Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context

Yohannes Haile

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

| Peer-Reviewed

Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context

Yohannes Haile

Published in Journal of Energy and Natural Resources (Volume 11, Issue 1)

Received: 25 January 2022 Accepted: 10 February 2022 Published: 16 February 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

The environmental implications of energy systems in developing countries have significant impacts on the daily and long-term life quality of the population. These implications include mitigating impacts of climate change, deforestation, improving food security and the multidimensional energy security concerns. Increasing accessibility of reliable and cost-effective renewable energy streams, creating sustainable and profitable businesses that improve living standards and create economic opportunities, which co-create social and environmental values are necessary and essential markers for transitions towards a flourishing society. Energy is essential to sustain modern life. Here, security implies the economic, social, and environmental impacts of energy on the wellbeing of a society. The energy regime that a country chooses has wider implications on its national security strategy and foreign relations. It affects the economic and technological pathways it takes and impinges on overall developments, which include industry, education, environment, and the way of life. Selecting the optimal innovation strategy that includes appropriate renewable energy technologies which meet the needs and harness the available energy resources is one of the primary variables that impact the performance renewable energy projects. Cost, reliability, maintenance, and cultural orientation need to be considered for innovation & technology selection. In the African context, our research indicates addressing the environmental implications of energy systems necessitates whole system wide change that is underpinned by transitions from utilizing conventional energy sources to renewable energy streams. Furthermore, it requires re-configuration of research & development to applied research, re-constitution & focus on incubating enterprises & entrepreneurs, re-configuration of education from abstract education to education that enables solutions development to address local challenges, development in the energy & other sectors to address climate change, health impacts, job creation, energy & food security in concert with developing synergistic and symbiotic shared vision and paradigm shift towards a flourishing future. Our research findings inform us that the meaning and application of energy affordability has a significant difference from what is in the current literature. Energy affordability is defined as the financial capability of a household to pay for basic energy services. In other words, it could be expressed as the monthly energy expenditure of a household divided by its monthly income. Expenditure substitution, digital/electronic payments for energy services, which are configured as “pay-as-you-go” have changed the affordability landscape. While affordability is an important factor, its meaning and application is more nuanced from what is reported in extant literatures.

Published in	Journal of Energy and Natural Resources (Volume 11, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
Page(s)	7-17
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Environmental Implications, Distributed Renewable Energy, Co-creation, Paradigm Shift Flourishing, Complexity

References

[1]	Adulugba, C. (2021). Sustainable Energy Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Energy and Environmental Security in Developing Countries, 199-226.
[2]	Rifkin, J. (2011). The third industrial revolution: how lateral power is transforming energy, the economy, and the world. Macmillan.
[3]	Brew-Hammond, A., & Kemausuor, F. (2009). Energy for all in Africa—to be or not to be?!. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 1 (1), 83-88.
[4]	Torres-Duque, C., Maldonado, D., Pérez-Padilla, R., Ezzati, M., & Viegi, G. (2008). Biomass fuels and respiratory diseases: a review of the evidence. Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society, 5 (5), 577-590.
[5]	Simkovich, S. M., Goodman, D., Roa, C., Crocker, M. E., Gianella, G. E., Kirenga, B. J.,... & Checkley, W. (2019). The health and social implications of household air pollution and respiratory diseases. NPJ primary care respiratory medicine, 29 (1), 1-17.
[6]	Barasa, M., Bogdanov, D., Oyewo, A. S., & Breyer, C. (2018). A cost optimal resolution for Sub-Saharan Africa powered by 100% renewables in 2030. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 92, 440-457.
[7]	Viral, R., & Khatod, D. K. (2012). Optimal planning of distributed generation systems in distribution system: A review. Renewable and sustainable energy Reviews, 16 (7), 5146-5165.
[8]	Schilling, M. A. (2000). Toward a general modular systems theory and its application to interfirm product modularity. Academy of management review, 25 (2), 312-334.
[9]	Eberhard, A., & Shkaratan, M. (2012). Powering Africa: Meeting the financing and reform challenges. Energy Policy, 42, 9-18.
[10]	Sayed, E. T., Wilberforce, T., Elsaid, K., Rabaia, M. K. H., Abdelkareem, M. A., Chae, K. J., & Olabi, A. G. (2021). A critical review on environmental impacts of renewable energy systems and mitigation strategies: Wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal. Science of The Total Environment, 766, 144505.
[11]	Schwerhoff, G., & Sy, M. (2017). Financing renewable energy in Africa–Key challenge of the sustainable development goals. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 75, 393-401.
[12]	Pivovarenko Y. (2020) Negative Electrization of the Sargasso Sea as the Cause of Its Anomaly. American Journal of Electromagnetics and Applications, 8 (2), 33-39.
[13]	Akbar, N. (2003). Akbar papers in African psychology. Tallahassee, FL: Mind Productions & Associates.
[14]	Lundvall, B. Å. (Ed.). (2010). National systems of innovation: Toward a theory of innovation and interactive learning (Vol. 2). Anthem press.
[15]	Sundbo, J. (1998). The theory of innovation: entrepreneurs, technology and strategy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
[16]	Mol, A. P., Spaargaren, G., & Sonnenfeld, D. A. (2014). Ecological modernization theory: taking stock, moving forward. Routledge international handbook of social and environmental change, 15-30.
[17]	York, R., & Rosa, E. A. (2003). Key challenges to ecological modernization theory: Institutional efficacy, case study evidence, units of analysis, and the pace of eco-efficiency. Organization & Environment, 16 (3), 273-288.
[18]	Mitchell, M. (2009). Complexity: A guided tour. Oxford University Press.
[19]	Langton, C. G. (1994). Artificial life III. Westview Press.
[20]	Van den Bergh, J. C., Truffer, B., & Kallis, G. (2011). Environmental innovation and societal transitions: Introduction and overview. Environmental innovation and societal transitions, 1 (1), 1-23.
[21]	Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (2014). Applying grounded theory. The Grounded Theory Review, 13 (1), 46-50.
[22]	Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Sage publications.
[23]	Boyatzis, R. E. (2009). Competencies as a behavioral approach to emotional intelligence. Journal of Management Development.
[24]	Saldaňa, J. (2009). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Lontoo: SAGE Publications Ltd, 3.
[25]	Fabricius, C., Koch, E., Magome, H., & Turner, S. (2004). Rights, resources and rural development. Community-based natural resource management in Southern Africa. London: Earthscan.
[26]	Raskin, P. (2006). The great transition today: A report from the future.
[27]	Schultz, P. W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations. In Psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). Springer, Boston, MA.
[28]	Escobar, A. (2011). Encountering development. Princeton University Press.
[29]	Liu, Y., Yang, Z., Wang, X., & Jian, L. (2010). Location, localization, and localizability. Journal of computer science and technology, 25 (2), 274-297.
[30]	Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Folke, C. (Eds.). (2008). Navigating social-ecological systems: building resilience for complexity and change. Cambridge University Press.
[31]	Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R., & Ray, S. (2003). A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development. Journal of Business venturing, 18 (1), 105-123.
[32]	Fankhauser, S., & Tepic, S. (2007). Can poor consumers pay for energy and water? An affordability analysis for transition countries. Energy Policy, 35 (2), 1038-1049.
[33]	Kay, J. J., Regier, H. A., Boyle, M., & Francis, G. (1999). An ecosystem approach for sustainability: addressing the challenge of complexity. Futures, 31 (7), 721-742.
[34]	Elzen, B., Geels, F. W., & Green, K. (Eds.). (2004). System innovation and the transition to sustainability: theory, evidence and policy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
[35]	Luhmann, N. (1982). The world society as a social system.
[36]	Whitney, D., & Cooperrider, D. L. (2000). The appreciative inquiry summit: An emerging methodology for whole system positive change. OD PRACTITIONER, 32 (1), 13-26.
[37]	Folke, C., Colding, J., & Berkes, F. (2003). Synthesis: building resilience and adaptive capacity in social-ecological systems. Navigating social-ecological systems: Building resilience for complexity and change, 9 (1), 352-387.
[38]	Laszlo, C., & Cooperrider, D. L. (2007). Design for sustainable value: A whole system approach. In Designing information and organizations with a positive lens. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
[39]	Berkes, F., & Turner, N. J. (2006). Knowledge, learning and the evolution of conservation practice for social-ecological system resilience. Human ecology, 34 (4), 479-494.
[40]	Loorbach, D. (2007). Transition management. New mode of governance for sustainable development. Utrecht: International Books.
[41]	Baregheh, A., Rowley, J., & Sambrook, S. (2009). Towards a multidisciplinary definition of innovation. Management decision.
[42]	Holling, C. S. (2001). Understanding the complexity of economic, ecological, and social systems. Ecosystems, 4 (5), 390-405.
[43]	Ollivier, G., Magda, D., Mazé, A., Plumecocq, G., & Lamine, C. (2018). Agroecological transitions: What can sustainability transition frameworks teach us? An ontological and empirical analysis. Ecology and Society, 23 (2), 18-p.
[44]	Moulaert, F., Martinelli, F., Swyngedouw, E., & Gonzalez, S. (2005). Towards alternative model (s) of local innovation. Urban studies, 42 (11), 1969-1990.
[45]	Barrett, L. F., Niedenthal, P. M., & Winkielman, P. (Eds.). (2007). Emotion and consciousness. Guilford Press.
[46]	Min, H., & Haile, Y. (2021). Examining the Role of Disruptive Innovation in Renewable Energy Businesses from a Cross National Perspective. Energies, 14 (15), 4447.
[47]	Wogan, D. (2013). Pay-as-you-go solar energy finds success in Africa. Sci Am, 22, 11.
[48]	Vera, I., & Langlois, L. (2007). Energy indicators for sustainable development. Energy, 32 (6), 875-882.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Yohannes Haile. (2022). Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources, 11(1), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Yohannes Haile. Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. J. Energy Nat. Resour. 2022, 11(1), 7-17. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Yohannes Haile. Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. J Energy Nat Resour. 2022;11(1):7-17. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12,
  author = {Yohannes Haile},
  title = {Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context},
  journal = {Journal of Energy and Natural Resources},
  volume = {11},
  number = {1},
  pages = {7-17},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jenr.20221101.12},
  abstract = {The environmental implications of energy systems in developing countries have significant impacts on the daily and long-term life quality of the population. These implications include mitigating impacts of climate change, deforestation, improving food security and the multidimensional energy security concerns. Increasing accessibility of reliable and cost-effective renewable energy streams, creating sustainable and profitable businesses that improve living standards and create economic opportunities, which co-create social and environmental values are necessary and essential markers for transitions towards a flourishing society. Energy is essential to sustain modern life. Here, security implies the economic, social, and environmental impacts of energy on the wellbeing of a society. The energy regime that a country chooses has wider implications on its national security strategy and foreign relations. It affects the economic and technological pathways it takes and impinges on overall developments, which include industry, education, environment, and the way of life. Selecting the optimal innovation strategy that includes appropriate renewable energy technologies which meet the needs and harness the available energy resources is one of the primary variables that impact the performance renewable energy projects. Cost, reliability, maintenance, and cultural orientation need to be considered for innovation & technology selection. In the African context, our research indicates addressing the environmental implications of energy systems necessitates whole system wide change that is underpinned by transitions from utilizing conventional energy sources to renewable energy streams. Furthermore, it requires re-configuration of research & development to applied research, re-constitution & focus on incubating enterprises & entrepreneurs, re-configuration of education from abstract education to education that enables solutions development to address local challenges, development in the energy & other sectors to address climate change, health impacts, job creation, energy & food security in concert with developing synergistic and symbiotic shared vision and paradigm shift towards a flourishing future. Our research findings inform us that the meaning and application of energy affordability has a significant difference from what is in the current literature. Energy affordability is defined as the financial capability of a household to pay for basic energy services. In other words, it could be expressed as the monthly energy expenditure of a household divided by its monthly income. Expenditure substitution, digital/electronic payments for energy services, which are configured as “pay-as-you-go” have changed the affordability landscape. While affordability is an important factor, its meaning and application is more nuanced from what is reported in extant literatures.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context
AU  - Yohannes Haile
Y1  - 2022/02/16
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
T2  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JF  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JO  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
SP  - 7
EP  - 17
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7404
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
AB  - The environmental implications of energy systems in developing countries have significant impacts on the daily and long-term life quality of the population. These implications include mitigating impacts of climate change, deforestation, improving food security and the multidimensional energy security concerns. Increasing accessibility of reliable and cost-effective renewable energy streams, creating sustainable and profitable businesses that improve living standards and create economic opportunities, which co-create social and environmental values are necessary and essential markers for transitions towards a flourishing society. Energy is essential to sustain modern life. Here, security implies the economic, social, and environmental impacts of energy on the wellbeing of a society. The energy regime that a country chooses has wider implications on its national security strategy and foreign relations. It affects the economic and technological pathways it takes and impinges on overall developments, which include industry, education, environment, and the way of life. Selecting the optimal innovation strategy that includes appropriate renewable energy technologies which meet the needs and harness the available energy resources is one of the primary variables that impact the performance renewable energy projects. Cost, reliability, maintenance, and cultural orientation need to be considered for innovation & technology selection. In the African context, our research indicates addressing the environmental implications of energy systems necessitates whole system wide change that is underpinned by transitions from utilizing conventional energy sources to renewable energy streams. Furthermore, it requires re-configuration of research & development to applied research, re-constitution & focus on incubating enterprises & entrepreneurs, re-configuration of education from abstract education to education that enables solutions development to address local challenges, development in the energy & other sectors to address climate change, health impacts, job creation, energy & food security in concert with developing synergistic and symbiotic shared vision and paradigm shift towards a flourishing future. Our research findings inform us that the meaning and application of energy affordability has a significant difference from what is in the current literature. Energy affordability is defined as the financial capability of a household to pay for basic energy services. In other words, it could be expressed as the monthly energy expenditure of a household divided by its monthly income. Expenditure substitution, digital/electronic payments for energy services, which are configured as “pay-as-you-go” have changed the affordability landscape. While affordability is an important factor, its meaning and application is more nuanced from what is reported in extant literatures.
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Yohannes Haile

Department of Management & Industrial Engineering, Behrend College, The Pennsylvania State University, Erie, USA

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Yohannes Haile. (2022). Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources, 11(1), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Yohannes Haile. Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. J. Energy Nat. Resour. 2022, 11(1), 7-17. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Yohannes Haile. Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context. J Energy Nat Resour. 2022;11(1):7-17. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12,
  author = {Yohannes Haile},
  title = {Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context},
  journal = {Journal of Energy and Natural Resources},
  volume = {11},
  number = {1},
  pages = {7-17},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jenr.20221101.12},
  abstract = {The environmental implications of energy systems in developing countries have significant impacts on the daily and long-term life quality of the population. These implications include mitigating impacts of climate change, deforestation, improving food security and the multidimensional energy security concerns. Increasing accessibility of reliable and cost-effective renewable energy streams, creating sustainable and profitable businesses that improve living standards and create economic opportunities, which co-create social and environmental values are necessary and essential markers for transitions towards a flourishing society. Energy is essential to sustain modern life. Here, security implies the economic, social, and environmental impacts of energy on the wellbeing of a society. The energy regime that a country chooses has wider implications on its national security strategy and foreign relations. It affects the economic and technological pathways it takes and impinges on overall developments, which include industry, education, environment, and the way of life. Selecting the optimal innovation strategy that includes appropriate renewable energy technologies which meet the needs and harness the available energy resources is one of the primary variables that impact the performance renewable energy projects. Cost, reliability, maintenance, and cultural orientation need to be considered for innovation & technology selection. In the African context, our research indicates addressing the environmental implications of energy systems necessitates whole system wide change that is underpinned by transitions from utilizing conventional energy sources to renewable energy streams. Furthermore, it requires re-configuration of research & development to applied research, re-constitution & focus on incubating enterprises & entrepreneurs, re-configuration of education from abstract education to education that enables solutions development to address local challenges, development in the energy & other sectors to address climate change, health impacts, job creation, energy & food security in concert with developing synergistic and symbiotic shared vision and paradigm shift towards a flourishing future. Our research findings inform us that the meaning and application of energy affordability has a significant difference from what is in the current literature. Energy affordability is defined as the financial capability of a household to pay for basic energy services. In other words, it could be expressed as the monthly energy expenditure of a household divided by its monthly income. Expenditure substitution, digital/electronic payments for energy services, which are configured as “pay-as-you-go” have changed the affordability landscape. While affordability is an important factor, its meaning and application is more nuanced from what is reported in extant literatures.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Renewable Energy and Its Implications in the African Context
AU  - Yohannes Haile
Y1  - 2022/02/16
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
T2  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JF  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JO  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
SP  - 7
EP  - 17
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7404
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20221101.12
AB  - The environmental implications of energy systems in developing countries have significant impacts on the daily and long-term life quality of the population. These implications include mitigating impacts of climate change, deforestation, improving food security and the multidimensional energy security concerns. Increasing accessibility of reliable and cost-effective renewable energy streams, creating sustainable and profitable businesses that improve living standards and create economic opportunities, which co-create social and environmental values are necessary and essential markers for transitions towards a flourishing society. Energy is essential to sustain modern life. Here, security implies the economic, social, and environmental impacts of energy on the wellbeing of a society. The energy regime that a country chooses has wider implications on its national security strategy and foreign relations. It affects the economic and technological pathways it takes and impinges on overall developments, which include industry, education, environment, and the way of life. Selecting the optimal innovation strategy that includes appropriate renewable energy technologies which meet the needs and harness the available energy resources is one of the primary variables that impact the performance renewable energy projects. Cost, reliability, maintenance, and cultural orientation need to be considered for innovation & technology selection. In the African context, our research indicates addressing the environmental implications of energy systems necessitates whole system wide change that is underpinned by transitions from utilizing conventional energy sources to renewable energy streams. Furthermore, it requires re-configuration of research & development to applied research, re-constitution & focus on incubating enterprises & entrepreneurs, re-configuration of education from abstract education to education that enables solutions development to address local challenges, development in the energy & other sectors to address climate change, health impacts, job creation, energy & food security in concert with developing synergistic and symbiotic shared vision and paradigm shift towards a flourishing future. Our research findings inform us that the meaning and application of energy affordability has a significant difference from what is in the current literature. Energy affordability is defined as the financial capability of a household to pay for basic energy services. In other words, it could be expressed as the monthly energy expenditure of a household divided by its monthly income. Expenditure substitution, digital/electronic payments for energy services, which are configured as “pay-as-you-go” have changed the affordability landscape. While affordability is an important factor, its meaning and application is more nuanced from what is reported in extant literatures.
VL  - 11
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download