Energy

Making the Clean Available: Escaping India’s Chulha Trap

Citation:

Smith, Kirk R., and Ambuj D. Sagar. 2014. “Making the Clean Available: Escaping India’s Chulha Trap.” Energy Policy 75: 410–4.

Authors: Kirk R. Smith, Ambuj D. Sagar

Abstract:

Solid cookfuel pollution is the largest energy-related health risk globally and most important cause of ill-health for Indian women and girls. At 700 million cooking with open biomass chulhas, the Indian population exposed has not changed in several decades, in spite of hundreds of programs to make the “available clean”, i.e. to burn biomass cleanly in advanced stoves. While such efforts continue, there is need to open up another front to attack this health hazard. Gas and electric cooking, which are clean at the household, are already the choice for one-third of Indians. Needed is a new agenda to make the “clean available”, i.e., to vigorously extend these clean fuels into populations that are caught in the Chulha Trap. This will require engaging new actors including the power and petroleum ministries as well as the ministry of health, which have not to date been directly engaged in addressing this problem. It will have implications for LPG imports, distribution networks, and electric and gas user technologies, as well as setting new priorities for electrification and biofuels, but at heart needs to be addressed as a health problem, not one of energy access, if it is to be solved effectively.

Keywords: household energy ladder, cooking fuel, household air pollution, energy access, LPG, biomass stoves

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Women, Girls, Health, Households, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2014

Energy in the Development Strategy of Indian Households—the Missing Half

Citation:

Sudhakara Reddy, B., and Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan. 2013. “Energy in the Development Strategy of Indian Households—the Missing Half.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 18 (February): 203–10.

Authors: B. Sudhakara Reddy, Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan

Abstract:

There is a growing consensus that universalization of modern energy services is central to reducing major elements of poverty and hunger, to increase literacy and education, and to improve health care, employment opportunities, and lives of women and children. In India, as per 2011 census, over 700 million people lack access to modern energy services for lighting, cooking, water pumping and other productive purposes. Devoid of these services people, mostly women, are forced to spend significant amounts of their time and effort on subsistence activities like firewood collection, carrying these head load for miles, and then burning these hard earned fuels inefficiently in traditional chullas. These adversely affect the health and standard of living for women and act as a barrier to gender development (here ‘gender’ means women unless otherwise specified). Although the links between gender inequity, poverty, and energy deprivation have been studied by many, not many practical solutions to the above problems have emerged. The present paper explores the nexus among gender–energy–poverty, highlights areas of gender concern, and suggests actions. We analyze how women from rural areas and low income households are at the receiving ends of energy poverty. We then analyze the roles women as an important stakeholders in universalizing modern energy services. We show how women self-help groups can be a vital link in large-scale diffusion of energy-efficient and renewable technologies. The paper concludes with policy pointers for sustainable development and gender empowerment through energy solutions.

Keywords: domestic energy sector, Gender, entrepreneurs, energy poverty, self help groups

Topics: Development, Economies, Poverty, Education, Gender, Women, Health, Households, Infrastructure, Energy, Livelihoods Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2013

The Role of Gender Concerns in the Planning of Small-Scale Energy Projects in Developing Countries

Citation:

Terrapon-Pfaff, Julia, Carmen Dienst, and Willington Ortiz. 2015. “The Role of Gender Concerns in the Planning of Small-Scale Energy Projects in Developing Countries.” In Decentralized Solutions for Developing Economies: Addressing Energy Poverty through Innovation, edited by Sebastian Groh, Jonas van der Straeten, Brian Edlefsen Lasch, Dimitry Gershenson, Walter Leal Filho, and Daniel M. Kammen, 285–94. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland.

Authors: Julia Terrapon-Pfaff, Carmen Dienst, Willington Ortiz

Abstract:

Energy poverty affects women in developing countries more severely than it affects men; at the same time, women have less control over household resources and are often not involved in decision-making processes on energy matters. In order for transition processes of energy systems to be sustainable, these gender-related concerns need to be addressed. Although this link is widely recognized, gender aspects are still not well perceived in the planning of energy projects. To better understand the role of gender concerns in project planning, the research presented in this paper evaluates concepts of small-scale sustainable energy projects with regard to their gender sensitivity. The data originates from an expert evaluation process and was analyzed with focus on gender-related aspects. The results show that even in sustainable energy projects the issue is still not high on the agenda.

Keywords: Gender, sustainable energy transitions, project concepts, developing countries

Topics: Development, Gender, Gender Analysis, Households, Infrastructure, Energy

Year: 2015

Gender Issues in Energy Policy & Planning: Perspectives from the Dakar Workshop

Citation:

Wakhungu, Judi Wangalwa. 1996. “Gender Issues in Energy Policy & Planning: Perspectives from the Dakar Workshop.” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 16 (3): 98–106.

Author: Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu

Annotation:

Summary:
“The international experts working in the field of energy had the following objectives in meeting in Dakar: to corroborate their views on gender issues in energy policy analyses; provide a strategic assessment of research issues and gaps; advance research on women and global energy policy as a new area for policy analysis; and to create an informal network of institutions and individuals with an interest in women and global energy policy research. It was incumbent on the energy policy makers assembled in Dakar to re-evaluate the issues. In order to assess what improvements were required in the future, the energy experts reflected on the energy strategies of the last two decades and what the effects had been. They assessed the key energy actors, energy strategies, and possibilities for improved policy analysis and decision-making which will highlight women’s relevance to and potential contributions for sustainable energy development. Participants discussed which issues are still relevant to today’s intellectual debate and which new issues exist. Participants also attempted: to establish a consensus around policies that make sense in the midst of the current energy and socio-economic situation; to begin the process of rejecting energy policies that tie us to the status quo; and finally, to establish a framework for ensuring more effective integration of gender concerns into energy policy-making” (Wakhungu 1996, 98).

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Governance, Infrastructure, Energy

Year: 1996

Rethinking Gender and Identity in Energy Studies

Citation:

Ryan, Sarah E. 2014. “Rethinking Gender and Identity in Energy Studies.” Energy Research & Social Science 1: 96–105.

Author: Sarah E. Ryan

Abstract:

Gender and identity should be core concerns for energy researchers and policymakers, because they mediate access to resources, exposure to pollutants, and opportunities to participate in energy resource management, policy, and science. Accordingly, this article suggests four research agendas ripe for further development: eliminating indoor air pollution, strengthening community resource management, developing feminist energy jurisprudence, and increasing women’s representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and energy fields. This article is a call to action to publish gender and identity research of great consequence in this new journal.

Keywords: Gender, identity, feminist theory, energy

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy, Livelihoods

Year: 2014

Technology Change = Gender Change? Androcentric Construction of Engineering as Symbolic Resource in the German-Speaking Area of Renewable Energies

Citation:

Prietl, Bianca. 2017. “Technology Change = Gender Change? Androcentric Construction of Engineering as Symbolic Resource in the German-Speaking Area of Renewable Energies.” Engineering Studies 9 (1): 3–23.

Author: Bianca Prietl

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with how engineers working in renewable energies in Germany and Austria position themselves and their professional activity within this relatively new field of engineering occupation by mobilizing a specific androcentric construction of engineering as a symbolic resource. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the argument unfolds in three steps: First, the paper reconstructs how engineers draft an image of their professional activity by symbolically aligning it with established understandings of engineering in traditional areas of engineering occupation and by simultaneously distancing it from allegedly ‘other’ notions of engineering practice that are framed as ‘alternative’. The discursive distinction between professional engineering and its alleged ‘alternative’ counterpart constitutes the former as hard, sincere, structured, and reliable activity based on an instrumental rationality. Second, it is shown how the professional/alternative distinction is gendered with ‘the alternative’ being devaluated and feminized. Consequently, it is argued that there is an implicit association between the discursively constituted idea of professional engineering and masculinity. Third, this discursive construction of engineering is interpreted as a symbolic resource in the engineers’ claim to be recognized as professional actors within renewable energies and, thus, in their struggle for favourable positions within this social field of power.

Keywords: renewable energies, discursive struggle for power, implicit masculinity construction, engineering

Topics: Gender, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Infrastructure, Energy, Livelihoods Regions: Europe, Central Europe, Western Europe Countries: Austria, Germany

Year: 2017

Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women Write Political Ecology

Citation:

Salleh, Ariel, ed. 2009. Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice: Women Write Political Ecology. New York: Pluto Press.

Author: Ariel Salleh, ed.

Annotation:

Summary:
As the twenty-first century faces a crisis of democracy and sustainability, this book brings women academics and alternative globalisation activists into conversation.
 
Through studies of global neoliberalism, ecological debt, climate change, and the ongoing devaluation of reproductive and subsistence labour, these uncompromising essays by women thinkers expose the limits of current scholarship in political economy, ecological economics, and sustainability science. (Summary from Pluto Books)
 

Table of Contents:
1. The Devaluation of Women’s Labour
Silvia Federici

2. Who is the ‘He’ of He Who Decides in Economic Discourse?
Ewa Charkiewicz

3. The Diversity Matrix: Relationship and Complexity
Susan Hawthorne

4. Development for Some is Violence for Others
Nalini Nayak

5. Nuclearised Bodies and Militarised Space
Zohl de Ishtar

6. Women and Deliberative Water Management
Andrea Moraes and Ellie Perkins

7. Mainstreaming Trade and Millennium Development Goals?
Gig Francisco and Peggy Antrobus

8. Policy and the Measure of Woman
Marilyn Waring

9. Feminist Ecological Economics in Theory and Practice
Sabine U. O’Hara

10. Who Pays for Kyoto Protocol? Selling Oxygen and Selling Sex
Ana Isla

11. How Global Warming is Gendered
Meike Spitzner

12. Women and the Abuja Declaration for Energy Sovereignty
Leigh Brownhill and Terisa E. Turner

13. Ecofeminist Political Economy and the Politics of Money
Mary Mellor

14. Saving Women: Saving the Commons
Leo Podlashuc

15. From Eco-Sufficiency to Global Justice
Ariel Salleh

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Feminist Political Ecology, Feminist Political Economy, Globalization, Infrastructure, Energy, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods

Year: 2009

A Framework for Engaging Navajo Women in Clean Energy Development through Applied Theatre

Citation:

Osnes, Beth, Adrian Manygoats, and Lindsay Weitkamp. 2015. “A Framework for Engaging Navajo Women in Clean Energy Development through Applied Theatre.” Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 20 (2): 242–57.

Authors: Beth Osnes, Adrian Manygoats, Lindsay Weitkamp

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
Through applied theatre, Navajo women can participate in authoring a new story for how energy is mined, produced, developed, disseminated and used in the Navajo Nation. This article is an analysis of a creative process that was utilised with primarily Navajo women to create a Navajo Women’s Energy Project (NWEP). The framework for this creative process guided women in deeply considering energy issues from their own perspective and value base, facilitated them in articulating their values around energy, assessing the current energy situation not authored by women and invited them to imagine what kind of energy future they want. Finally, it facilitated women in identifying and rehearsing actions to move from the current story to the new story. This process is designed to include the participation of women who have rich life experience that is often in intimate and direct relationship with the environment, who hold knowledge in their bodies from lived experience and value traditional views and beliefs. The framework for applied theatre in this article helped to lay the groundwork for the NWEP in a relatively short amount of time in a manner that was inclusive, efficient, aesthetically stirring and fun. This framework has the potential to expedite and support the participation of women in authoring a new story for a wide variety of social issues.

CHINESE ABSTRACT:
通過應用戲劇,納瓦霍族婦女參與創作了一個關於在納瓦霍族保留地如何開採、生產、發展、散播以及使用能源的新故事。本文描述了這一創造性的過程,納瓦霍族婦女利用這一過程建立了納瓦霍族婦女能源計畫,即NWEP。這一創造性的過程引領女性從她們自身的角度與價值觀出發,深入思考了能源問題,激發她們表達自己對能源的觀點並衡量並非由女性所造成的能源現狀,激發她們想像什麼才是未來她們需要的能源。接下來,認識問題與排練的活動由當前的故事推進到新的故事。這一過程的設計旨在使各種女性都參與其中,她們中有人與環境有著密切相關的豐富經驗,有人擁有來自生活經歷的知識與認識,有人更是抱著出於自身文化的傳統觀點與信仰。 文中描述的應用戲劇專案幫助NWEP在相對有限的時間裡完成了基本工作,內容上相容並蓄,在高效率的同時兼顧了審美性與趣味性。這一專案有潛力推動並支持女性就更多的社會問題創作新的故事。

SPANISH ABSTRACT:
A través del teatro aplicado, las mujeres Navajo pueden participar en la autoría de una nueva historia de cómo se extrae, se produce, se desarrolla, se disemina y se usa la energía en la Nación de Navajo. Este artículo es un informe descriptivo sobre un proceso creativo que fue utilizado principalmente con mujeres Navajo para crear un Proyecto de Energía de las Mujeres Navajo (NWEP) . El marco para este proceso creativo guió a las mujeres a considerar profundamente los problemas de energía desde sus propias perspectivas y su base de valores, les ayudó a expresar sus apreciaciones sobre energía, evaluando la situación actual de la energía no creada por mujeres, y las invitó a imaginar la clase de futuro energético que desean. También facilitó la identificación y el ensayo de acciones para pasar de la historia actual a la nueva historia. Este proceso está diseñado para incluir la participación de mujeres con vidas llenas de experiencias que a menudo están en directa e intima relación con el medio ambiente, que poseen conocimiento en sus cuerpos de las experiencias vividas y que valoran muchos de los puntos de vista y creencias tradicionales de su cultura. El marco de teatro aplicado descrito en este artículo ayudó a fundar las bases para la NWEP en un tiempo relativamente corto y de una manera que fue comprensiva, eficiente, estéticamente estimulante y divertida. Esta estructura tiene el potencial de acelerar y de apoyar la participación de las mujeres en la autoría de una nueva historia para una amplia variedad de asuntos sociales.

Keywords: clean energy, gender equity, Navajo women, participatory development, applied theatre

Topics: Environment, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2015

Gender Issues in Energy Policy and Pricing

Citation:

Parikh, GenJyoti K. 1996. “Gender Issues in Energy Policy and Pricing.” Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 16 (3): 116–21.

Author: GenJyoti K. Parikh

Annotation:

Summary:
"The energy sector requires a large share of the national investment in developing countries (DC). People’s needs for energy are not yet met, even for basic needs and amenities, therefore, levels of national investment in this sector will be high for many decades to come. For example, in India, the energy sector has accounted for 25% to 30% allocations for every five-year plan in the last 3 decades. In addition to this capital investment, annual import requirements for the energy sector are of major concern. Oil imports require 30% to as much as 90% of the export earnings of many developing countries depending on their levels of energy utilization, resource-mix, indigenous availability of energy sources, world prices and so on. Elsewhere, (1994) I have shown that oil-imports do not provide the full picture of energy related imports because capital goods for energy such as power plants, mining equipment for fossil fuels are accounted for elsewhere. Total annual imports for the energy sector for all countries increase by substantial margins when energy is related to capital goods and included along with oil imports. Therefore, the scale of investments and imports for the energy sector is large enough to have macro-economic ramifications. Some developing countries do not have enough energy to provide every home with clean cooking fuel and light bulbs. Thus, the policies for investment, and for imports in the energy sector are two cornerstones for a country’s economic structure. The well-being of society depends heavily on decisions involving energy and finances” (Parikh 1996, 116).

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Infrastructure, Energy

Year: 1996

Gender Issues in Energy Policy

Citation:

Parikh, Jyoti K. 1995. “Gender Issues in Energy Policy.” Energy Policy 23 (9): 745–54.

Author: Jyoti K. Parikh

Abstract:

Gender issues have received attention at micro level in terms of technological intervention such as cookstoves, biogas, solar cookers, and wood plantations. They have yet to be addressed in macro level policies. Women’s needs for energy vary depending on whether they are in urban or rural areas, their stage of economic development, and whether they are economically active. This article emphasizes the need for better understanding of these issues for women engaged in different sectors, whether agriculture, transport, industries, household, and the energy sector itself (ie charcoal making, fuel gathering and fuel marketing). Deeper enquiries, analysis, and action for gender issues are needed through surveys, laboratory experiments, macro policy modeling and analysis, and technology development and production. This article makes a plea to include gender issues in macro level energy policies such as energy investment, imports, and pricing. The latter are discussed in detail. A lot more work lies ahead.

Keywords: gender issues, macro policies, cooking fuels

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Gender, Households, Infrastructure, Energy, Transportation

Year: 1995

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