News

A methodology used at the nationwide level in Low-Carbon Development for Mexico, one of a series of studies financed by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), has now been used in two tiny rural communities with promising results, suggesting it can be replicated for major energy efficiency and cost savings.

The marginal abatement cost curve, or MAC, an analytical tool developed by McKinsey & Company, has been used in two villages of 1,100 people on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast. Results of a study, co-authored by Dan Kammen, the Bank’s Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and published November 26 in Science Magazine demonstrate that low-carbon rural energy services can be delivered at cost savings in cases where communities utilize diesel-powered, isolated, electricity grids.

Link to a related blog by Dan Kammen: Billions without power can now think low-carbon