Access to energy is a foundation to establish a positive impact on multiple aspects of human development. Both developed and developing... Show moreAccess to energy is a foundation to establish a positive impact on multiple aspects of human development. Both developed and developing countries have a common concern of achieving a sustainable energy supply to fuel economic growth and improve the quality of life with minimal environmental impacts. The Least Developing Countries (LDCs), however, have different economic, social, and energy systems. Prevalence of power outage, lack of access to electricity, structural dissimilarity between rural and urban regions, and traditional fuel dominance for cooking and the resultant health and environmental hazards are some of the distinguishing characteristics of these nations. Every year, 1.5 million people die due to exposure to indoor biomass stoves fumes. Rising demand for the decreasing supply of fuel wood is evident. Desertification is estimated to put 135 million people at a risk of being driven away from their land if no action is taken by 2020. Most energy planning models have been designed for developed countries' socio-economic demographics and have missed the opportunity to address special features of the poor countries. Therefore, it is critical to develop models that address the unique social-economic demographics of LCDs and are instrumental to appropriate energy policies choices. Such models must consider energization beyond electricity supply and help reduce over reliance of LCDs on limited energy sources that are fraught with high volatility and health hazard, thus providing a stable supply of energy that these countries badly need to meet their sustainable development goals. An improved mixed-integer programming energy-source optimization model is developed to address limitations associated with using current energy optimization models for LDCs, tackle development of the sustainable energization strategies, and ensure diversification and risk management provisions in the selected energy mix. The Model predicted a shift from traditional fuels reliant and weather vulnerable energy source mix to a least coast and reliable modern clean energy sources portfolio, a climb on the energy ladder, and scored multifaceted economic, social, and environmental benefits. At the same time, it represented a transition strategy that evolves to increasingly cleaner energy technologies with growth as opposed to an expensive solution that leapfrogs immediately to the cleanest possible, overreaching technologies. Ph.D. in Management Science, May 2011 Show less
