Governments across the developing world have made rural electrification a high priority over the last two decades. Yet despite the rapid expansion of the power sector during this period, by 1990, only about 44 percent of the more than 3.3 billion people living in rural areas had access to...

In response to emerging epidemiological evidence of the toxicity of diesel vehicular emissions, there is growing interest in substituting conventional diese with much cleaner natural gas in cities where ambient concentrations of particulate matter are markedly higher than what is internationally...

This paper discusses issues and explores options related to the reform of the power sector regulatory system in China. It reviews the power sector's current situation and impediments to reform, examines the relationship between power sector structure and regulation, and suggests several...

Hydro resources are provided by nature. The exploitation of such resources can generate significant economic rent to the owners. In the past, governments have usually claimed ownership of hydroelectric resources and passed on the rents to their state-owned utilities, which have used them to...

Concerns about global warming and the availability of clean renewable sources of energy are increasing. However, as private companies take over state power utilities, the demand for profit has stifled those concerns. Currently the private sector is building over 40 megawatts of fossil-fuel...

Oil and energy markets have experienced dramatic changes over the past two decades-steep price increases in the 1970s and 1980s followed by a decrease in 1986 and large declines in demand in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. But despite considerable uncertainty about future...

A radical new strategy for dealing with the problems of energy and the environment in the Sahel is being implemented in Niger. Rather than have urban wood traders go into the countryside to cut the wood and truck it back to the cities, the government is giving village communities control over...

This study was undertaken by the World Bank to inform the potential areas and means ofassistance to the Government of Uzbekistan in scaling up energy efficiency (EE) investmentsin residential, commercial, and public buildings, focusing on energy use and efficiency inspace heating. Considering...