Sustainable Energy. Development. Resilience.

Author: Long Seng To

Guest on Talking Humanitarianism podcast

I’m thrilled to announce my featured appearance on episode 8 of the Talking Humanitarianism podcast mini-series about humanitarianism and transitions to a low-carbon future from the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies. Join the conversation as I discuss ‘What role do communities play in accessing energy in humanitarian settings?’. The episode explores the dynamic intersection of community resilience and energy provision, and sheds light on the human dimension of an otherwise technical world of energy access in humanitarian crises.

Listen now on  Spotify and Apple.

Webinar: Synergies between energy access and sustainable development

I was delighted to speak at the digital Zukunftssalon as part of the “The Forces of Transformation” series on 6th October 2022 to dive deeper in to the topic of “Deploying the synergies between energy access and sustainable development” hosted by WISIONS of Sustainability at the Wuppertal Institute.

Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Awards

Vice-Chancellor’s Awards Ceremony 2022. Photo by Loughborough University

The Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience (STEER) was awarded a prestigious Loughborough University Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Award 2022 for international engagement and impact. I am very proud of the STEER team and our incredible network of partners working towards sustainable development. The award citation reads:

STEER hosts projects which between them have received over £90 million of investment from the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, Royal Academy of Engineering and others.

The Co-Directors of STEER, Professors Ed Brown and Mark Howells and Dr Long Seng To, are building in partnership with governments and third sector partners around the world, including the World Bank and the United Nations, leading edge research projects which are having a significant effect on the mitigation of climate change globally. Much of the research activity is embedded in lower- and middle-income countries and is a model of working in partnership with communities.

Read more about the Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Awards here.

31st Session of the Committee on Sustainable Energy

It was a pleasure to speak at the 31st Session of the Committee on Sustainable Energy at the UN Economic Commission for Europe on 21-23 September 2022. The overall theme for this year was energy security, resilience and net zero. I presented on the opportunities and challenges of including renewable in the natural resource base in the session on modernising resource management.

Read the full documentation for the meeting (including my presentation slides) here.

Recruiting: Research Associate for Community Energy Systems

A vacancy of Research Associate for Community Energy Systems (CES) is available at Loughborough University, UK.

The post holder will work in close collaboration with me at the STEER Centre on exciting research projects focusing on the landscape of CES in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique and collaborating with other researchers to build on new opportunities and knowledge emerging from community energy and sustainable energy transitions.

Loughborough University is seeking to appoint a Research Associate for Community Energy Systems with a focus on resilience in the global South. The Research Associate will work across two projects (60/40 time split) – the Community Energy and Sustainable Energy Transitions in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique (CESET) project and Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme. CESET explores how communities can support just energy transitions in East Africa, while MECS aims to rapidly accelerate the transition from biomass to clean cooking on a global scale.

Applicants should have experience of working and/or conducting research in the global South and understand the intersection between social and technical facets of the energy sector.

Closing deadline for applications: 4 September 2022.

Find further details here.

Clean and Modern Energy for Cooking: A Path to Food Security and Sustainable Development

https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000140194/download/

Energy for cooking is essential to address energy poverty, food security & boost community resilience. I was really delighted to contribute to this important position paper with the UN World Food Programme and the Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme that sets out how clean and modern energy can help achieve these goals and pave way to sustainable development.

Read the position paper here.

New paper: Delivering an off-grid transition to sustainable energy in Ethiopia and Mozambique

Energy, Sustainability and Society

What role can community energy systems play in the energy transition in East and Southern Africa? Find out in our new paper from the CESET Project published in Energy, Sustainability and Society.

Read the full paper here.

Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows Day 2022

Long Seng To speaking at Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows’ Day 2022. Photo credit: Lucy Wheeler

As an Engineering for Development Research Fellow, it was an honour to present my work on the role of communities in energy resilience at the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows’ Day on 17th May 2022. The event was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Academy’s work, especially on sustainable society and inclusive economy.

Read more about the Fellows’ Day here.

Recruiting STEER Centre Manager

Join us at the Loughborough Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience (STEER)! We are looking for an excellent Centre Manager to contribute to our mission of accelerating the transition to inclusive, sustainable, and resilient energy systems through innovative research, analysis and capacity building.

The Centre Manager will provide strong leadership for the strategic management and development of the activities of the STEER Centre, managing both the strategic and day-to-day operations of the Centre and coordinating relationships with external funders. Working as part of the STEER Directorate, they will develop and implement internal management processes to inform STEER and School level decision making on resourcing and planning.

You will have significant expertise of implementing and managing complex and extensive research or project-based activities; substantial related professional and/or academic experience; proven experience of interfacing with government/industry/civil society and developing strong relationships; plus experience of managing relationships with multiple partners to ensure efficient and timely delivery.

Apply by 8 May 2022 here.

Webinar: Setting the Scene for Maximizing Impacts of Energy Access

It was a pleasure to speak in the webinar on ‘Setting the Scene: Maximizing the impacts of energy access on people’s development opportunities’ hosted by WISIONS of Sustainability and the ACCESS Coalition on 24th March 2022.

This webinar is the first part of the Webinar Series on how to maximize the development effects of energy access. It is increasingly recognized, that energy is inextricably linked to virtually all the SDGs. While there is an active debate on approaches to accelerate the achievement of universal energy access goal, there has been less attention to the question of how to maximize the development effects of energy access. This first webinar set the scene for the whole webinar series by exploring crucial aspects for maximizing contributions to multiple SDGs.

Read about the discussion and download further resources here.

New paper: Starter kit energy system modelling data

Go to journal home page - Data in Brief

A great new resource for energy planners and modellers!

This paper brings together energy data for countries in Africa, East Asia and South America. The publicly available data that can be used to create a simple zero-order energy system model, which can act as a starting point for further model development and scenario analysis. The paper includes an example for how the data can be used to create a simple energy system model for Kenya using the Open Source Energy Modeling System (OSeMOSYS) and three stylized scenarios (Fossil Future, Least Cost and Net Zero by 2050) for 2020–2050.

Read the paper and access the data here.

New paper: Visualizing Nepal’s electricity supply resilience from a whole-systems perspective

Go to journal home page - Energy Research & Social Science

This new journal article on ‘Visualizing Nepal’s electricity supply resilience from a whole-systems perspective: A participatory approach’ published in Energy Research and Social Sciences sets out a bottom-up participatory causal loop mapping method. Through a case study in Nepal, we identified four interconnected groups of factors as important for resilience: governance, technology, economic and social.

Read the paper here and download it for free here (before 16 January 2021).

Euro-CASE Annual Conference 2021

It was wonderful to join the discussions at Engineering to build back better, the 2021 annual conference of Euro-CASE, the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering. I took part in a panel discussion on ‘Engineering a resilient future’ on 25th November 2021. Panelists included:

  • Professor Roger Kemp MBE FREng, RAEng Engineering X Safer Complex Systems Advisory Board Chair
  • Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder, Swedish Academy of Engineering
  • Carsten Orth Gaarn-Larsen, Senior Vice President, Technical University of Denmark
  • Dr Long Seng To, RAEng Engineering for Development Research Fellow, Loughborough University
  • Dr Elena Fersman, VP, Head of Global AI Accelerator, Ericsson

Access the conference programme and recordings here.

Keynote to launch Let Communities Lead report

I was very pleased to deliver the keynote speech at the launch of the Let Communities Lead: Stories and lessons on grassroots energy initiatives for sustainable futures report on 18th November 2021.

Community-based and inclusive renewable energy systems in underserved and marginalized communities are advancing rapidly around the world. The global initiative “Let communities lead” is an advocacy effort for increased empowerment, local ownership, and self-governance capacities. The initiative is launched by the Center for Energy and Society of the Arizona State University (ASU) and the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Read more about Let Communities Lead here.

New paper: Research and innovation agenda for energy resilience in the Pacific

I am excited to share a new paper published in Nature Energy on research and innovation priorities to support Pacific Island Countries and Territories in building energy resilience while drawing on their own unique strengths and existing community responses. This will help to build the evidence base and partnerships needed to implement the new Framework for Energy Security and Resilience in the Pacific (FESRIP) 2021-2030.

Read the press release here and the full paper here.

STEER Centre launch at COP26

I am delighted to be appointed Co-Director of the new Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment and Resilience (STEER) at Loughborough University. STEER was launched during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on 4th November 2021. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to inclusive, sustainable and resilient energy systems through innovative research, analysis and capacity building.

Read more about the launch here.

Zero Emissions Solutions Conference at COP26

It was great to speak at the 2021 Zero Emissions Solutions Conference (ZESC) in the virtual exhibition space at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). Hosted by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the ZESC brought together leaders and scientists from businesses, governments, and academia from around the world. Taking place on sidelines of COP26, the ZESC hosted up to fifteen sessions featuring distinguished speakers who will showcase solutions relevant to the high-level champions thematic days including policy technology solutions for: finance, energy, youth, and nature.

I spoke on ‘How community energy resilience can ensure economic development’ at a session dedicated to ‘How the demand for energy is underpinning economic development’ on 3rd November 2021.

SDG 7 Pavilion at COP26

It was a great honour to speak at the SDG7 Pavilion at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 1st November 2021. The session focused on ‘How do we scale low carbon cooking?’ and was hosted by Sustainable Energy for All. I highlight how the UN Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) can help to scale low carbon cooking and shift investments into the sector. The session was chaired by Steven Hunt (FCDO) and speakers included:

  • Ambassador Dr Monica Juma (Cabinet Secretary Energy, Kenya),
  • Joint Secretary Ram Gopal Kharbuja (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation (MoEWRI), Nepal), 
  • Anne Songole (ACCESS Coalition), 
  • Simon Batchelor (Modern Energy Cooking Services/Gamos), 
  • Ben Jeffreys (ATEC*),
  • Irene Wanjohi (Kenya Power)
  • Long Seng To (Loughborough University/UN Expert Group on Resource Management).
From left to right: Steven Hunt (FCDO), Ambassador Monica Juma (Cabinet Secretary Energy, Kenya), Ram Gopal Kharbuja (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and Irrigation (MoEWRI), Nepal), Long Seng To (Loughborough University, UN Expert Group on Resource Management), Anne Songole (ACCESS Coalition). Photo: Biraj Gautam/PEEDA, 2021

Watch the session here (starting from 18:30 in the recording).

Seminar at University of Birmingham

University Of Birmingham Letterhead, HD Png Download , Transparent Png ...

It was wonderful to present a seminar on ‘Energy resilience in the Global South’ hosted by the School of Chemical Engineering, part of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham on 27th October 2021. I really enjoyed meeting staff and students working on energy and other topics.

Net Zero Futures 21 Conference

It was great to join the Net Zero Futures 21 Conference organised by the Energy Research Accelerator and the Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy (C-DICE) on 27th October 2021 at the University of Birmingham. The event was a unique conference for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers whose work contributes to the Government’s target of Net Zero Carbon emissions by 2050. I spoke in the panel discussion on ‘Future challenges for Net Zero and sustainable energy’. The session was chaired by Katherine Jackson and speakers included:

  • Dr Nina Skorupska, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association
  • Dr Long Seng To, RAEng Engineering for Development Research Fellow and Lecturer in Resilient Energy Systems, Loughborough University
  • Dr Yesmeen Khalifa, Research Associate, Keele University
  • Dr Samuel Pering, Doctoral Prize Fellow, Loughborough University

Read more about the conference here.

New paper: Resilience a means to development

Go to journal home page - Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

This paper entitled ‘Resilience a means to development: A resilience assessment framework and a catalogue of indicators’ was published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Resilience and development are mutually dependent properties of a community. Development leads to enabled capacities, but resilience guarantees that such capacities are sustained during extreme events. The enhancement of infrastructure systems’ resilience is largely influenced by community’s enabled capacities. The paper proposes a multifaceted electricity supply industry (ESI) resilience assessment framework, with a catalogue of 303 ESI resilience indicators.

Read the journal article here.

Going Clean webinar for UK DIT

Department for International Trade Logo.png

It was great to speak about ‘What is the United Nations Framework for Resource Classification (UNFC) to Solar Energy?‘ as part of the Going Clean webinar series hosted by the UK Department for International Trade on 7th September 2021.

Clean energy is emerging as one of the key strategic industries of the 21st century, with global trade in solar and wind related products rivalling that of the trade in oil and gas. International trade in clean energy products and services represents a major opportunity for Global Britain to support partners across the world in tackling climate change.

Going Clean aims to bring clarity to how the clean energy sector is governed, looking at the structure of the markets, the intricacies of the supply chains, the geopolitics of trade, and the expert networks that drive deployment.

In this Going Clean event, I joined Department of International Trade Clean Energy Sector Specialist Dr Richard Hall to discuss the Specifications for the application United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) to Solar Energy and how it can lead to greater investment in solar energy.

Read more about the event here.

New paper: Funding and Delivery Models for Modern Energy Cooking Services in Displacement Settings

energies-logo

New ways of funding and delivering modern energy cooking services in displacement settings is urgently needed to address the scale of the issue. This article on ‘Funding and Delivery Models for Modern Energy Cooking Services in Displacement Settings: A Review’ examines current practices and suggests innovative pathways for the future.

This article was published in Energies as part of the Special Issue on Clean Energy Innovations: Challenges and Strategies for Low and Middle Income Countries.

Read the journal article here.

Chair of Solar Subgroup for UN Expert Group on Resource Management

Programme

I am honoured to be appointed the Chair of the Solar Energy Subgroup of the UN’s Expert Group on Resource Management (EGRM). The Solar Subgroup developed the specifications for the application of the UN Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) to solar energy which will accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. In 2021, we will focus on developing case studies to show the value of applying the specifications to solar energy projects.

Read more about my appointment and the work of the Solar Energy Subgroup here.

Webinar: A participatory approach for visualising energy resilience

Thank you to the Society of Circular, Regenerative, and Sustainable Systems for inviting Xinfang Wang, Louise Reardon, Asha Singh and I to speak at their inaugural webinar on 20th May 2021.

Our talk was about ‘A Participatory Approach for Visualising Energy Resilience in Nepal from a Whole-System Perspective’.

Understanding how and in what ways to foster resilience within energy systems is a complex issue, encapsulating a diversity of factors. This complexity creates barriers to effective decision-making towards resilience, where a whole-systems approach is required amidst a relatively siloed governance landscape.

To support decision making in this area, this talk discussed how a bottom-up participatory approach can be valuable in enabling decision-makers and key stakeholders to visualise the complexity of energy systems resilience, and in turn help facilitate the application of a whole-systems approach to the design of sustainable policy interventions towards more resilient systems.

The talk outlined the participatory causal loop mapping approach, highlight the method’s value in identifying the variables and visualising interconnections affecting energy resilience in Nepal, as a case study. Nepal has experienced energy supply disruption from both long-term energy supply deficiency and short-term shocks. The outcomes of our bottom-up participatory workshop with key stakeholders show the significant benefit of using this approach to enable participants visualising the complexity of energy systems resilience and creating a shared understanding of ways in which resilience can be improved.

Webinar: Energy resilience in the Global South

It was a pleasure to present a webinar on ‘Energy resilience in the Global South: the vital role of communities’ at the Centre for Data Science at the Coventry University on 14th May 2021. The talk covered the need for research on energy resilience, the vital role that communities play in creating solutions and an overview of my current work in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

You can read more about the webinar here.

UNECE Resource Management Week 2021: Renewable Energy Workshop

I was delighted to join for the Renewable Energy Workshop at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Resource Management Week 2021 on 26 April. The workshop focused on integrated water-energy management and I contributed to a panel on ‘Should integrated energy companies have integrated information systems?’. The panel discussed the value that the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources brings to different stakeholders.

Read more about the UNECE Resource Management Week 2021 here.

New briefing: Clean cooking in refugee camps and COVID-19

I contributed to a new Modern Energy Cooking Services Briefing Note on Clean cooking in refugee camps and COVID-19: What lessons can we learn? Drawing on progress made in Rwanda, Uganda & Bangladesh, this briefing outlines lessons to be learned for implementing clean cooking in refugee camps in the context of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read coverage of the briefing on the humanitarian information service Relief Web here and the full briefing note here.

New paper: Why firewood?

This article published in Energy Research and Social Science addresses the question ‘Why firewood? Exploring the co-benefits, socio-ecological interactions and indigenous knowledge surrounding cooking practice in rural Nepal’. In the push to deliver clean cooking via modern cooking solutions, the co-benefits of traditional cooking practices are often overlooked. By exploring these co-benefits in the context of Nepal, we found that transition to clean cooking can be achieved by:

  • localising modern cooking solutions by modifying the design to suit cultural and practical needs, while simultaneously
  • improving traditional cooking practices to reduce negative effects, as fuel stacking is inevitable, and
  • delivering modern cooking solutions as part of a holistic array of development interventions.

Read the journal article here.

Mapping synergies and trade-offs between energy and the SDGs: A case study of off-grid solar energy in Rwanda

Fig. 2
Interlinkages between off-grid solar energy in Rwanda, the SDGs and Targets

Building on our previous work on Mapping synergies and trade-offs between energy and the Sustainable Development Goals this new journal article is the first to map the relationship between energy and the 169 Targets of the 2030 Agenda in a specific country and sector context. We found synergies between 80 (47%) of the SDG targets and off-grid solar systems in Rwanda. This showed how the sector can contribute to human development and well-being, build physical and social infrastructures, and achieve sustainable management of environmental resources.

Read the article here.

BJTU+ Team at Solar Decathlon China 2021

The Bag, Box, Building, Community (BBBC) concept

I am delighted to be part of the team advising the BJTU+ Team at Beijing Jiaotong University who have been selected to enter the 2021 Solar Decathlon China competition.

Solar Decathlon China aims to create a workforce development and education program which can provide student architects, engineers, business majors, and communicators the opportunity to cooperate in designing and building sustainable housing projects that can respond to people’s daily realities and regional development.

The BJTU+ Team will design and build a novel transitional housing solution to provide energy and shelter during and after disasters. The Bag, Box, Building, Community (BBBC) modular design will address the shelter and energy needs of first responders, as well as long-term resilience of the community. My input will help them to consider community energy resilience and modern energy cooking services in their design.

Read more about the BJTU+ Team here.

New report: Landscape analysis of modern energy cooking in displacement settings

The Landscape Analysis of Modern Energy Cooking in Displacement Settings report was recently published as part of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme. The report explores the drivers and constraints for the transition from traditional biomass fuels to modern energy cooking in displacement settings under three main themes: technological requirements; the role of different stakeholders; and policies and financial models. The report identifies five core priority areas of interest for the MECS humanitarian energy stream:

  • opportunities for MECS transitions in urban and peri-urban displacement contexts
  • MECS in community facilities and humanitarian institutions
  • innovative financing of MECS in displacement settings beyond grant funding
  • quality data on energy access and
  • inclusive models of MECS provision in and for the displaced and host communities. 

You can read the report here.

2nd Urban Resilience Asia Pacific Conference

I was delighted to organise and present a session at the 2nd Urban Resilience Asia Pacific Conference (URAP2) online on 4th December 2020. The session focused on ‘Energy resilience and disasters in the South Pacific: political economy dynamics, community responses and planning’. The session presented a synthesis of three workshops on Energy Resilience in Pacific Island Countries in 2020 concerning planning and investing in more resilient energy systems, energy resilience and the political economy of off-grid solar and community energy resilience strategies in response to disasters. The session was presented in collaboration with Dr Anna Bruce (UNSW), Dr Iain MacGill (UNSW), Dr Paul Munro (UNSW) and Dr Atul Raturi (University of the South Pacific).

You can watch the URAP2 session below (starting at 17:16:05 on the recording).

Book chapter: Community energy resilience for a new climate urbanism

I am delighted to contribute a chapter on ‘Community energy resilience for a new climate urbanism’ to a book on Climate Urbanism: Towards a Critical Research Agenda edited by Vanesa Castán Broto, Enora Robin and Aidan While. The book is the outcome of an international workshop on the changing relationship between cities and climate change hosted by the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield in September 2019.

My chapter shows how communities play an active role in ensuring energy resilience, and argues that community energy resilience will be a fundamental part of the urban transformations required to address climate change. The chapter interrogates the idea of community resilience in the context of climate urbanism, and explores the strategies that communities use to access energy in the face of shocks and stresses in two rapidly urbanising countries, Nepal and Malawi. The chapter contributes a new perspective on climate urbanism by examining how climate change is shaping how energy services are organised and governed at the local level.

You can order your copy of the book here.

New project: CESET

CESET logo

I am excited to be part of a new 3-year project on Community Energy and the Sustainable Energy Transition in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique (CESET) which explores how communities can support just energy transitions in East Africa. The project will create knowledge on the political economy and landscape of community energy, as well as a Community Energy Lab in Mozambique and a Regional Learning Alliance.

As a Co-Investigator, I will be co-leading a work package that explores the landscape of community energy across the three countries. Through comparative research, our team will generate new knowledge about existing and potential models for delivering community-led energy solutions in diverse contexts of action.

The project is supported by UK Research and Innovation through the Global Challenges Research Fund.

Learn more about the project here.

Workshop series: Energy resilience in Pacific Island Countries

Resilience in an energy system can be defined as its ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from shocks and stresses. Energy resilience in the Asia-Pacific region is shaped by dynamics relating to energy security, transitions, reliability and recent disasters, such as coastal flooding, volcanic eruptions, cyclones and COVID-19. This interactive workshop series on 1-4 December 2020 will open up dialogue on energy resilience focusing on the experience of Pacific Island Countries, as well as exchange experiences with other regions. Case studies will include Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Tokelau, as well as drawing experience from Australia and a range of other countries. The aim of the series is to jointly identify research priorities for increasing energy resilience using grid and off-grid renewable energy in Pacific Island Countries. The three workshops are:

We will bring together insights from the three workshops in a panel discussion at the Urban Resilience Asia Pacific Conference:

The series is organised by the University of New South Wales, University of the South Pacific, University of Papua New Guinea and Loughborough University, with contributions from partners ITP Renewables, GSES and CSIRO. We welcome participants from the Asia-Pacific Solar Research Conference, Urban Resilience Asia Pacific Conference and Geographic Information for Disaster Management Conference. The work is supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s International Engagement Program, the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Research Fellowship scheme.

Download the workshop background paper and register here.

New report: Impacts and Coping Mechanisms for the Covid-19 Pandemic in Malawi’s Energy Sector

This report presents the results of two online workshops funded by the Energy and Economic Growth programme on the impact of COVID-19 on Malawi’s energy sector, and the coping mechanisms employed by different stakeholders within the sector. The workshops were held in collaboration with Mzuzu University in Malawi.

Read the report here.

New paper: A systems thinking approach to stimulating and enhancing resource efficiency and circularity in households

Conceptual diagram showing tri-lateral approach in systems thinking for enhancing energy efficiency and resource circularity in households (Ng, K.S. & To, L.S., 2020)

A new article on ‘A systems thinking approach to stimulating and enhancing resource efficiency and circularity in households’ has just been published in the Journal of Cleaner Production. It analyses three integrated household energy supply and waste management models, and shows that switching to solar PV offers significant greenhouse gas reduction and cost savings. Further benefits can be attained by increasing resource recovery from waste.

Read the article here.

PhD Studentship: Integrated energy planning for community resilience

Applications are now open for a funded PhD studentship on ‘Integrated energy planning for community resilience’ at Loughborough University.

About the project

Developing countries are increasingly facing multiple stresses and shocks such as climate change and disasters. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be maintained without addressing resilience in energy planning at the community level.

Your will work in partnership with BRE Trust and contribute to the Quantifying Sustainability in the Aftermath of Natural Disasters (QSAND) self-assessment tool which promotes and informs sustainable approaches to relief, recovery and reconstruction. The tool consists of a set of questions and a scoring methodology to guide communities in decision-making to promote sustainability and resilience as they recover, and to identify and assess the suitability of solutions.

This PhD focuses on the energy component of QSAND and examines how it interacts with other components such as shelter and water. The objectives are to:

  1. develop a methodology and framework to map the synergies and trade-offs between energy and other critical infrastructures for relief, recovery and reconstruction
  2. apply the methodology and framework to case studies of communities in a developing country, involving fieldwork to collect qualitative and quantitative data
  3. develop decision support tools to help communities and aid agencies to plan energy solutions in a way that enhances overall resilience.

Applications close 19 July 2020.

Read more and apply for this PhD opportunity here.

Recruiting: Research Associate for Energy in Humanitarian Settings

Join the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) team at Loughborough University! We are looking for a Research Associate passionate about clean cooking in humanitarian settings.

1.8 billion people have access to electricity but still cook with biomass. Load shedding, weak grids, affordability of electricity, accessibility of liquid petroleum gas (LPG), tradition, perceptions, poor energy governance, and a lack of suitable cooking appliances all act as barriers to scaling up the use of electricity or gas for cooking – clean cooking. The MECS Programme, is a £39.8 million, 5-year programme funded by UKAid through the Department for International Development.

The Research Associate will support the delivery of the MECS programme with a specific focus on clean cooking in humanitarian and displacement settings. The workstream is split into 3 core work packages: 1) understanding transition pathways for MECS in displacement situations; 2) demonstrate technology, innovation and delivery models; 3) capacity building and scale up. The Research Associate will be expected to lead on work packages 1 and 2 and support on 3. MECS works across 15 priority countries. For the humanitarian work stream, activities are likely to be focused on 3-5 countries.

Applications close on 16 July 2020.

Find out more about this job opportunity here.

Community Energy Resilience and Electricity Systems: Workshops Report

I’m very pleased to announce that a summary of the outcomes of ‘community energy resilience and electricity systems’ workshops in the UK, Nepal and Malawi is now available.

The report gathers together the expertise of 75+ practitioners, policymakers and researchers from 13 countries. We call for further action and research on:
1. Energy system design to improve energy system resilience
2. The role that community plays in ensuring energy system resilience, and
3. The role energy systems play in community resilience.

This project was a collaboration with the Energy and Economic Growth programme and the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network with support from the UK Energy Research Centre Whole Systems Networking Fund. A huge thank you to all the participants for contributing their expertise!

Read the executive summary and download the report here.

New Paper: Decentralization: The key to accelerating access to distributed energy services in sub-Saharan Africa?

Our journal article on ‘Decentralization: the key to accelerating access to distributed energy services in sub-Saharan Africa?’ has just been published in the Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. Drawing on the experiences of Kenya and Malawi, the paper explores the inter-linkages between distributed energy services and decentralized local governance systems.

Read the article here.

Frontiers of Development symposium: Disaster resilience

I really enjoyed taking part in the Royal Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Development Symposium on Disaster Resilience in Istanbul on 2-4 March 2020. The symposim brought together about 60 early- to mid-career researchers and practitioners from industry, academia, government and NGOs from around the globe in a multidisciplinary workshop.

It was great to learn from so many different perspectives, share ideas and discuss opportunities to collaborate. We talked about emerging systemic vulnerabilities, the importance of governance and supporting wellbeing. We also had the opportunity to learn about siesmic risk in the region during a visit to the Department of Earthquake Engineering and the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Boğaziçi University. I look forward to keeping in touch and working with this truly remarkable group!

Read more about the symposium here.

Book chapter in Energy Access and Forced Migration

I am delighted to contribute a chapter on ‘Towards community energy resilience’ to a book on Energy Access and Forced Migration edited by Owen Grafham from Chatham House. The book brings together author-teams of practitioners, academics, businesses and policymakers in an interdisciplinary dialogue about the best way of approaching energy provision for the forcibly displaced.

My chapter, co-authored with Niraj Subedi, develops the emerging concept of community energy resilience. Firstly, we examine definitions of resilience and community resilience and how they relate to energy services. Secondly, we discuss energy resilience in the broader context of the community and the research needs identified during a series of workshops with experts from energy access and disaster risk reduction. Thirdly, we take a deep dive into the case study of Nepal after the major earthquake in 2015, an event that displaced 2.6 million people. Lastly, we will reflect on the concept of community energy resilience in relation to forced migration and avenues for further research.

You can order your copy of the book here.

Royal Academy of Engineering Research Forum 2019

Dr Long Seng To standing in front of her poster at the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Forum.

It was great to share my work on Sustainable Development Goal 7 and community energy resilience at the Royal Academy of Engineering Research Forum on 12 November 2019.

You can find out more about the event here.

International workshop on community energy resilience at Loughborough

Participants discussing at international workshop on community energy resilience at Loughborough University.

It was a pleasure to host an international workshop on Community Energy Resilience at Loughborough University in October 2019. The workshop brought together representatives from the partner organisations from Nepal, Malawi and the UK involved in my Engineering for Development Research Fellowship funded by The Royal Academy of Engineering. Loughborough University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Bob Allison, opened the workshop and featured our collaboration in his newsletter to the university as ‘research story of the month’. During the workshop, we shared experiences from each country, and made progress towards a framework for measuring community energy resilience. We also spent time planning our exciting collaboration in the coming years.

Read more about the workshop here.

Fellowship Inaugural Lecture

It was a pleasure to deliver my Fellowship Inaugural Lecture on Community Energy Resilience on 23 October 2019 at Loughborough University.

You can listen to the lecture here.

Video: Community energy resilience in developing countries

The UK Energy Research Centre made this awesome video featuring the Research Collaborations for Community Energy Resilience and Electricity Systems project which received funding from their Whole Systems Networking Fund.

Read my accompanying blog post here.

UNFC Solar Specifications launched

As a member of the Solar Energy Sub-Group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Expert Group on Resource Management, I am delighted to announce that the specifications for the application of the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) to solar energy has now been endorsed and is now operational.

The new Solar Specification will accelerate the shift towards solar energy by enabling the reporting and classification of solar projects in an internationally-harmonised way. The next step is to develop case studies to demonstrate their real-world application and to raise awareness of the new standard.

You can access the Solar Specifications here.

International workshop on the New Climate Urbanism

University of Sheffield Jobs on jobs.ac.uk

I was delighted to present a paper on ‘Community energy resilience in the era of climate change’ at the New Climate Urbanism workshop on 4-5 September 2019 hosted by the Urban Institute, University of Sheffield. The international workshop explored the changing relationship between cities and climate change.

Read more about the workshop here.

Interview: Creating a common language for solar in the energy mix

PV Magazine logo

PV Magazine featured my work on the draft Solar Specifications for the application on the UN Framework Classification for Resources for their August 2019 issue.

“As solar comes to represent a larger proportion of the global energy mix, direct comparisons with conventional energy sources, and even with other renewables, are becoming more and more important. This is reflected in a bid by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) Expert Group to standardize reporting on solar energy potential. Long Seng To, Royal Academy of Engineering research fellow at Loughborough University, and part of the UNECE solar energy subgroup, discusses the draft standards.”

Read the full interview with PV Magazine here.

Humanitarian Energy Conference 2019 in Ethiopia

It was wonderful to take part in the first Humanitarian Energy Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 31 July to 1 August 2019. The conference brought together a diverse group from across the globe, including representatives from NGO’s, international organisations, funders, businesses and academia, working to improve and expand energy access for displaced and crisis-affected people.

Read the conference report here.

Draft specifications for the application of UNFC to solar energy open for comment

As a member of the Solar Energy Sub-Group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Expert Group on Resource Management, I am pleased to announce that the draft specifications for the application of the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) to solar energy is open for public comment.

The new Solar Specification will give financial institutions a standardised way to compare solar energy with other energy sources, paving the way for further investment as costs of solar energy technologies reduces. It will also help industry to accelerate the development of solar energy projects and help governments to manage their national resources sustainably. It will also help us to understand our energy resources on a global level.

The draft Solar Specification is open for comment until 30 August 2019 here.

New summer research student: Kaitlyn Law

I am delighted to be supervising Kaitlyn Law from McGill University as a Summer Research Student with the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network from July to August 2019.

Read Kaitlyn’s blog post about her work me on community energy resilience here.

LCEDN Conference 2019: energy resilience session

It was a pleasure to host a session on ‘Energy Resilience’ during the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network annual conference at the University of Stratclyde, Glasgow on 2-3 May 2019.

The session was a deep dive into energy resilience from a community perspective. The short presentations by Collen Zalengera (Mzuzu University), Aran Eales (University of Stratclyde) and myself focused on Malawi as a case study. We reflected on the impact of Cyclone Idai, which affected the southern part of Malawi, on energy access. The presentations were followed by discussion on research questions identified during a recent workshop in Malawi.

You can read more about the conference here.

Workshop on Community Energy Resilience in Malawi

The third workshop for the Collaborations for Community Energy Resilience in Low-Income Countries project took place in April 2019. The Malawi workshop was held in collaboration with Mzuzu University and the Civil Society Network on Climate Change. The workshop aimed to identify research needs and collaboration opportunities, and included participants from Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was a very timely discussion as the region recovers from Cyclones Idai and Kenneth.

Launch of Modern Energy Cooking Services programme

Harriett Baldwin speaking with Long Seng To
Harriett Baldwin, Minster of State for Africa, UK (L) and Long Seng To (R) at the MECS launch. Photo by Loughborough University.

I was really pleased to be at the launch of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme in April 2019. Loughborough University and the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme will lead this £39.8 million UK aid research programme to find innovative, clean and modern alternatives to biomass fuels, such as charcoal and wood.

Read more about the MECS programme here.

South Asia workshop to increase community energy resilience held in Kathmandu

The second of three workshops for the Collaborations for Community Energy Resilience in Low-Income Countries project took place in February 2019. The South Asia workshop, held in Kathmandu in Nepal, aimed to identify research needs and collaboration opportunities to increase community energy resilience in on-grid, mini-grid, and stand-alone electricity systems. It was great to hear from experts in disaster risk reduction and energy access in the region.

Read more about the workshop on the Energy and Economic Growth website here.

Workshop participants listening.

Webinar: Resilience and reliability of energy projects in Nepal

In this webinar, I present a summary of the discussions from the ‘Research collaborations for community energy resilience and electricity systems’ project so far. I focus on the South Asia regional workshop held in Nepal in February 2019.

Read a full description of the webinar here and download the slides here.

PhD funding for project on community energy resilience

Are you interested in doing a PhD with me on community energy resilience in Nepal and Malawi? A fully-funded studentship opportunity is available at Loughborough University. Work with a great team at the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network and the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology. Applications close 25 February 2019.

Read the full advertisement here.

New paper: Tactic Networks, Crucial Care

Urban Studies Cover

I’m excited that my new journal article on ‘Tacit networks, crucial care: Informal networks and disaster response in Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake’ has been published in Urban Studies as part of a special issue on ‘Transcending (in)formal urbanism’.

Read the article here.

New briefing paper: Is there still a role for small wind in rural electrification programmes?

LCEDN Briefing Paper 2 Is there still a role for small wind in rural electrification? The second paper in the Low Carbon Energy for Development Briefing Paper series is out! In it, Jon Leary, Alfred Alsop and I explore the continuing role for small wind in rural electrification programmes.

Read the full paper here.

Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship

Royal Academy of Engineering logo

I’m truly honored to have received an Engineering for Development Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. I am looking forward to helping communities build decentralised, networked and resilient energy systems!

Read the press release announcing my fellowship here.

New report: Developing a research agenda for community energy resilience in the electricity sector

EEG Energy Insight cover photo/ Power lines.

I have a new paper in the Energy and Economic Growth (EEG) Energy Insight series. It introduces a new partnership between the EEG and the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (LCEDN), to catalyse new research collaborations on community energy resilience in low-income countries, with a focus on opportunities in on-grid, mini-grid, and stand-alone electricity systems.

The six-month project is supported by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Whole Systems Networking Fund and was launched on 1 June 2018 during a session at the LCEDN Annual Conference at Loughborough University, UK, on ‘Resilience Concepts for Energy’, summarised in this paper.

Read the full paper here.

New summer research student: Harry Jia

Harry JiaEd Brown and I are delighted to be supervising Harry Jia over the next 10 weeks. He is joining the Low Carbon Energy for Development Network as a Summer Research Student (funded through an EPSRC Vacation Research Bursary).

Read Harry’s introductory blog post here.

Talk at UKERC Annual Assembly

UKERC logo

I’m looking forward to speaking at the UK Energy Research Centre  (UKERC) Annual Assembly at the University of Sheffield on Thursday 12th July 2018. Join me at the Networking Fund session for an update on the Research Collaborations for Community Energy Resilience in Low-Income Countries project.

Learn more about the UKERC Whole Systems Network Fund which supports the project here.

LCEDN annual conference 2018: resilience sessions

I was delighted to launch the Research Collaborations for Community Energy Resilience project on 1 June 2018 with two conference sessions at the LCEDN Annual Conference held at Loughborough University, UK called ‘Under the Grid’ and ‘Resilience Concepts for Energy’. I gave a presentation about community energy resilience in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake.

Read more about the conference here.

Talk at University of Oxford

I was very pleased to represent my Nature Energy paper on ‘Mapping synergies and trade-offs between energy and the Sustainable Development Goals’ at the Practical Challenges of Sustainable Electrification in Africa workshop at the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, University of Oxford on 7th June 2018.

Read the full paper here.

LCEDN Briefing Paper Series Launch

 

LCEDN Briefing Paper 1 Lessons from Collective Action for the Local Governance of Mini-Grids for Pro-Poor Electricity Access CoverAs the Editor, I’m delighted to launch the LCEDN Briefing Paper Series with this piece on ‘Lessons from collective action for the local governance of mini-grids for pro-poor energy access’ by Lorenz Gollwitzer and Jon Cloke.

Download the Briefing Paper here.

New grant: UKERC Whole Systems Networking Fund

A grant from the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) Whole Systems Networking Fund will enable me to build research collaborations for community energy resilience.

Read the full announcement here.

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