Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

ARKSP‚ work on hydropower began in 1986 with a research and demonstration program that resulted in engagement in the hydropower sector in the 1990s with micro and mini-hydropower plants (MHPs) between 25 and 300 kW providing electricity for lighting. The major focus of AKRSP‚ MHP engagement was directed towards the peripheral off-grid areas of Chitral where the community demand had been greatest. Besides the improved quality of life and health, with the MHPs AKRSP targets poverty alleviation through establishing organizational, managerial and technical skills as well as through improving options to generate capital

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Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Since the 1980s, but more so with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), poverty reduction does not only means increased income for the world‚ poor but also aims improved health, universal primary education, women‚ empowerment and gender equality. When it comes to rural electrification, it is sometimes argued for specific strategic and procedural attention towards women, firstly because it is women who use the biggest part of energy in the household (and arguably also in agriculture and small industrial subsectors). Women can, therefore, be understood as important actors in energy planning. Secondly, in most of the household tasks, there is an unequal time allocation in relation to gender; in Asia and especially in rural areas it is women who spend the most time on household chores (including outside activities like collecting firewood and fetching water). Women may thus well be the group most affected by energy scarcity or even ‚Äûenergy poverty and related environmental degradation. These factors aside, it generally seems to be the men that dominate the planning and initiation stages of electrification projects. Often, it is men who also make financial decisions concerning the household and decide on the types of fuels used, the amount of energy purchased and put into different uses, as well as the devices and technology are chosen ‚ all of which affect women‚ daily lives in very immediate and practical ways. Markets, too, tend to give preference to electric appliances needed for men‚ productive activities over women‚ household activities. Because of male planning, male dominance regarding (financial) decision making, the common focus, and target on ‚Äûproductive uses of electricity and the nexus in rural areas with (often dominantly male-executed) agriculture, there is an ‚Äûinherent gender bias when it comes to rural electrification.

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