A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sydney Oluoch; Pankaj Lal; Bernabas Wolde; Neeraj Vedwan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan

Published in Journal of Energy and Natural Resources (Volume 8, Issue 4)

Received: 29 October 2019 Accepted: 18 November 2019 Published: 6 December 2019

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Abstract

Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.

Published in	Journal of Energy and Natural Resources (Volume 8, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
Page(s)	146-154
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Quantitative Review, Bibliometric Mapping, Renewable Energy, Sub-Saharan Africa

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APA Style

Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. (2019). A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources, 8(4), 146-154. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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ACS Style

Sydney Oluoch; Pankaj Lal; Bernabas Wolde; Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J. Energy Nat. Resour. 2019, 8(4), 146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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AMA Style

Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J Energy Nat Resour. 2019;8(4):146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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@article{10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13,
  author = {Sydney Oluoch and Pankaj Lal and Bernabas Wolde and Neeraj Vedwan},
  title = {A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa},
  journal = {Journal of Energy and Natural Resources},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {146-154},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jenr.20190804.13},
  abstract = {Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
AU  - Sydney Oluoch
AU  - Pankaj Lal
AU  - Bernabas Wolde
AU  - Neeraj Vedwan
Y1  - 2019/12/06
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
T2  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JF  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JO  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
SP  - 146
EP  - 154
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7404
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
AB  - Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Author Information

Sydney Oluoch

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Bernabas Wolde

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Neeraj Vedwan

Department of Anthropology, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

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APA Style

Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. (2019). A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources, 8(4), 146-154. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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ACS Style

Sydney Oluoch; Pankaj Lal; Bernabas Wolde; Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J. Energy Nat. Resour. 2019, 8(4), 146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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AMA Style

Sydney Oluoch, Pankaj Lal, Bernabas Wolde, Neeraj Vedwan. A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. J Energy Nat Resour. 2019;8(4):146-154. doi: 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13

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@article{10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13,
  author = {Sydney Oluoch and Pankaj Lal and Bernabas Wolde and Neeraj Vedwan},
  title = {A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa},
  journal = {Journal of Energy and Natural Resources},
  volume = {8},
  number = {4},
  pages = {146-154},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jenr.20190804.13},
  abstract = {Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa
AU  - Sydney Oluoch
AU  - Pankaj Lal
AU  - Bernabas Wolde
AU  - Neeraj Vedwan
Y1  - 2019/12/06
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
DO  - 10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
T2  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JF  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
JO  - Journal of Energy and Natural Resources
SP  - 146
EP  - 154
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7404
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jenr.20190804.13
AB  - Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.
VL  - 8
IS  - 4
ER  -

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