network (GLEAN), a student organization. GLEAN brings together graduate, professional, and undergraduate students across disciplines, affording opportunities to explore diverse perspectives on energy access issues and discuss relevant fieldwork experiences.
October 10, 2018Full story
Duke Students Create Energy Datasets and Tools with Wide-Ranging Impact Through Data+ Summer Research
Nearly a third of humanity lacks reliable electricity. Over the summer as part of Duke University’s Data+ program, Duke student teams deployed cutting-edge data analysis techniques to aid the search for solutions to this global challenge. Guided by Duke faculty, students learn how to marshal, analyze, and visualize data, while gaining broad exposure to the modern world of data science. Both teams’ research efforts contribute to the goals of Duke’s Energy Access Project, a new research and policy effort that aims to address the challenges around increasing access to modern energy solutions to underserved populations around the world. Key Duke collaborators in this effort include the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the Duke University Energy Initiative, the Sanford School of Public Policy, Bass Connections, and the Nicholas School of the Environment.
September 28, 2018Read more
Meeting the Energy Needs of the World
Access to modern and reliable energy is something that most of the world takes for granted. But many around the world are living a different reality. Across sub-Saharan Africa and India, children often complete homework by the flicker of candles and kerosene lamps as wisps of smoke trickle up around them from the stoking of the fire beneath their cooking stove. The Duke University Energy Access Project aims to help achieve the United Nation’s (U.N.) seventh Sustainable Development Goal, which is to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.
August 24, 2018Read More
Household Solar Adoption in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review
Hannah Girardeau and Subhrendu Pattanayak have published an EfD Initiative paper on the enabling environment of offgrid solar. They identified 42 studies in 26 countries that describe the enabling environment: the constellation of financial, market, programmatic, and regulatory factors that lead to adoption of small-scale solar systems. At the household level, the cost of technology and quality of a product have the potential to greatly impact the success of a program. On a programmatic scale, customer support and ongoing maintenance have the potential to increase sustainable use of products. Finally, supportive government level policies and design standards can encourage the growth of high-quality products in regional markets.
July 5, 2018Publication
Harnessing the Power of Data: Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative Conference
On May 15–17, 2018, more than 100 academic researchers and energy access practitioners gathered at Duke University to discuss critical issues related to energy access as part of the third annual conference for the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI). Presentations by Kyle Bradbury of Duke University, Johannes Urpelainen of Johns Hopkins University, Nathan Williams of Carnegie Mellon University, and Jay Taneja of the University of Massachusetts–Amherst highlighted remarkable advances in energy data analytics, described applications for developing world energy challenges, and outlined remaining data-related hurdles impeding progress on energy access. Energy developers, utilities, planners, and policy makers are often not equipped with the necessary tools to understand the changing landscape of energy delivery options and customer preferences. Researchers and grid operators are often restricted by outdated, unavailable, or biased data in the field. Through innovative methods and analytical tools, such as remote sensing, satellite imagery, and machine learning, data analytics are improving our understanding of energy demand in rural areas, customer needs and expectations, the local availability of energy resources, and the realities of providing electricity to underserved communities. These proceedings present key conference takeaways related to the core theme of energy data analytics.
June 29, 2018Conference Proceedings
Can a Modernized U.S. Development Finance Institution Help Close the Energy Financing Gap?
A new policy brief outlines the energy financing gaps in emerging markets and analyzes how the new tools and authorities proposed under the BUILD Act legislation would equip the U.S. development finance institution to respond to those financing needs.
June 5, 2018Read More
Achieving Universal Energy Access by Closing the Gap between What we Know and What we Do
In a Brookings blog post, Duke University Energy Access staff write about a three-year study of more than 77,500 papers on energy access and the internationally agreed on Sustainable Development Goals. Marc Jeuland of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and Energy Access Project Director Jonathan Phillips will present findings from this work in Lisbon, Portugal, at the fourth Sustainable Energy for All forum May 2-3.
May 2, 2018Blog post
Energy as the Golden Thread: What do we Know?
Energy has been called the “golden thread” connecting economic growth, social equity, and environmental sustainability—but what do we know about the drivers and impacts of energy transitions in low- and middle-income countries? To answer this question, the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative, the Duke University Energy Access Project and Environment for Development, characterized nearly 80,000 academic articles related to the social dimensions of energy and development to produce a systematic, broad in coverage, and replicable “energy services” framework. This new research highlights how changes in energy access and technology most clearly affect outcomes in 9 of the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and it defines the critical research knowledge gaps to help policy makers better understand how energy relates to end users’ well-being.
April 30, 2018Download (PDF)
Duke Sophomores Aim to Transform Cold Storage in India
The Hult Prize, the world’s largest social entrepreneurship competition for college students, advertises itself as the “Nobel Prize for social entrepreneurs.” Now a Duke team—mPower—is heading to the Hult finals with an idea to address India’s shortage of agricultural cold storage solutions by offering a novel storage and distribution network that compensates farmers and simplifies the supply chain. To get here, team member Harshvardhan Sanghi, a Duke mechanical engineering major, told Duke Today that “we leveraged our resources at Duke, including the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative as well as the newly launched Energy Access Project. Our network of mentors helped us flesh out minute details within our business model, clarify logistics, and improve the viability of our proposed technology.”
April 30, 2018Read Full Story
Seven Takeaways from the Energy Access Project Launch
Some of the leading lights from the energy access community convened in Washington, D.C., February 23 for the launch of Duke University’s Energy Access Project. As the new project assembles its agenda, leaders from business, government, and civil society weighed in on the market and policy challenges facing the billions of people lacking access to modern energy. Here’s some of what we heard.
March 7, 2018Seven Takeaways
Request for Proposals: Summer 2018 Energy Access Internships and Research Projects
The Energy Access Project invites proposals for student internships or research projects in Summer 2018 related to energy access in less?developed countries, with a focus on either modern technologies and fuels for cooking, or access to reliable, affordable, safe, and sustainable electricity. Undergraduate and graduate students at Duke University who are currently enrolled, and will be enrolled full?time at Duke in Fall 2018, are eligible to apply for up to $5,000. Apply by 5 p.m., Thursday March 8.
March 1, 2018Details (PDF)