Monday, May 2, 2016

"Gender and Renewable Energy"

"Women are the primary energy users in the household, as they perform most household chores that require energy, like cooking, washing, and cleaning, and are therefore in a good position to monitor and manage energy use".


Women also tend to be more receptive to energy efficiency measures. For example, in Europe, recent studies have shown that single men use up to 25 percent more energy than single women, and women have been found to be more receptive than men to energy efficiency efforts and more likely to change their behavior to save energy.

However, women are not always involved in making decisions about use of energy sources or appliances, particularly in traditional contexts, and they often lack access to finance for investing in energy efficient appliances, either in their homes or in their businesses.

In addition, women often lack access to information on energy efficient technologies. A recent study in the Europe and Central Asia region showed that men are better informed and proactive about applying energy efficiency measures because insulation repairs are commonly perceived as a ‘man’s job’, while women are mostly interested in the costs and potential savings from energy efficiency. 

Energy efficiency information campaigns and financing need to be targeted distinctly to men and women, and subsidies or micro-finance may also be targeted to female heads of households.

Over 3 million solar home systems have been installed in Bangladesh under the rural electrification and renewable energy program, reaching about 50,000 households per month. This is an excellent example of a renewable energy program that has had considerable gender impacts.

The program targets remote rural areas not serviced by the grid where the poverty rates tend to be high. Local NGOs and micro-finance organizations provide loans to households and businesses to purchase solar home systems. 

The program also makes electricity affordable for the poorest households by providing a subsidy for smaller solar home systems.

An independent impact evaluation confirmed a variety of benefits from solar home systems, including increased food and non-food expenditures of the households, longer evening study hours, and positive health impacts, especially for women. 

It has also been found that owning a solar home system increased mobility (by providing street lighting) and entrepreneurial ambitions among women, positively impacting their decision-making ability.

The program has also resulted in job creation for men and women, as local companies started to manufacture components and appliances to serve the dynamic solar home systems market. As a result, Bangladesh has the seventh largest renewable energy workforce in the world. 





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