[LFEE seminars] Oct 20 (WED) Seminar-"Electrification in Africa: A Systems Approach"

[Karen Gibson]

Environment and Sustainability Seminar Series
Sponsored by the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment (LFEE)

"Electrification in Africa: A Systems Approach"
Katherine Steel
Technology and Policy Program
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wednesday, October 20
12:00 - 1:30 pm
E40-496

There are currently more than 1.5 billion people without access to 
electricity and one third of them live in Africa.  Without access to 
modern energy services, most of these people are unable to escape a 
cycle of extreme poverty.

While infrastructure planning in industrialized countries utilizes 
numerous modeling and decision-making tools, the developing world 
relies primarily on demand forecasting and case studies of "best 
practices".  Electrification in rural Africa is a complex 
system-consisting of government networks, private solar dealers, 
informal businesses, and remote populations.  New methods are needed 
for tackling this problem.

A systems approach allows us to ask the right questions and identify 
the principal drivers for a complex problem.  Discussion will center 
on two of these elements: the deployment of photovoltaics and the 
potential effects of urbanization.  The focus is not on solutions but 
on a new way to think about the problems.       

_________________________________________________________________
Part of a series of brown bag talks on issues of energy, environment, 
and sustainability sponsored by the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the 
Environment.  Bring your lunch - cookies and drinks will be provided.

If you would like to be added to or removed from this mailing list, 
please contact Karen Gibson, kgibson at mit.edu.
-- 
_________________________________
Karen  L. Gibson
Program Assistant
MIT Laboratory For Energy and the Environment
77 Massachusetts Avenue, E40-469
(1 Amherst St., E40-469 - for DHL and FedEx)
Cambridge, MA 02139  USA
Tel:  1 (617) 258-6368; Fax:  1 (617) 258-6590
http://lfee.mit.edu
http://globalsustainability.org
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