Annual Meeting 2014: Energy Geographies in International Perspective

Overview

Organizer:

Workspace Economic and Social Geography/Department of Geography of the University of Bonn (GIUB) and Working Group of Geographical Energy Research of the German Society for Geography (DGFG)

Date:

Friday 21 and November 22, 2014 at the Institute of Geography, University of Bonn

The transition to renewable energy and carbon-neutral energy supply has become an important policy objective worldwide. In this context, country-specific differences in development paths can be observed. In particular for "energy -hungry" emerging markets , but also for other countries and regions in the global South, the transformation of energy systems opens up the opportunity to learn from leading countries. The geography with its focus on integrating perspectives can make a valuable contribution to this topic. Against this background, the annual meeting in 2014 deals with international perspectives of energy geographies .

Global Perspectives of Renewable Energies

Speaker:

Ruud Kempener (analyst for technology project plans for IRENA), per pro. for Roland Roesch (Senior Programme Officer, Renewable Energy Markets and Technology Dialogue with IRENA)

In this lecture, key issues and questions of the nexus energy, geography and development have been identified: What are key sectors of the energy sector ? To what extend are renewable energies (RE ) and energy efficiency relevant for future growth ? How can you open up the use of renewable energy even further ? How to finance the use of EE ? Who plays central roles in the field of EE? ( Private actors such as companies, institutions and households, state actors such as government bodies of the Government of India/cp. Point 3, Universities etc.).

Bioenergy and Development in Tansania

Speaker:

Harry Hoffmann (PhD student at the Institute of Socio-Economics of the Leibniz - Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V.)

The central question of the speakers in this session has been: How can the production of charcoal, an important energy source in developing and emerging countries, be shaped more sustainably? Mr. Hoffmann focused on Tanzania. There, charcoal is an important source of energy that is often processed illegally and very inefficiently. In the past, actors in charcoal production have often been driven into illegality by the state. The degree of efficiency of charcoal produced is often only 10-15 %. Therefore, a high consumption of wood per unit heat value is the result. The tanzanian charcoal is often made with improvised and very primitively built charcoal kilns. This fact contributes to the low quality of the products. As a positive example, Mr. Hoffmann presented a project, which was carried out in a tanzanian village in 2010. Significantly improved kilns for charcoal production and Improved Stoves were used for combustion, which could significantly reduce both indoor air pollution and charcoal consumption. Therefore, the project began to bear fruit in the sustainable production of charcoal.

Conclusion: In general, charcoal production in developing and emerging countries is often unsustainable and inefficient. In the example, the combination of more efficient charcoal production and lower consumption, has however proven to be an important and successful milestone towards the goal of greater sustainability.

Barriers for the Succesfull Use of Existing Biomass Potentials in East Africa

Fabian Schwarz (Researcher at the Department of Development Geography (Prof. Dr. B. Lohnert ), University of Bayreuth)

Mr. Schwarz presented two case studies from Uganda and Tanzania to present barriers to the use of biomass. In both countries, the supply of electricity is on a low level and both countries have missed their current 10-year plans with respect to increasing the efficiency of energy use.

Black identified the following barriers:

• Funding
  
• Market Failure
  
• Legal Framework
  
• Missing Human Skills in dealing with EE
  

A plant that produces sugar from sugar cane served as an example. The molasses, a waste product, was usually disposed of unused. The molasses can, however, be used as fuel for biogas plants. By using the molasses for power generation, huge potentials could be opened up in Uganda. Necessary to this, is however investment in education and training programs.

Conclusion: In Uganda and Tanzania, many such political and institutional barriers exist, that impede the success of similar enterprises. They can be overcome through improved training and further education.