scholarly journals Characterization of Technological Innovations in Photovoltaic Rural Electrification, Based on the Experiences of Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina: Third Generation Solar Home Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3032
Author(s):  
Miguel H. Fernandez-Fuentes ◽  
Andrea A. Eras-Almeida ◽  
Miguel A. Egido-Aguilera

The electrification of isolated homes in rural areas without access to the electric grid has been achieved in part using solar energy transformed into electricity through Photovoltaic (PV) equipment known as Solar Home Systems (SHSs), which has been widely disseminated throughout the world. The use of SHSs in rural electrification projects has been studied from 1980 to date, they have been incorporating advances and technological innovations successively. Through the review of documents on PV projects, articles, and technical reports, it has been possible to identify the changes in the main components of the SHS and the typical configurations, systematizing them in a discrete timeline. Thereby, this article characterizes three generations of SHSs and highlights their differences. The first generation is fully valid between 1980–1995, the second generation in 1995–2010, and the third generation from 2005 to date, which overlaps the beginning. In any case, the time limits in each period are only referential. The later generation, Third Generation Solar Home Systems (3G-SHSs), is highly efficient, uses LED lamps, lithium batteries, microelectronic control, and plug and play connections. Indeed, this equipment can be self-managed by the user and reflects the technology’s high reliability by a minimum maintenance service in situ. Furthermore, their lower costs make access to electricity more affordable for the last mile population. The present research offers a detailed technological and operational characterization of the 3G-SHSs to show the most relevant aspects of support to project developers, planners, and decision-makers to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea A. Eras-Almeida ◽  
Miguel Fernández ◽  
Julio Eisman ◽  
José G. Martín ◽  
Estefanía Caamaño ◽  
...  

There are 17 million people without access to electricity services in Latin America. This population lives in small isolated and scattered communities with low incomes where it is difficult to achieve 100% access to electricity by the grid extension. Therefore, it is necessary to create market mechanisms and promote off-grid electrification in which photovoltaic (PV) technology plays a fundamental role. This research assesses successful projects developed in Peru, Mexico, and Bolivia, where 3rd Generation Solar Home Systems (3G-SHSs) are being introduced to support off-grid initiatives. To do so, we applied a mixed-methods approach including a comparative case study analysis, an extensive literature review, focus group discussions, and field research. Thereby, the lessons learned reveal that confidence, commitment, and flexibility are the main pillars of rural electrification. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the combination of various business models—an energy service company, fee-for-service, pay-as-you-go, and a microfranchising—with 3G-SHSs is powerfully effective in terms of sustainability. Our findings are useful to policy makers, researchers, promoters, and other stakeholders to rethink intervention strategies in rural areas. Access to electricity must be a state policy to facilitate the participation of new actors, especially of the private sector and communities, and the introduction of innovative business models and high-quality technology.


2021 ◽  
Vol 258 ◽  
pp. 05029
Author(s):  
Tamara Bulygina ◽  
Evgeniy Tufanov ◽  
Sergei Yanush ◽  
Inna Kravchenko ◽  
Valentine Ivashova

The article concretizes the social position of the regional agrarian elite in the system of sustainable development of rural areas on the basis of factor analysis carried out by the method of principal components. A survey of 73 leaders and chief specialists of successful agricultural organizations in the South of Russia, traditionally represented by rural areas, was carried out in October-November, 2020 using Google Forms. The data was processed in SPSS Statistics (version 21) and used the Sustainable Development Goals proclaimed by the UN in 2015 as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals were assessed on a five-point scale of significance in terms of relevance for agricultural organizations in rural areas of southern Russia. The assessments show the social position of the regional agrarian elite regarding the goal-setting in the field of sustainable development, both in rural areas and agricultural organizations. Factor analysis was carried out by the method of separation of the main components with Varimax Rotation with Kaiser Normalization. We present the models of the regional agrarian elite’s social position in the system of sustainable development of territories.


2021 ◽  
Vol 937 (3) ◽  
pp. 032099
Author(s):  
T Ivanova ◽  
A Kozina ◽  
T Chernyshova ◽  
A Prokopyev ◽  
E Anufrieva ◽  
...  

Abstract This article is devoted to the concept of systemic management of personal potential reproduction as an element of ensuring sustainable development of rural areas. The concept contains structural and substantive elements substantiated by us: 1) the relevance of the formation; 2) key difficulties; 3) purpose; 4) the task; 5) expected results; 6) benefits; 7) performance criteria. The scientific significance of the development lies in determining the main components of the concept, practical - in achieving a balanced rate of reproduction of personnel potential, as a result of which the profitability and labor productivity in the industry will increase. Also, the article defines the structure of the management system for the reproduction of personal potential in agriculture. The scientific significance of the development consists in a well-grounded and structured by us set of interrelated system components, the identification of which simplifies the process of reproduction management. Applying the methodology developed by us for assessing the impact of internal and external factors on the rate of reproduction of personal potential in the industry, the structure of the system specifies the subjects that can regulate the influence of these factors, using the tools of which it is possible to achieve the target rates of balanced reproduction (for the industry, agricultural organizations and their employees).


2002 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 1515-1523 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gupper ◽  
P. Wilhelm ◽  
M. Schmied ◽  
S. G. Kazarian ◽  
K. L. A. Chan ◽  
...  

Morphological studies were performed on a polymer blend, used as a friction bearing, consisting of polyamide 6.6 (80%), poly-(tetrafluoroethylene) (18%), and silicone oil (2%). Raman imaging, FT-IR imaging, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and microthermal analysis determined the distribution of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) clusters in the polyamide matrix. Each characterization method allows qualitative identification of the main components and provides information about cluster size and distribution. It is proved that poly(tetrafluoroethylene) clusters of 10 to 30 μm are randomly distributed in a polyamide matrix and that silicone oil can be found at the cluster matrix interface. The good agreement that was obtained in our investigations indicates high reliability of the results since all applied methods are based on different chemical and physical properties. This combined approach revealed information about the morphology of the blend for a better understanding of its working principle and enhanced knowledge for its processing. A comparison of the different methods employed in this study highlights their advantages and limitations for polymer analyses.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Marcin Surówka ◽  
Łukasz Popławski ◽  
Helena Fidlerová

The work discusses issues of the infrastructure, its instruments, and specifics of infrastructure in Polish and Slovak rural areas. The aim of this article is to analyze the level of technical infrastructure development in rural regions of the Małopolskie Voivodeship in Poland and the west part of Slovakia—Trnava self-governing region (Trnava region) as two regions with a similar position regarding regional competitiveness index. Following the topic, after identification of strengths and weaknesses of mentioned regions, the opportunities, and threats of sustainable development of infrastructure in rural areas have been analyzed using the SWOT method. The development of sustainable, reliable, and functional infrastructure does not only refer to the chosen regions of Poland and Slovakia but also other regions in the European Union. Sustainable infrastructure is a factor stimulating social and economic progress as one of the most important determinants of sustainable development and regional competitiveness. The authors notice a particular lack in the sustainable development of infrastructure in the field of water and sewerage management together with the supply of water. Therefore, this article tries to complete the gap in research focusing on the concept of a more systematic approach to technical infrastructure improvement in the context of sustainable development, and strategy of cooperation.


Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Krystyna Kurowksa ◽  
Renata Marks-Bielska ◽  
Stanisław Bielski ◽  
Audrius Aleknavičius ◽  
Cezary Kowalczyk

Sustainable development is socioeconomic growth that integrates political, economic, and social measures alongside environmental protection to meet the needs of communities and citizens without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The sustainable development concept was initially based on three main pillars: environment, economy, and society. In successive years, this concept has been expanded to include new pillars. The awareness of these changes has influenced our research interests. The main research objective of this study was to evaluate the applicability of geographic information system (GIS) tools (data, tools, and multidimensional analyses) to the implementation of sustainable development principles in rural areas. The study covered rural and nonurbanized areas in Poland, especially farmland, forests, fisheries, and farms. The study presents the results of our research into environmental, economic, and social determinants of growth in the spatial dimension. GIS tools continue to evolve, which improves access to information and increases database managers’ awareness that highly accurate data are needed for spatial analyses. GIS systems allow us to formulate, in a structured and formal way, models that reflect both the current state and forecast changes that will occur in space. It is a very useful tool in the sustainable development of rural areas.


Author(s):  
Jianhong Fan ◽  
You Mo ◽  
Yunnan Cai ◽  
Yabo Zhao ◽  
Dongchen Su

Resilience of rural communities is becoming increasingly important to contemporary society. In this study we used a quantitative method to measure the resilience regulating ability of rural communities close to urban areas—in Licheng Subdistrict, Guangzhou City, China. The main results are as follows: (1) Rural systems close to urban areas display superior adapting and learning abilities and have a stronger overall resilience strength, the spatial distribution of which is characterized by dispersion in whole and aggregation in part; (2) the resilience of most rural economic subsystems can reach moderate or higher levels with apparent spatial agglomeration, whilst the ecological subsystem resilience and social resilience are generally weaker; the spatial distribution of the former shows a greater regional difference while the latter is in a layered layout; (3) some strategies such as rebuilding a stable ecological pattern, making use of urban resources and cultivating rural subjectivity are proposed on this basis, in order to promote the sustainable development of rural areas and realize rural revitalization. This work also gives suggestion for the creation of appropriate and effective resilience standards specifically targeted for rural community-aiming to achieve the delivery of local sustainability goals.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Elena Zarova ◽  
Dr Konstantin Laykam ◽  
Elvira Dubravskaya ◽  
Sergey Musikhin

This article describes on the one hand statistical methods for assessing informal employment based on the requirements as set by international standards. On the other hand it describes the potential of integrating various data sources to generate informal employment statistics. With as example official statistics of the Russian Federation, the authors show the features of applying the requirements of international standards. Methods are proposed for assessing informal employment in the formal sector of the economy, i.e. in enterprises that submit employment reports to the National Statistical Office. This phenomenon appears in the employment situation of many countries. However, there is no uniformity between countries in how they evaluate the application of the international standards in such assessment exercises. A theoretical model of informal employment is developed and validated based on statistical data published by international organizations. The validation focuses on assessing the causal relationships between informal employment indicators and the main components of the sustainable development goals. This analysis contributes to coordinated decisions on regulating informal employment and ensuring the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 539-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Estrela ◽  
Manoel Damião Sousa-Neto ◽  
Orlando Aguirre Guedes ◽  
Ana Helena Gonçalves Alencar ◽  
Marco Antonio Hungaro Duarte ◽  
...  

Root perforation represents an undesirable complication that may lead to an unfavorable prognosis. The aims of this study were to characterize and to compare the presence of calcium oxide (CaO) on the chemical composition of materials used for root perforation therapy: gray and white mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and Portland cement (PC), gray MTA+5%CaO and gray MTA+10%CaO. The last two materials were analyzed to evaluate the increase of CaO in the final sample. CaO alone was used as a standard. Eighteen polyethylene tubes with an internal diameter of 3 mm and 3 mm in length were prepared, filled and then transferred to a chamber with 95% relative humidity and a temperature of 37ºC. The chemical compounds (particularly CaO) and the main components were analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX). EDX revealed the following concentrations of CaO: gray MTA: 59.28%, white MTA: 63.09%; PC: 72.51%; gray MTA+5%CaO: 63.48% and gray MTA+10%CaO: 67.55%. The tested materials presented different concentrations of CaO. Even with an increase of 5 and 10% CaO in gray MTA, the CaO levels found in the MTA samples were lower than those found in PC.


DYNA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (210) ◽  
pp. 98-107
Author(s):  
Luz Marina Flórez Pardo ◽  
Andrea González Córdoba ◽  
Jorge Enrique López Galán

In this research, the types of hemicellulose that predominate in the leaves and tops of the three most cultivated varieties (CC 8475, CC 8592, V 7151) of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) in Valle del Cauca, Colombia were determined. Hemicellulose analyses were performed after delignification with sodium chlorite and extraction with 18% NaOH and 24% KOH containing 0.26 M NaBH4. The main components of hemicellulose were identified via FTIR and NMR spectroscopy, and monomeric sugars were identified via HPLC. Hemicellulose A composed of arabinoxylans, glucomannans and arabinogalactactans and hemicellulose B primarily composed of arabinoxylans were extracted. The hemicelluloses of the Colombian varieties were more stable against heat than those of the Venezuelan variety. The results of this project allowed discovery of the potential use of agricultural sugarcane residues for bioethanol production because they have a holocellulose content of more than 60%.


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