Brighter Communities, Safer Cities: Summer Scoping
Written By: Kevin Grieco
Edited By: Alicia Oberholzer & Thomas Klug
Urban electrification rates in Sierra Leone are among the lowest in the world, hovering around 11%. These already low electrification rates plummet towards zero in poor slum areas of the city. One consequence of this urban energy poverty is an absolute lack of nighttime lighting and public streetlights.
There are no economic arguments for postponing acting on the climate issue. Past experience shows that costs of action are often overestimated , while the costs of inaction are often underestimated. This argues Jessica Coria in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet.
For decades, people in rural Africa have been using sooty kerosene lamps to dimly light their homes. But in recent years households, even in poor areas, have started to replace their kerosene lamps with non-rechargeable dry-cell battery driven lamps and solar kits.
EfD researchers have been working with Cape Town’s authorities in their efforts to stave off #DayZero – the day when the Cities taps run dry. Their findings cast new light on the importance of effective demand management to cope with water shortages. In this blog we discuss how the tools of economics can be used to pre-empt such crisis management in growing cities in the Global South.
By: EfD Director Gunnar Köhlin, Prof Dale Whittington and Prof Martine Visser June 2018
Taken from the Let's talk Development Blog of the World Bank:
http://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/rural-electrification-how-mu…
All over the world, indigenous communities tend to be marginalized both politically and economically. So awarding them formal legal rights to the forests they have historically controlled, often for hundreds of years, is probably a good idea from the standpoint of social justice and economic development.
A field experiment conducted in rural Rwanda evaluates the revealed willingness to pay for different off-grid solar technologies
A field experiment conducted in rural Rwanda evaluates the revealed willingness to pay for different off-grid solar technologies
Many of us have experienced the frustration of idling in long lines of traffic, inching forward at what seems like an interminable rate. Unfortunately, traffic congestion like this is a daily occurrence in many of the world’s fastest growing cities, such as Mexico City, Bangkok, Istanbul, and Rio de Janeiro.