Most recent posts Blog archive

Livelihoods, M300/ASCENT, and Small-Holder Irrigation- Case study from Uganda

Irrigated Farm in Uganda
Electricity access targets for ambitious programs such as M300 and ASCENT are summarized in household electrification numbers, but these programs are designed to unlock electricity’s ability to drive socio-economic development. Of the 600 million people without access in Africa, most are rural, poor, and dependent on agriculture. Yet, there is...
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Cost-Effectively Capturing Non-Household Electricity Demands Catalytic to Rural Growth

Diesel Powered Mill in Uganda
This new brief focuses on the cost-effective execution of the national survey, which covered tens of thousands of locations at just $10 per site - using innovative surveying methods and technologies. It describes how the survey achieved high accuracy with minimal site visits for gathering critical data to support rural...
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Scaling Local Energy Needs into National Investments in Uganda

Diesel Powered Mill in Uganda
Understanding what drives the community, what energy can unlock for rural livelihoods, and what activities entrepreneurial households are engaging in continues to be a challenge. We took a stab at understanding what it takes to achieve this at a “national scale”. The idea was to explore how bottom-up local demands...
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Grids, Mini-Grids and Solar Home Systems for Rapid Access Impact

Solar Minigrid in Zambia
Building on insights from the CEET policy brief “Beyond Basic Electricity Access: The Unrealized Promise of Solar Power for Economic Growth in Africa”, key findings from our recent brief explore how a strategic mix of grid extensions, mini-grids, and solar home systems (SHS) when integrated effectively, can serve diverse populations...
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e-GUIDE Updates

e-guide Selected Figures
The e-GUIDE Initiative is a partnership of groups at five universities: the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and University of Washington. Read updates from some of the students in our lab conducting research with e-GUIDE in the following summary documents: Updates...
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Lessons on Clean Cooking

home cooking
This Tuesday, May 14th in Paris, the IEA and the Clean Cooking Alliance will bring together leaders from countries to advocate for closing the large SDG gap in adoption of the clean cooking agenda. Coming out of an OPEC Fund meeting on April 22, 2024, a few of us (SEforALL,...
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Sustainable Energy for Some

bare bulb
Last week I visited the slums of Kampala, Uganda while on my way to the Sustainable Energy for All Forum in Kigali. I wanted to see with my own eyes the conditions in the slums when it comes to energy and water. It is well known the world over that...
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New qSEL Study Quantifies Important Considerations for Heating Decarbonization in the United States

Fossil Fuel Ratio Map
Read the full article published in Joule. Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation get a lot of attention, but the 12% of nationwide emissions from burning fossil fuels in buildings cannot be overlooked, particularly because they are the largest emissions source in many places. For example, in New York State...
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Lessons For The Future From The Recent Cold Weather Spell In The Northeast

Snow
For the few days before and after New Year’s Day, the Northeast experienced extreme cold temperatures. Natural gas prices peaked at nearly 50 times last year’s average. Electricity prices also rose, and were nearly 3 to 5 times the usual for this time of year. Our next electric and gas...
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Four More Shared Solar Installs In Uganda!

Meters
The Quadracci Sustainable Engineering Lab was asked to assist in the installation of four new Shared Solar units in rural Uganda. This past December, power was turned on and payment systems were activated. That means eighty new households have a stable source of electricity. Those electric connections can be used...
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Most recent posts Blog archive