tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83368881139038231202026-04-24T20:29:55.825-04:00Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-12691719944702818532019-01-14T15:15:00.000-05:002019-01-14T15:35:31.124-05:00

Impact evaluation has gained recognition over the last decade as an essential component of project development. Impact evaluation details how and to what extent policies and project interventions contribute to socioeconomic welfare gains or losses for society. Such evaluations are also important for identifying key lessons for future policies and investments. In the case of modern energy access,

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-5540155515110921442018-12-01T12:20:00.000-05:002018-12-08T21:07:45.863-05:00

Ecofogon Stove Used in Small Business in Nicaragua Recently I helped complete a new report on energy access in Latin American the the Caribbean area. The title of the report is Meeting Challenges, Progress: The Benefits of Sustainable Energy Access in Latin America and the Carribean. Making This new report was produced by a joint effort between the Inter-American Development Bank and the

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-61615482453426884472015-02-10T22:25:00.000-05:002018-12-22T17:15:04.978-05:00

Figure 1. Consumer Surplus for Lighting(Graphic: Doug Barnes) By Doug Barnes The concept of consumer surplus in measuring the benefits of rural electrification continues to be misunderstood by many people. In this posting, I try to address some of those misperceptions. The main point is that consumer surplus is really a shortcut way to measure social and economic benefits. People purchase

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-69773388982002239362015-01-08T22:27:00.000-05:002016-01-12T15:14:17.839-05:00

By Doug Barnes For several years I have been involved in a project to understand why the electricity connection rates in India are not higher than they are. This resulted in a report probing various reason that are holding back India for achieving universal access, despite spending quite a bit of money on the problem. For details, see the report Power for All: Electricity Access

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-81764085771598969492014-12-08T11:25:00.000-05:002016-01-11T22:58:25.601-05:00

Click Image for Amazon "Look Inside" I recently published a new book on the impact of rural electrification in developing countries. Actually it is a revision of an old book. This is the second edition of my first book Electric Power for Rural Growth, published in 1988 based on research during my first job at Resources for the Future. At the time, international donors were having

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-21574766973544235682014-11-02T14:26:00.000-05:002016-01-12T15:15:03.415-05:00

By Doug Barnes  Rural Energy and Development, Published 1996 In 1996 I wrote "It is hard not to be daunted by the scale of providing energy services to the world's rural population. There are nearly two billion people without access to modern forms of energy such as electricity or oil. This book describes the plight of these two billion. Its message, however, is that there are now many

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-19988376927624932702014-05-25T21:10:00.001-04:002016-01-12T15:16:45.917-05:00

 By Doug Barnes India Traditional Stove: Credit C. Carnemark Recently I participated in a very interesting workshop at Yale University. The workshop was called The Adoption Gap: Design, Development and Diffusion of Household Energy Technologies. The focus of the conference was to examine why improved biomass cooking stoves have not achieved widespread adoption even after over 25 years

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-57898699489322327032013-12-12T14:04:00.002-05:002016-01-12T15:16:04.676-05:00

By Doug Barnes Household Electricity Meter Picture Credit: Douglas Barnes Today many development agencies focus on the price and physical presence of access to electricity as being the main issue for lack of electricity in developing countries.  They may want to alter their thinking.  This is not to say that physical access and the price of electricity are not important, for

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-49877109134744708092013-06-10T21:36:00.002-04:002016-01-12T15:15:16.465-05:00

by Doug Barnes, Shahid Khandker and Hussain Samad There is a continuing discussion over what constitutes energy poverty with several approaches being used to define it.  But as yet, no consensus has emerged for measuring and monitoring energy poverty and explaining why and how it differs from income poverty.  After all, income poverty is a standard measure, so if the two are highly

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-81515240101472412722013-04-22T13:49:00.000-04:002016-01-11T22:59:08.415-05:00

Between 2005 and 2009 I was the technical editor of an ESMAP Knowledge Exchange Series that involved the publication of four page summaries of current energy issues.   When I recently reviewed these notes after four years, I was struck by both the quality of these four page notes and the continuing relevance of the issues covered.  Also, most of the authors of these notes have 20

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-78801058235565915062011-02-08T20:41:00.145-05:002011-11-23T19:48:30.224-05:00

Many people interested in better stoves know something about fire, smoke, health and new ideas.  However, to explain these on a more fundamental level that is understood by all can be difficult.  Therefore to explain the relationship between health and smoke, I turn to the late comedian Steve Allen who said that “Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-61983448652800451012011-01-25T23:03:00.056-05:002016-01-13T21:48:09.191-05:00

By Doug Barnes A couple of years ago I completed this review of Modernizing Energy Services for the Poor:  A World Bank Investment Review 2000-2008.  This was followed by extensive reviews and then revisions.  And this was followed by new revisions and fresh reviews and so on and so forth.  I am happy to announce that this report is finally out and comments are welcome, but

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-50127764594135855422010-12-09T19:40:00.152-05:002016-01-13T21:47:47.013-05:00

By Doug Barnes The International Energy Association (IEA) has published a very nice special paper with the title Energy Poverty: How to Make Energy Access Universal.  This report makes a substantial contribution to the work on energy poverty and provides the updated figures on electricity access and the use of fuels for cooking.  The purpose of the report is to raise the issue of

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-18980970401231335052010-09-26T14:33:00.192-04:002016-01-12T15:16:24.064-05:00

By Doug  Barnes   A “new” report on rural electrification in Peru demonstrates the usefulness of conducting energy surveys to help with assessing policies for such programs.  The usefulness stems from the ability to not only estimate the benefits of rural electrification, but to analyze if the subsidy policies are both effective and well targeted. There are many ways to

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-76617372352977786522010-08-09T23:32:00.141-04:002010-08-14T23:40:02.152-04:00

Bangladesh has a better record in addressing rural energy issues than most countries. They have a very aggressive rural electrification program that is based on rural electric distribution cooperatives. There is an award winning program for promoting solar home systems in offgrid regions. Yet as we documented in our report on Bangladesh’s Rural Energy Realities the country has not been as

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-51888724587879839132010-07-16T22:52:00.111-04:002010-07-21T22:33:34.984-04:00

There is quite a bit of work going into monitoring and evaluation in developing countries today. This is mainly due to the international donor’s need to document that their projects either work or do not work. However, the effort to track international energy demand--as opposed to energy production--has lagged behind these efforts. Rural Electrification, Peru:  Photo Laura Berman For

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-50551018346014905982010-07-07T23:12:00.093-04:002010-07-11T11:58:01.456-04:00

What is rural electrification? This definitioin appears simple but it is becoming more and more complicated as new devices and systems are developed that provide various levels of electricity service. Grid Rural Electrification,Vietnam: Photo WB Hanoi With the exception of flashlights, historically the main source of electricity has come from national or local grid systems.  National

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-32866216961276631262010-06-28T20:53:00.006-04:002010-06-28T21:16:15.774-04:00

I have received a rather long comment from Andrew Barnett from The Policy Practice and I thought it would be good to include his insights on energy poverty as a main post. The slightly revised text below is from Andrew Barnett. ========= A Narrative on Energy Poverty by Andrew Barnett Fuel Collection Bangalore, India Photo by D. Barnes A new generation of people has recently become interested

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-58453583148435067372010-06-19T10:42:00.078-04:002010-07-09T15:57:28.807-04:00

The existence of energy poverty today is quite well accepted around the world. In fact alleviating energy poverty is a goal of many development organizations that deal with energy issues for developing countries. Migrant Workers Cooking-India: Photo WB/Curt Carnemark When it comes to defining energy poverty these organizations assume the position that many take in appreciating good art--"they

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-8642375767833021062010-05-30T13:41:00.105-04:002010-07-09T16:00:11.168-04:00

The small technologies such as solar lanterns and small lights have always been a challenge to promote under development programs. Solar Lantern in India The wind up radio, which is now in the mainstream market for developed countries, was originally introduced as a possibility to improve communication in developing countries. Except for emergency situations such as Haiti, it is not a staple

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-75243715883024894092010-05-19T22:32:00.161-04:002016-01-13T21:47:20.963-05:00

By Doug Barnes I have noticed that there has been quite a bit of material circulating recently on energy access and subsidies.  The World Bank has prepared Cooking with Ecofogon Stove, Nicaragua Photo: PROLEÑA/Nicaragua a background paper that will be published soon, and it is quite good. However, in reading this paper and other related material, I almost felt I had read it before—a

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-91529935508172088552010-05-12T17:28:00.188-04:002010-07-17T14:41:49.115-04:00

Strong institutions, favorable financing, clear service territories, encouraging productive uses, reducing drudgery for women, and local involvement.  Do these all sound like familiar prescriptions for successful rural electrification? Rural Electrification Administration Advertisement Source: NRECA In fact they encompass some of the eight steps to successful rural electrification

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-408225664742752522010-05-07T14:54:00.128-04:002010-05-10T23:10:31.184-04:00

Solar PV Adoption by Herders, Qinghai, China Photo by China REDP Team Over the past 15 years strategies for solar home system promotion have moved from a niche activity to the mainstream. Recently I have been thinking that there are quite a few similarities in the obstacles that were faced by solar homes system in the early years and those confronting the new improved biomass stoves

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-63077774868957545222010-04-30T15:15:00.112-04:002010-05-18T22:44:07.932-04:00

Rural Electrification Lineman Bangladesh Photo by WB Dhaka The rural electrification figures in developing countries are pretty well known by now. There are now an estimated 1.5 billion people without electricity in developing countries, and 85 percent of them live in rural areas. However, I am going to give a brief history of the context in which these numbers were compiled. So this post will

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8336888113903823120.post-22094228827439779442010-04-25T15:12:00.070-04:002010-05-11T16:17:40.332-04:00

By Douglas Barnes and Keith Openshaw Kerosene Lamps and Stoves, Hyderabad, India by D. Barnes Recently we have just reviewed many of programs for improved stoves in developing countries, and we were quite surprised to find that there were few analyses of comparative cooking costs. In the glory days of country energy assessments comparing the cost of cooking to enlighten energy policy makers was

Douglas F. Barnes.....http://www.blogger.com/profile/17557811334162387475noreply@blogger.com6