Rural Hybrid Energy Enterprise Systems

大约20%的英国人口和72%的印度人口生活在农村社区，那里的资源、便利设施和服务与城市居民有着本质上的不同。两国的农村社区面临着类似的挑战。有限的农村交通使获得服务变得困难、耗时和昂贵，使穷人、老人和病人处于不利地位。农村地区获得医疗保健和负担得起的能源（供暖、制冷、烹饪、制冷、照明、家用、信息技术使用）的机会有限，缺乏就业机会继续推动农村人口向城市迁移，尤其是年轻人。长期以来，普遍获得清洁和高效的能源一直被视为满足全球需求的关键，因此，在农村地区扩大获得优质、稳定的能源选择的机会至关重要。这不仅有助于解决对化石燃料的依赖问题；它还使联合王国和印度的农村地区能够受益于能源服务对保健、教育、运输、电信、水、卫生的乘数效应，以及对农业、工业和第三部门创收活动的投资和生产力的乘数效应。在这个项目中，我们的目标是开发社区规模的混合可再生能源系统，以弥合城乡差距，促进可持续农村生活的新模式。通过小规模能源生产的技术创新，加上适当定制的农村企业商业模式，我们将创建农村混合能源企业系统（RHEES），该系统可以适应英国和印度的当地需求，使社区能够：解决能源贫困；增加个人和家庭的创收；为农村工业创造新机遇；创造就业;降低运输成本；提高社会经济地位；通过使用可再生能源技术，减少对环境的影响，促进自然资源保护。不同形式的能源可能对增加创收活动的范围、质量和生产力至关重要。在农村地区，生物质能是最通用的能源生产选择之一，因为农村地区的原料多样化，现有的转换技术范围广泛，并且有可能提供持续稳定的能源服务。我们的目标是开发创新、低碳、可持续的生物质燃料混合能源系统，该系统利用废物和残留物，设计规模适合农村社区实施，价格合理，并通过增值副产品提供企业机会。通过新的研究，结合燃料电池技术，在农村社区大规模部署厌氧消化和气化所需的关键技术挑战将得到满足，同时与提案的资源和社区方面紧密结合。通过让终端用户参与开发过程的各个阶段，我们的目标是开发出可负担得起的可持续增长的社区规模能源解决方案，以弥合城乡差距。

About 20% of the UK population and 72% of the Indian population live in rural communities, where access to resources, amenities and services are inherently different to those of urban dwellers. Rural communities in both countries share similar challenges. Limited rural transport makes access to services difficult, time-consuming and expensive which disadvantage the poor, elderly and sick. Access to healthcare and affordable energy (for heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration, lighting, household, IT use) is limited in rural areas and lack of employment opportunities continues to drive rural to urban migration, especially amongst young people. Universal access to clean and efficient energy sources has long been viewed as critical to global needs and expanding access to good quality, stable, energy options in rural areas is therefore essential. Not only does this help to address the problem of dependence on fossil fuels; it also enables rural areas in the UK and India to benefit from the multiplier effect of energy services on health, education, transport, telecommunications, water, sanitation as well as from investments in and the productivity of income-generating activities in agriculture, industry, and tertiary sectors. In this project we aim to develop community-scale hybrid renewable energy systems to bridge the urban-rural divide and promote a new model of sustainable rural living. Through technological innovations in small-scale energy generation coupled with appropriately tailored rural enterprise business models we will create Rural Hybrid Energy Enterprise Systems (RHEES) which can be adapted for local needs in the UK and India enabling communities to: tackle energy poverty; increase revenue generation to individuals and households; create new opportunities for rural industries; generate employment; decrease transport costs; improve socioeconomic status; and through using renewable energy technologies reduce environmental impact and promote natural resource conservation. Different forms of energy may be crucial for increasing the range, quality and productivity of income-generating activity. In rural areas biomass is one of the most versatile energy-generating options, because of the diversity of feedstocks in rural areas, the range of conversion technologies available and the potential to provide a continuous and steady flow of energy services. We aim to develop innovative, low-carbon, sustainable biomass-fuelled hybrid energy systems that utilise wastes and residues and are designed at a scale suitable for rural community implementation to be affordable and to provide enterprise opportunities through value-added by-products. Through novel research the key technological challenges required for the wide scale deployment of anaerobic digestion and gasification in rural communities combined with fuel cell technology will be met whilst employing close integration with the resource and community aspects of the proposal. By engaging end-users in all stages of the development process, we aim to develop affordable and sustainable growth of our community-scale energy solutions to bridge the urban-rural divide.