Burundi has come to the limit of the resource-population balance that would allow a sustainable expansion of its economy, according to the County Environmental Analysis report. Burundi is deforested and suffering from intensive land use and subsequent degradation, partly contributed to by the heavy reliance on biomass for fuel. Biomass fuel dependence is not only a contributor to deforestation is specific hotspots, but is also associated with household air pollution, a leading risk factor for ill health in most developing countries. Improved access to energy efficient technologies for cooking and soil restoration have been recognized as major opportunities for promoting economic and social development.

With funding from ESMAP, Starter, a consulting company in Italy initiated a pilot project in Burundi in 2017 with the goal of simultaneously addressing the energy and environment concerns. The project introduced ELSA improved clean cook stove to rural farming communities in Bujumbura Rural province of Burundi. The ELSA stove improves combustion efficiency by pyrolytic gasification and produces biochar as a byproduct. The stove can utilize different types of feedstock and was tested with palm oil kernels.

The preliminary results show great interest from families using the ELSA stove and biochar and confirm that the ELSA biochar system has cross-sectoral positive impacts.  The biochar application is expected to lead to an improvement in soil fertility and crop yield and enhance food security.

Achievements of the pilot biochar system introduction will be discussed, including the identified opportunities for integrating renewable energy management through agricultural biomass recycling via the clean-burning system that reduces wood use, improves indoor air quality and enhances soil fertility and crop productivity.                  

AGENDA            

Chair

Mr. Iain G. Shuker, Practice Manager, Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice, The World Bank

Presenters

Paola Agostini, Lead Natural Resources Management Specialist, The World Bank

Lucia Brusegan, Chief Executive Officer, STARTER

David Bluhm. STARTER

Laura Bano, STARTER

Discussant

Ms. Karen Bazex, Senior Energy Specialist, Africa Energy & Extractives Global Practice, The World Bank

Ms. Yabei Zhang, Sr. Energy Specialist, ESMAP, Energy & Extractives Global Practice, The World Bank

Speakers’ Bios  

 Ms. Paola Agostini is a Lead Natural Resources Economist at the World Bank. Her focus is on the interface between agriculture and natural resources management, with a strong focus on landscape restoration and on collaborating with the private sector. As Global Lead for Forests, Landscapes and Ecosystems at the World Bank, Paola Agostini has been the focal point for many of the landscape partnership (GLF, TFA2020 GPFLR, UNCCD), covering projects such as the Sahel and West Africa Program in support of the Great Green Wall or the Liberia Forest Program or the Burundi Landscape Restoration Program. Doctor Agostini is now focusing on programs to restore the degraded lands of Central Asia, including the Aral Sea. Paola Agostini holds a PhD in Economics from the University of California San Diego, and a Master of Art in Economic and Social Sciences from University Bocconi, Milan, Italy.             

Ms. Lucia Brusegan is CEO at Starter, an Italian consulting company dealing with sustainable agriculture, environment and energy solutions. Lucia has worked extensively in the strategic design, development and implementation of programs aimed at a balanced and sustainable growth of communities and at territorial development both in Africa and Europe. Her fields of expertise include capacity building and knowledge transfer of good practices and solutions through active involvement of relevant stakeholders and end users. She has been working on biochar systems introduction in African countries since 2008,  and chairs the Steering Committee of the Africa Biochar Partnership, the African continental platform for advancing biochar systems in Africa (ABP). Lucia holds an MA degree in history from the University of Padua (Italy).

Ms. Laura Bano has over 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in consulting, project development and finance with particular emphasis on regulation, support mechanisms and development of renewable energy sources. In the recent years she has been working on technology transfer and consulting for the development and project management of small/medium scale renewable energy facilities.

 Before this Laura was employed as a Manager in the Power and Utilities Group of Barclays Capital in London, in Edison Mission Energy’s Business Development Group in their European office in London and as an Economist with Italian energy consulting firm RIE.

 Laura has a Master’s degree in Economics from Bologna University and a Ph.D in “Energetics” from the University of Padova.

Mr. David Bluhm has over 30 years of international experience in agricultural and natural resource management projects in South East Asia and Africa with CARE, GTZ, SIDA, SDA, and has been working with Starter in implementation of research trials assessing biochar and phosphorous effects on common bean in farmers’ fields in Burundi. David has an MS degree in Forest Sciences and Biogeochemistry from Colorado State University and a BS degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University. David is currently doing a PhD on Soils and Crop Sciences at Cornell University, USA.

JOIN US VIA WEBEX      

Meeting number: 738 916 667|  Meeting password:  upysFre2

24x7 support: Internal: 5220-84336 | External: +1 202 458 4336

Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-479-3207 

For more information about this event, please contact Caroline Ochieng: cochieng2@worldbank.org  

ABOUT US         

The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a global knowledge and technical assistance partnership administered by the World Bank and funded by Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Rockefeller Foundation, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the World Bank. ESMAP's mission is to assist clients--low and middle-income countries--to increase know-how and institutional capacity to achieve environmentally sustainable energy solutions for poverty reduction and economic growth. For more information, visit our website: www.esmap.org.

• 2.8 billion people, predominantly in low-income countries, rely on solid fuels (wood, dung, crop wastes, charcoal, coal, etc.) and traditional fires or simple stoves for cooking and heating.
• 1.2 billion light their homes with simple kerosene lamps and candles.
• … causing exposure to high levels of household air pollution and negative health impacts, with women and children disproportionately affected.
• Emissions from biomass fuels contribute to 2-8% of anthropogenic climate impacts, including 20-30% of black carbon emissions
• In many population-dense settings, use of fuelwood is a major driver of deforestation and forest degradation.

   

  With only 10 years left to reach Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for ensuring “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”, including universal access to clean cooking, an estimated 2 billion people are in danger of being left behind.

   

  This conference will explore recent advances and probe continuing challenges. It proposes to focus attention on reaching the furthest behind first, with topics such as:

   

-        Households and settings

-        Evaluating pathways to modern, sustainable cooking energy systems

-        Impact Based Finance for cleaner cooking

-        Modern, clean, sustainable bio-energy in a low-income country context

-        Policy options for a just transition to modern, sustainable cooking energy systems

-        Transitional and hybrid multiple fuel-device cooking systems

In addition to presentations, seminars and plenaries that highlight latest research and recent case studies, the event will include musical/cultural evening, video launch and photo exhibition.

Events to be held at Wexford Library, Wexford Arts Centre and National Opera House, Wexford.

For more information or to submit an abstract, visit: www.pathways2cleancooking.info/

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to a new publication by Barnes Douglas F and Samad Hussein on measuring the benefits of energy access. The report is available on this link https://publications.iadb.org/en/publication/measuring-benefits-energy-access-handbook-development-practitioners.

Best regards,

Caroline.

------

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, the measurement of costs is fairly straightforward. However, measuring the benefits to society is more difficult and might involve implementing national or regional surveys. Past efforts have often underestimated the complex linkages of benefits produced by programs involved in providing electricity and clean cooking energy to rural and other populations without access to modern energy services. Thus, it has often been difficult to balance the costs of program investments in energy access vis-à-vis their benefits. This study’s main objective is to develop a practical method by which to measure the benefits of rural energy, including both electricity and clean cooking. The methods reviewed in this report involve both formal and informal techniques of data collection, including quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. The research pays attention to such concepts as quality of life, effects on education, and other key components of social development; that is, it tackles those benefits of modern energy access that traditionally have been difficult to measure, as well as the easier-to-measure benefits.