Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to identify and promote renewable energy solutions. In doing so, we seek to highlight the potential of renewables in advancing access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy services, particularly for those in vulnerable situations. Our focus will be placed on how decentralized, small-scale, cost-effective and open hardware initiatives are deployed and how these can be replicated in different communities.
In the first part of the year, we worked on continuing to disseminate the document. “In the Spotlight: Renewable Energy Solutions Mapping in Argentina” which features five stories, as well as other examples, that illustrate the different types of renewable energy initiatives mapped. It also describes the patterns that could emerge from these solutions mapping.
Plus, if Argentine solutions wereshortlisted during the second phase of “Discover and Deploy” campaign, with the goal for blueprint design, we would like to actively participate in the subsequent process. The AccLab intends to contribute to the rapid scaling of open-source innovation. By documenting grassroots innovation at the blueprint level, the Accelerator Labs Network aims to accelerate the widespread adoption of these innovations. We aim to make these blueprints accessible far and wide, empowering individuals and communities to replicate these innovations within their own contexts.
During the first quarter of the year, we conducted an exploratory study on renewable energy in collaboration with the team that has worked on one of the mapped solutions. This study, included in-depth interviews, a focus group and a survey, yielding valuable insights into perceptions and adoption of renewable energy technologies. Although the planned experiment based on an information shock and peer effectxperiences could not be implemented, the findings from the study allowed us to compile a comprehensive report. This report captures key patterns, insights, and emerging trends related to renewable energy adoption. The findings from the exploratory phase revealed that a lack of follow-up, technical support and inadequate training are significant barriers to the adoption of renewable energy.
We will continue our prospective analysis aimed at contributing to collecting evidence and research related to the future of renewable energies, such as future scenarios, patterns, insights, and emerging trends, among other items.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
We have embarked on a learning cycle focused on renewable energy, actively incorporating insights developed by researchers and organizations dedicated to sustainable development issues. We acknowledged that energy poverty is one of the multiple dimensions of poverty. This dimension was defined by the World Economic Forum (2010) as the lack of access to modern sustainable energy services and products. These services must be adequate, affordable, reliable, of good quality, sound, and environmentally sustainable to support development (Habitat for Humanity, 2022).
Worldwide energy is highly unequally distributed, accessing any type of energy is linked to each country's social and economic development stage (Habitat for Humanity, 2022). From a more human perspective, lack of access to energy sources poses a significant barrier to development, hindering daily activities, such as cooking, heating homes, and bathing. It also restricts opportunities for health, education and work creating a ripple effect across various aspects of life.
Building on last year’s groundwork, this new phase incorporates our findings to deepen our understanding of the energy challenge. The work done in mapping grassroots renewable solutions has led us to continue gathering patterns and insights regarding the connection between energy access and the quality of life in disadvantaged or worse-off communities. We have learned that there is a link between a lack of safe and efficient access to energy, poverty, health risks, and food insecurity.
Our work on deploying renewable energy solutions has highlighted two key factors: fostering a sense of ownership through community values and habits and the potential of open-source technologies for replicability.
Our prospective analyses have identified clusters of early signals of change, revealing emerging trends in renewable energy. One such trend is the exploration of novel materials, designs, and functionalities for renewable hardware, like solar panels or wind turbines.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
The world is falling short on achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7: Affordable and clean energy). Targets remain far from reach, as evidenced by the lack of access to basic energy services. According to Sustainable Energy for All (August 22, 2022), over 750 million people currently lack electricity, and a staggering 2.6 billion lack access to clean cooking technologies. The Energy Progress Report (2021) and the World Economic Forum (2021) project these numbers to remain stubbornly high at over 600 million and 2 billion people, respectively, by 2030 at the current pace.
At the national level, according to ENERGAS (2021), 1.46 million households in Argentina were affected by energy poverty in 2020. Nonetheless, from an environmental viewpoint, the energy sector accounted for 51% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development of Argentina (2021).
Renewable energy is now the most affordable option in most of the world, driven by a dramatic decline in technology prices. The cost of electricity from solar power plummeted by roughly 85% between 2010 and 2020 (IRENA, 2022). Similarly, onshore and offshore wind power costs have seen significant reductions of 56% and 48%, respectively.
This presents a significant opportunity for America Latina and the Caribbean, particularly Argentina. Despite the region’s potential, renewable energy consumption across most countries remains below 30% (UNDP FDx, 2023). In Argentina, that number stands even lower at just 10.74% (2023).
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
Our prospective analyses reveal weak signals of change that illuminate a future where renewable energy becomes central for industrial innovation, reshaping business models and our overall energy consumption patterns. While these signals are early-stage, they hold significant potential for growth. This compels us to consider strategic actions to capitalize on future opportunities and mitigate potential risks. For developing countries like Argentina, a robust renewable energy agenda becomes even more critical due to existing development limitations and potential resource gaps.
We have identified a promising early signal: agrivoltaics, a novel production model that integrates solar energy with agriculture. This approach allows crops to be grown, livestock to graze, or beehives to be placed between solar panels (Enel Green Power, 2022). The potential trajectory and consequences of agrivoltaics holds significant interest for countries and communities reliant on agriculture.
Emerging digital technologies are playing an increasingly crucial role in building a more transparent, resilient and efficient renewable energy sector. The Internet of Things (IoT) is being harnessed for improved energy management, while machine learning offers exciting possibilities for building more resilient hydropower plants. These trends, however, highlight the existing technological gap between developing and developed countries, and it is critical to analyze these signals and develop strategies to bridge this gap and ensure equitable access to these advancements.
Additionally, the analysis of data derived from the solutions mapping has revealed the following patterns and insights:
The origin of the solutions we have mapped is related to unmet basic needs.
The lack of safe/efficient access poses health risks. Inefficient or risky forms of energy consumption have serious health implications, some with an immediate effect and some with a long-term impact.
Energy poverty equals food poverty. The impact of the former on the latter is evident in a large number of homes in vulnerable situations as, when preparing the meals they will bring to the table, people think about which food to cook faster and thus consumes less energy.
Energy consumes time. The time dimension of the energy supply is an element that weighs heavily on the lives of those who suffer from an energy shortage because the completion of an activity (bathing, cooking, heating the home, etc.) may include the performance of multiple tasks that take time.
The savings are not only energetic but also monetary: (co)design as part of the solution. Building design can be thought of as part of the solution, from acknowledging how people live in their communities, their customs and practices, and their ecosystems to considering the spatial layout, orientation, and materials used during the building process. Energy also represents a key aspect of the household economy of families in vulnerable situations because those who live in substandard housing or in places where there are no utility services, or these are inefficient, can spend a significant part of their income on cooking, heating, or lighting the spaces they inhabit.
Energy and women: Women oversee most of the domestic and care duties; in other words, they are responsible for many tasks that require energy solutions and are more prone to assume the costs/risks mentioned.
Energy and education. Access to environmental education and information represent significant factors in the development of renewable energy projects. Educational work occurs in both informal and formal contexts.
Economic and operational sustainability: productive skills and activities Given the significance of learning how to use and repair the technologies to be promoted, the acquisition of these skills by end users usually has an influence on project sustainability.
Having access to technology does not mean having a solution. Habits and values are equally important for ownership.
Many technologies use or are made with easily available or low-cost elements, including solid waste such as plastic bottles, buckets, aluminum cans, expanded polystyrene, Tetra Brik containers, etc. In turn, organic waste —from poultry activities, feedlots, dairy farms, pig farms, etc.— is not leveraged enough even though it could be used for energy generation.
There is no single technology for all circumstances. Technologies are appropriate (or not) according to the context where they are going to be used. In certain places with high solar radiation, solutions based on solar energy may be the logical option compared to those using other sources. Singularity is such a crucial element in the sustainability of projects since a device designed for a place with a certain level of radiation can quickly become obsolete in another.
Open-source options, a vehicle for replicability. Open hardware can become a great opportunity. Thanks to open patents, technologies can reach further regions in need, and they can be easily replicated.
For further reference:
Moreno, M. V., Cuesta García, M., Mulki, J. & Moscovich, L. (2023). In the Spotlight: Renewable Energy Solutions Mapping in Argentina. Buenos Aires: UNDP. Available at: https://www.undp.org/es/argentina/publicaciones/spotlight-renewable-energy-solutions-mapping-argentinaç
Moreno, M. V. (2024, May 10). Open-hardware renewable energy hardware. Available at https://www.undp.org/es/argentina/blog/open-hardware-renewable-energy-hardware
Moreno, M. V. (2023, May 8). Energy poverty is so much than just lacking a service. UNDP Argentina. Available at https://www.undp.org/es/argentina/blog/energy-poverty-so-much-more-just-lacking-service-1
Moreno, M. V. (2023, February 13). I ask, therefore I solve...with others. UNDP Argentina Blog. Available at https://www.undp.org/es/argentina/blog/ask-therefore-solvewith-others
Moreno, M. V. (2022, October 5). From Conquering Energy to Solutions Mapping: When the Approach Makes Us Human. UNDP Argentina. Available at https://www.undp.org/es/argentina/blog/conquering-energy-solutions-mapping-when-approach-makes-us-human
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The added value the Lab can provide regarding renewable energies is the systematization and visibility of evidence that is not as prevalent in our country's energy policy discussions (grassroots solutions, and weak signals, among others). In Argentina, the agenda regarding this topic is associated with large infrastructure projects, the need to attract investors to carry out these projects, and with rising energy fees in amidst public subsidies cuts. We believe, however, that we can contribute towards drawing attention to other types of actors, experiences, and lessons learned that can favor the debate; or promote smaller-scale interventions in different communities.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
The CoLab is committed to surfacing and sourcing grassroots innovations, insights, and signals of change to help identify renewable energy solutions and assess whether communities with greater energy needs can adapt to those solutions.
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
EcoAndina, 500RPM, La Caja Verde, among others
What sector does our partner belong to?
Civil Society
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
We are establishing relationships with civil society organizations working with renewable energy projects in different territories. In some cases, we have been able to map solutions with their help. We are also in contact with organizations that work on open hardware.
The “People Powered” (https://www.undp.org/acceleratorlabs/peoplepowered/solutions) campaign has recognized three exceptional organizations we have worked with: “Litro de Luz”, “The Green Box”, and “500Rpm”. The first one, Litro de Luz, illuminates homes, businesses, and streets using recycled plastic bottles and locally sourced materials; The Green Box uses allelopathy to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, and 500 Rpm works on affordable wind turbines with open-source patents, enabling easy replication and wider access to clean energy.
Additionally, in May and June of 2024, we conducted an exploratory study in Jujuy in collaboration with EcoAndina, an organization based in Argentina’s northern Andes, focused on developing clean energy solutions for local communities. We conducted in-depth interviews, a focus group, and a survey in which we explored dimensions related to renewable energies, such as perception, difficulties, costs, and changes in habits.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
Universities
What sector does our partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Universities have collaborated with us in sharing our initial findings, broadening the reach of our research. As a result, we had three opportunities to present the results of our renewable energy mapping within t academic programs/activities:
- Diploma in Energy Transition, which is dictated between EcoHouse and the Political Science Department of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA)
- The Conference on "Sustainability, Energy and Equity" organized by the Centre for the Evaluation of Evidence-based Policies (CEPE) of the University Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT). We have participated in the panel: Citizen innovation, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
- MIT Innovation Lab Workshop May 21-22, 2024.
- Argentina Carbon Forum, June 4-4, 2024.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the partner:
UNDP
What sector does our partner belong to?
United Nations
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
We use an organic approach to work alongside different areas within UNDP so as to foster a better interaction between different program areas in general, the media, the private sector, and the environment cluster.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
We know that many of the technologies work (solar stoves, etc.) just fine, so we asked ourselves:
What are the most likely elements and/or processes that could foster the adoption of renewable energies by worse-off people who suffer from the lack of access to energy services and products?
Based on this broad question, we can jump to more specific questions that we are beginning to outline:
How does the reach strategy affect the adoption? Particularly, how do the distribution and implementation of solutions affect their effectiveness? Could different degrees of user engagement affect the adoption when the desired effectiveness is not achieved?
What are the early signals of change affecting renewable energy, particularly its deployment and adoption? Are these signals indicative of emerging trends? What are the signals that could have an impact in Argentina?
Can foresight exercises help convey a unique and shared vision for the future of the Lithium Triangle, considering its diverse stakeholders and challenges?
How can foresight exercises empower communities affected by mining in the Lithium Triangle, enabling them to shape their own futures and navigate potential impacts?
Which are the best strategies to ease the adoption and use of renewable energy delivered along with public housing?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Sense, Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
It is precisely through the different methods mentioned above that we will pay special attention to the challenge linked to the adaptability of renewable energy technologies. We know that many projects aimed at promoting these technologies fail due to the different habits, organizational models, or values of individuals and communities. For this reason, we intend to offer supporting evidence so as to make propose public policy recommendations on this topic. To that end and to facilitate their adoption, we will implement participatory action research and nudge strategies.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
We would like to underline that the main difference is related to the type of information that is prioritized and/or spread in the most important areas where this issue is discussed. The topics most frequently discussed when dealing with energy are large infrastructure projects, investments, and fees, among others. Also, we need to know more about how to foster the use of these alternative sources of energy once delivered. As a result, the type of evidence that the Lab can provide is not the most prevalent or universally known. We will attempt to shed more light on other aspects of the same issue through a portfolio of actions.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
We finished a first knowledge product containing the findings from the solutions mapping. We have already carried out a first exploratory study in Jujuy, the results of which will be published very soon in a report. We will conduct an experiment related to information to assess different aspects of the adoption and replicability of renewable energy solutions. The collaboration of EcoAndina, one of the initiatives we have mapped, is being instrumental in designing and planning the experiment, and they will also be involved in its implementation.
We will continue working to strengthen ties and promote other alliances with the public and private sectors so as to promote the growth of this learning cycle, and we will keep working on a portfolio of actions aimed at promoting the public debate on this topic —with a “bottom-up” and prospective approach—, as well as scaling related interventions in Argentina.
Finally, in a related but distinct area within the realm of renewable energy, we collaborated on a project led by the Environment Cluster of the Country Office, focusing on lithium—an essential resource for the transition to sustainable energy. As part of this initiative, we conducted two foresight exercises to explore a range of future governance scenarios related to lithium extraction, aiming to understand both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
In October, we facilitated an exercise with governments, civil society organizations, and community members from Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina, focused on mining. Through this exercise, we collected early signals of change—such as the potential impacts if lithium prices were to fall—and conducted a Future Wheel exercise to co-create desirable and future scenarios. We discovered that, despite the diverse sectors involved, there is far more common ground than initially anticipated. This exercise provided valuable insights into potential governance models that can effectively balance economic development with environmental sustainability and social equity.
Additionally, we organized another foresight workshop, specifically tailored to communities affected by lithium mining in Catamarca, Salta, and Jujuy. During this session, we led envisioning activities and planning exercises to help these communities build a shared vision of their future and equip them with tools to plan for it collaboratively.
Looking ahead, we will assist in the development of a collaborative web platform designed to provide easy and transparent access to environmental data. This platform will be co-created with active input from all stakeholders, ensuring it is user-friendly and aligned with the needs and priorities of local communities. By integrating diverse perspectives into its design, the platform will enhance transparency, support informed decision-making, and foster a more inclusive approach to environmental governance. Ultimately, this will empower stakeholders to better navigate the complexities of the lithium sector and its long-term impacts, promoting more resilient and equitable futures.
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1No poverty
7Affordable and clean energy
10Reduced innequalities
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