New Colleague at Energypedia
We are very happy to welcome our new colleague Fungai Cecilia Sandamu. She will be engaged in renewable energy research, quality management, community management, fundraising and wiki gardening. Currently she is developing the new 'Financing & Funding Portal' on energypedia.info. Your inputs on this initiative are welcome.
We will definitely let you know via the 'Energypedia Renewable Energy Newsletter' once the new 'Financing & Funding Portal' is up and running.
What is Wiki Gardening?
Have you ever noticed the little gnome with the red hat showing up regularly on articles? If yes, then you've already met our official Wiki Gardener!
'Wiki Gardening' is done in order to:
- help maintain and organize content on energypedia.info by categorizing, migrating and linking pages
- analyze, develop, maintain and propose changes to energypedia.info architectures, policies, functionality and support materials
- build the energypedia.info community by working with students and practitioners in incorporating energypedia.info into the lifecycle of their daily activities
Remember that anyone using the wiki can help to garden. In fact the best gardeners are those that are closest to the subject matter.
So pick a corner of energypedia.info that you really care about and take care of it!
--> Learn more about Wiki Gardening
--> Visit energypedia's Official Wiki Gardener
Practical Action Launches the 'Poor people’s energy outlook 2013'
Practical Action has launched the Poor people’s energy outlook (PPEO) report 2013, with support and input from partners including GIZ, UNDP and the World Bank. With launch events taking place from Lilongwe to Dhaka and Kigali to Kathmandu, the PPEO focuses on bringing together stakeholders around a new energy narrative – one which focuses on the energy services that poor people want, need and have a right to.
This third report in the series focuses on energy for community services and illustrates the difference that improved energy access can make to health, education and public infrastructure, including water and street lighting.
Alongside analysis of commitments made to SE4All in 2012, the report also presents the results of an on-going collaboration with the World Bank on how to define and measure access to energy. This multi-tier framework informs the SE4All Global Tracking Framework which will monitor global and national progress towards the Goals of the Initiative.
In producing the report, Practical Action engaged with community members, civil society organizations, donors, private sector and government officials to hear their perspectives on how energy enables development. The report has particularly been informed by field research in Bolivia, Bangladesh, and Rwanda which helped to ground and refine the Energy Access Ecosystem Index, a tool for analyzing the strength of policy, capacity and finance at the national level.
--> Download the report here
--> Download the Total Energy Access Info-graphic
Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy 2013
Due to the overwhelming demand the Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance opens the Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy’s class room doors to welcome more participants than in previous years. The training takes place from 14. – 19. July 2013 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and is based on a completely new concept, which promises classes tailored to the participants’ experience level, superior networking opportunities and specialized training to build their core competence.
Integrated knowledge is delivered by experienced trainers and practitioners that combine both academic-technical RE/EE and banking knowledge through a mix of lectures, discussions and networking with relevant stakeholders.
The new design of the Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy supplies international decision makers, project developers and investors with technical and financial know-how through practical and theoretical coursework that includes core courses, a technical course in project finance tailored to the participants’ skill level, and four possible electives from which to choose: an interactive training in effective project design, leadership in project finance, and real-life, on-the-ground case studies.
The Sustainable Energy Finance Summer Academy has a clear finance focus and is suitable for both public and private sector practitioners, including entrepreneurs, project developers, private investors, initiator/fund houses, international development finance consultants and managers, plant operators and manufacturers, engineers and advisory professionals (e.g. law firms, business and tax consultants). Other interested parties, such as academics in relevant fields, are of course welcome to apply to the program.
---> For more information and to apply online, please visit the Frankfurt School Summer Academy Homepage
Are E-readers the Future of Books in African Schools?
Overcoming broken screens and intermittent power sources, Worldreader aims to reach 1 million African students by 2015. The group supplies Kindles to students, and has seen reading test scores greatly improve.
The US- and Spain-based Worldreader has shown that Kindles hold several advantages over books. They don't require libraries, for example. Kindles drastically cut the storage and delivery costs of paper books. They also boost test scores among grade-school students, according to controlled study funded by USAID. Unlike books, however, Kindles can suffer broken screens and they are at the mercy of the sometimes-unreliable energy access common in developing economies.
Worldreader is working to overcome these technological hurdles and is escalating its operations to provide e-books to 1 million people by 2015. The program sprang from the idea that Kindles might be more practical than books in sub-Saharan African schools. David Risher, Worldreader's co-founder and CEO highlights that “e-readers can have an even bigger impact in the developing world than in the developed world, because the need is so great and costs are coming down so quickly.”
To date, Worldreader has distributed 3000 Kindles to students in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Africa. The devices cost nothing for the students and teachers. Amazon sells them at a discounted rate to Worldreader. Worldreader loads each Kindle with at least 100 books and delivers these with cases and lights.
In terms of battery life of the devices, with the Kindle's battery-friendly e-ink display, the time between charges is measured in weeks, not hours. So, charging hasn't been a problem. Even so, the organization is looking at upgrading the Kindle cases by adding solar panels so that the e-readers can always stay charged.
Worldreader's next milestone is to distribute 1 million e-books by the end of 2013. After that, the organization plans to hit 1 million again by 2015, but this time that number could be the e-readers distributed, and not just the books that are on them.
--> Read the full article at E4C
--> For more information and to find out how to contribute, please visit www.worldreader.org
--> Watch a video explaining the origins of Worldreader on YouTube
GOGLA Launches Kerosene Price Index
With the majority of the off-grid population in developing and emerging countries relying on kerosene lamps for illumination, it is necessary to understand the real price of kerosene to the end user in order to estimate the economic impact and to build a business case for the transition from kerosene based lighting to efficient off-grid lighting solutions.
To address this need, GOGLA has developed a web-based interactive tool to provide users with accurate kerosene pricing in countries throughout the world. The GOGLA Global Kerosene Price Index is a streamlined method for gathering and sharing information and for tracking the price structure and the development of kerosene prices globally.
The Index is based on voluntary monthly reporting from the input of various stakeholders including; international organizations, civil society and individuals. The prices will be regularly updated according to the reporting input. To ensure that this resource is accurate and reflects the current kerosene prices around the world, continuous contributions from stakeholders will be essential. To provide the most accurate and up-to-date information on kerosene prices around the world, GOGLA seeks institutional and/or individual contributions. All contributors will be acknowledged on the GOGLA website.
---> To find out more about how you can contribute by becoming a member of the GOGLA reporting community, please visit www.gogla.org
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