This book highlights the role that renewable energy can play in achieving sustainable development. It focuses on rural areas of developing countries, looking in particular at stand-alone solar home systems and grid-connected biomass cogeneration plant. It provides a summary of the main barriers to the successful transfer of renewable energy technology, illustrated by case studies drawn from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, the South Pacific, Kenya and India. Options for overcoming the barriers and the role of key players are presented. The book also outlines the potential role of the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol in facilitating renewable energy technology transfer in the context of climate change.The book will appeal to academics, consultants, technology manufacturers, international funding bodies, multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, policy-makers and planners in developing countries.

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Some of the implications of the choice between renewable, decentralized technologies and nonrenewable, centralized technologies as applied to developing countries are presented. The focus on developing countries does not imply that the choice is not a pertinent one for developed countries, but only that it is a particularly pressing one for the lesser-developed countries. In order to clarify the significance of the distinction between renewable and depletable resources, two qualifications are made. The resource and its feasible system to use that resource is of primary interest. Sunlight is free but the devices to use that resource may require a rare metal, which then makes the use of solar energy not renewable. The second qualification is that some resources that are finite such as deuterium as used in fusion reactors have such large abundance that they can be considered renewable. Some specific steps that can be taken to give renewable energy resources an opportunity to compete on a more equal footing with conventional fossil and nuclear technologies in the LDCs are: stimulate and support energy planning in developing countries; include appropriate technology in developed country R and D programs; and develop and demonstrate technologies in the LDCs. These activities would represent no financial burden to the developed world. A realistic appraisal of potential renewable resources to meet the future enegy needs of developing countries is important. (MCW).

The Editors --List of Contributors --List of Abbreviations --Institutional Definitions and Abbreviations --Preface --Framing the Issues --TRIPS Article 66.2: Between Hard Law and Soft Law? --Assessing Reporting Obligations under TRIPS Article 66.2 --Technology Transfer and Competition Law: Options for Developing Countries --Intellectual Property Rights, Technology Transfer and Development: The Case of Compulsory Licensing --ACTA and the Destabilization of TRIPS --Breaking Down Barriers to Technology Transfer: Reforming WTO Standard-Setting Rules and Establishing an Advisory Facility in Standard-Setting for Developing and Least Developed Countries --Technology Transfer and Climate Change --Technology Transfer and Benefit Sharing under the Biodiversity Convention --Sustainable Technology Transfer, Climate Control, and Renewable Power in Vietnam --Vietnam: A Case Study for Sustainable Technology Transfer --From Reality to Law: Sustainable Technology Transfer - An Outlook --Bibliography.