Volume 4 Issue 12, December 2019

Delivering renewable energy solutions in humanitarian settings that meet the needs of refugees is highly challenging. Inclusive design — engaging refugee communities, humanitarian agencies and the private sector — is a promising approach that offers substantial improvements in delivering energy access for refugees.

Energy interventions can improve the lives of crisis-affected populations and the efficiency and performance of humanitarian operations. However, there is little existing data around humanitarian energy interventions, and little coordination around how this data can or should be collected, used and shared.

Energy is a priority for refugees yet traditional approaches for its delivery are costly and ineffective, while energy access often falls away once aid is withdrawn. By adopting a market systems approach, aid can do more to ensure access to energy in fragile places is more effective and sustainable.

Humanitarian organizations are increasingly incorporating sustainable energy practices into programming. Policies that are clear and coherent need to be put in place so that the private sector can be progressively engaged and energy services can be scaled-up.

In October 2019, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched its Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy. The strategy aims to support refugees, their host communities and other actors to meet their energy needs safely, affordably and sustainably. Nature Energy spoke to Andrew Harper, Director of Programmes at UNHCR, to find out more about how UNHCR see energy within the context of humanitarian response.

Energy transitions might require not only changes in fuel mix, but also consumption reduction. Using surveys of behaviour and basic human needs, new research estimates the minimum energy required for maintaining a decent living standard.

Adoption of photovoltaic systems has been thought of in some countries as a choice influenced by political preferences. In the US, this polarization may be even stronger due to political polarization around climate change. Now, research shows that photovoltaic adopters can be found in both parties and they are politically active.

Developing high capacity yet stable cathodes is key to advancing Li-ion battery technologies. Now, a new metal oxide cathode that is rich in Li with a gradient in Li concentration is shown to be stable to O₂ release leading to long cycle life and high capacity.

While a government commission recently proposed to phase out coal in Germany by 2038, voters would prefer a phase-out by 2025. Policymakers may underestimate public willingness to support an expedited transition away from high-carbon sources of energy.

Industrial hydrocarbon conversions often use catalysts with ill-defined active metal sites, which may hamper rational improvement. This Perspective explores how surface organometallic chemistry can allow the design of catalysts with more well-defined active sites for the production of energy carriers.

Transition to sustainable energy systems requires consumption that meets all human needs without excess. Rao et al. build bottom-up an assessment of energy required for decent living using gaps in decent living standards in India, Brazil and South Africa and scenarios of future energy use.

Combining satellite imagery and US voter file data, this study shows that Democrats are slightly more likely to have rooftop solar than Republicans, but this effect is a function of neighbourhood composition, not differential partisan uptake of the technology within a given neighbourhood.

Cooling in thermal power plants demands significant quantities of freshwater globally. Using a database of cooling technologies for 13,863 thermal power plants worldwide identified from satellite imagery, Lohrmann et al. show significant potential for reducing water use in power production as a consequence of transition towards renewables.

Critical issues such as oxygen release during battery cycling plague the development of high-energy Li-rich oxide cathodes. Here the authors report a Li-gradient structure of the oxides, obtained by a selective LiO leaching process via a molten salt treatment, displaying virtually zero oxygen loss.