Smart Villages/LCEDN webinar series For more information, please go to e4sv.org https://e4sv.org/events/webinar-energy-and-transport Transport is an often overlooked aspect of rural development and linkage to energy access and productive use of energy in the developing world, but it is of critical importance. Not only does transportation rely on a source of energy (and hence transport can itself become a productive use of energy), but an effective transport infrastructure is a critical part of allowing mobility, access to markets, establishment of distribution chains (both to access energy generating equipment as well as marketing services, goods and products). In this webinar, we were joined by experts presenting on diverse aspects of this complex challenge, including Prof Gina Porter and Dr Arash Azizi of the University of Durham, Dipak Gyawali, former Minister of Water Resources in Nepal and Chair of the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, and Dr Ben Campbell from the UK Low Carbon Energy Development Network. As usual, we provided an opportunity for the participants joining the webinar to put questions to the speakers, for them to be answered during the session.

1. Thinking about the energy-
transport-ICT nexus in sub-
Saharan Africa
Gina Porter
Durham University

2. Energy consumption in the transport sector
• The transport sector makes up 30% of global final energy
consumption and has the lowest renewable energy share of
any sector – thus, need for a more energy efficient transport
sector!
• High energy intensity of road transport in Africa due to aging,
inefficient vehicles
• Comparatively low transport usage in Africa currently, but
rapid growth in ownership of cheap imported motorcycles
• The transport sector is now the fastest-growing source of
greenhouse emissions in Africa

3. Biomass as a transport issue
• Biomass – mundane bio-energy – is still
the biggest source of energy for cooking
and heating in most rural [and many
urban] areas
• Principally firewood and charcoal
• LPG is too expensive for widespread use
among the poorest
• Biomass transport is a major task in
rural communities

4. Biomass as a transport challenge for women and
children
• Firewood/charcoal sales - a key livelihood source in
many rural areas
• Complex value chains include transport
BUT
• Transport in rural source areas is often largely
dependent on pedestrian porterage by women and
children
• Implications for children’s educational achievement
• Possible implications for women and children’s
health
Porter et al. World Development 2012: v 40 (10)
Porter et al. Social Science and Medicine 2013: v 88.

5. ICT – a growing component of the
energy/transport nexus
• Penetration of mobile phone transmission towers commonly
follows road networks
• Mobile phone usage as
a) Substitute for transport among poor populations
b) Support to energy supply chain management
[transport organisation; also remote monitoring]
• Mobile phones + mobile money enables smart energy Pay As
You Go [works in Kenya, less likely e.g. in Nigeria?]
• Has the proliferation of mobile phones and need for regular
low-cost phone charging been a prime factor in solar adoption
in some poor communities?

6. The need for stronger linkages across energy,
transport and ICT sectors at policy level
• Energy, transport and ICT policy makers work in silos
• Lack of cross-sectoral interaction in ministries, or in institutions like the African Development
Bank or NEPAD
• Energy, transport and ICT practitioners are mostly similarly narrow in focus
[responding to narrowly set funding regimes]
• BUT, for vulnerable people in remote rural areas, intersections across these sectors
are experienced in the everyday in crucial, sometimes complex ways
• Stronger communication across sectors and a more holistic approach to the energy
nexus is essential to improving the lives of vulnerable people