Dr Sankaranarayanan
Scientific officer
Govt of India
Mumbai
India
This is a good developement in Laos.
The following is a small developement in India

This project aims to meet rural energy needs and, at the same time, improve the quality of life and household income of the rural population through the development and use of a bioenergy technology package. The technology package is designed to reduce GHG emissions by up to 177 tons of CO2 over 25 years. The project will also build the institutions and capacity required to operate and manage such systems, and promote a sustainable and participatory approach to meeting rural energy needs.
The project is being implemented in village clusters of Tumkur district in Karnataka about 2hrs from Bangalore. It aims to establish a village energy security programme relying on appropriate and sustainable technologies which can be replicated in other parts of the country. The cluster approach allows the project to organize infrastructure and institutional systems, while testing different management systems.
The project design is based on long term research findings by ASTRA – the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Application of Science and Technology in Rural Areas which suggests that a biomass strategy based on sustainable forestry, biomass gasifiers and systems can meet all the country’s rural energy needs while producing significant benefits to the local and global environment such as replacement of fossil fuels and unsustainable wood, reduction of kerosene and diesel use, reduction of GHG emissions, reclamation of degraded land, and watershed protection. Socio-economic benefits include job creation, improved local electricity supply, reduced demand on the central grid, and freeing government funds currently subsidizing fossil fuels and grid electricity.
I have already written about the need to use afforestation as main source of rural electrification in India.
Please refer to Bulletin on energy efficiency-october 2005 volume6 issue2,page 13