A Capabilities-Led Approach to Assessing Technological Solutions for a Rural Community

To improve access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy in rural areas of the global south, off-grid systems using renewable generation and energy storage are often proposed. However, solution design is often technology-driven, with insufficient consideration of social and cultural contexts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2021-03, Vol.14 (5), p.1398
Main Authors: Wang, Xinfang, Day, Rosie, Murrant, Dan, Marín, Antonio Diego, Botello, David Castrejón, González, Francisco López, Radcliffe, Jonathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
capabilities approach
Case studies
Clean technology
Community
Cooking
Design
Education
Electricity
Energy
Energy poverty
energy services
Energy storage
Groundwater
Households
Population
Poverty
renewable energy
Renewable resources
Rural areas
Rural communities
solar
Sustainability
wellbeing
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Summary:To improve access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy in rural areas of the global south, off-grid systems using renewable generation and energy storage are often proposed. However, solution design is often technology-driven, with insufficient consideration of social and cultural contexts. This leads to a risk of unintended consequences and inappropriate systems that do not meet local needs. To address this problem, this paper describes the application of a capabilities-led approach to understanding a community’s multi-dimensional energy poverty and assessing their needs as they see them, in order to better design suitable technological interventions. Data were collected in Tlamacazapa, Mexico, through site visits and focus groups with men and women. These revealed the ways in which constrained energy services undermined essential capabilities, including relating to health, safety, relationships and earning a living, and highlighted the specific ways in which improved energy services, such as lighting, cooking and mechanical power could improve capabilities in the specific context of Tlamacazapa. Based on these findings, we propose some potential technological interventions to address these needs. The case study offers an illustration of an assessment method that could be deployed in a variety of contexts to inform the design of appropriate technological interventions.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14051398