Energy security requires both short and long planning. Recent gas and hydro announcements are a promising start towards some proper joined-up thinking.
Bhutan hydropower potential could change around its position in South-Asian economics.
RadioFreeBarton/Flickr
Small-scale renewable energy projects have tremendous potential to power rural areas in the DRC. Rural areas in the country have very little access to electricity.
A 16-year-old Karen boy, swims in the Salween River at the Myanmar-Thai border.
Adrees Latif/Reuters
Government strategies promoting economic growth through the development of the biodiverse Salween river basin should not be at the cost of human rights.
The Brahmaputra is known for its unpredictable fury. Assamese plains dwellers are often victims of floods but also earn a livelihood from the river.
Utpal Baruah/Reuters
At the heart of the Himalayas, the ongoing conflict between China and India for the hydro-power race will affect the whole region.
The Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam will bring more power to Ethiopia but is already creating tensions over water rights with its neighbors Sudan and Egypt.
Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, under construction on the Blue Nile, will bring electricity and wealth to East Africa, but could also have harmful environmental and political impacts.
Mega development projects can have a positive impact. But there are risks. Between 2004 and 2013, some 3.4 million people were ‘physically and economically displaced’ by World Bank projects alone.
Solar photovoltaics, along with wind energy, now represent the bulk of new Australian energy.
AAP Image/ARENA
Photovoltaics and wind energy now have such a large head start that no other low-emission generation technology has a reasonable prospect of catching them.
Tasmania’s hydro power is dependent on rains.
Dam image from www.shutterstock.com
Ethiopia is a country particularly vulnerable to climate change. It will hope to attract climate finance at CoP21 to help battle the effects of climate change.
The Nairobi-Thika highway is being built by China Wuyi, Sinohydro and Shengeli Engineering Construction, and is funded by Kenya, China and the African Development Bank.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
China offers an alternative to traditional donors and investors in low- and middle-income countries. Adding to its appeal is its focus on infrastructure projects.
Mozambique is seeking to use renewable energy to extend electricity access to rural institutions.
Joshua Kirshner
Mozambique has long standing energy challenges and widespread energy poverty. To change this, particularly for people living in rural areas, it needs to democratise the way it supplies energy.
Lake Kariba’s water evel is down to under 30% – and it may worsen.
Shutterstock
Willem Landman, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The upcoming El Niño event may see an even bigger drop in the water level of Lake Kariba. This will have terrible consequences for the people using the river.
Protestors bust the Belo Monte Dam.
Atossa Soltani/Amazon Watch/Spectral Q
The World Cup has highlighted Brazil’s dissatisfaction with the mega-development involved in building the tournament’s infrastructure. But the football stadiums are just the latest in a long line of Brazilian…
The Three Gorges Dam has changed the lives of millions - not always for the better.
Greg Baker/AP
China is the world’s largest energy consumer, its ferocious industrial expansion and urbanisation driving a demand for electricity that has risen 10% in a single year between September 2012-13. This has…
A frequent claim heard is that the UK is Europe’s windiest country. This is a partial truth; Scotland is the windiest country, whereas England is far from the windiest. To see the truth of this one need…