Barclay, SR; Lu Aye & Fuller, RJ 2008 'Resource analysis for development projects', 3rd International Solar Energy Society Conference, Asia Pacific Region & 46th ANZSES Annual Conference, 25 - 28 November 2008, Sydney.

Abstract

The aim of development projects is to enhance the livelihoods of a community. This must be achieved without excessive demands on a range of local resources from solar energy to human labour. Most of these are renewable energy sources with exchanges outside the cash system. Unfortunately there are currently no analysis systems by which this range of resources of a village can be quantified, and thus the impact of a development project on those resources cannot be measured. A resource analysis system has been developed that incorporates as many of the local resources as possible and reflects the value and the interdependence of those resources. The fundamental unit of embodied energy has been selected to quantify resources and this is generated through an input-output analysis system. Once the community resources are assessed, then the demands and benefits of a development project can incorporated and the impacts of the project measured. The new resource analysis system is explained with examples of its use and the results discussed. This system of analysis provides quantified information about community resources, project demands and benefits, the viability of a project and its impact on resources in a rural community in the developing world.

Keywords: Resource analysis; solar embodied energy; development project.