Page - (000220) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

beenexpected,what issurprisingis that technicaldesignandstandardsdidn’tplaya significant role and, contrary to expectation, the centralized nature of the infra- structuredidhavean impact through the respectivegovernance structures.That is, decentralized infrastructure projects tend to have weak communal governance structures that aren’t conducive to good adaptation strategies, while the opposite proved tobe true.This facthighlights the important correlationbetween infrastruc- ture centralization and robust governance structures, which was not originally hypothesized. 11.6 RenewableEnergyandClimateMitigation CommunityscaleDREprojectshaveencountereddifficultieswith theCDMdespite themmeetingemissions reductionsgoals.Besides thewell documentedbarriersof a lengthyprocessnotunderstoodat thecommunity level, and thehigh transactions costs, it isverydifficult tocalculate thenet amountofemission reductionsbecause of deficiencies in baseline emissions calculations. This is particularly true in pro- jects where a subset of the beneficiaries enjoyed some kind of modern energy source,whether it was grid electricity or a diesel or gas generator.One project in Nicaraguaexemplifies thisas thebaseline iscalculatedwith theemissions factorof the country’s energymix, evenwhen 18 of the 20 beneficiary communities used traditional energy sources, inwhich their emissions are considerably lower.Other projects highlight the finding that DRE projects can increase emissions: as elec- tricitydemandincreases throughtheuseofnewappliances,useof fossil fuels tends to increasewhen theDRE system can not supply electricity for those new appli- ances. The most common cases seen were in stores that relied on refrigerators, whether throughaPVsystemorahydroelectricplant. Inonecommunity, theirown DREsystemnolongerhassufficientcapacity tomeet thecommunity’sdemandand theyarenowthinkingofagridconnection.These results are similar to those found inIndia (Reddyetal.2006),whichalsohighlightboth theneeds for involvementof local communitiesandofvulnerabilityandsustainabilityanalysisof local resource management.The latterweremissingfrommostof thecasestudiesanalysed in this research. Table 11.6. describes the changes in supply, infrastructure, and demand that occurredwitheachproject.Thechanges indemandreflect thechanges thesystems were designed for. 11.7 RenewableEnergyandSustainableDevelopment DRE projects were found to have a positive impact on livelihoods assets by improving its five capitals: financial, physical, human, social, and environmental. Financialcapitalwasenhancedbyenergycostsavings,productiveuseandalternate 204 D.Ley