Subject(s): Rural Energy -- Renewable Energy -- Rural energy situation: Biofuel use by poor, Pollution and health, ecological damage, Energy efficiency, Transition to modern fuels -- Emerging practices and polices : Alternative forms of energy, Unnecessary subsidies, Addressing market failure, High start up costs and risks, External costs and benefits, Participation and institutional development, Local institutional development, Decentralization -- Options for rural electrification : pricing and financial policies, Cost-effectiveness and the choice of alternatives, Costs of grid supplies, Reducing initial investment costs by using appropriate design standards, Micro-grids supplied by diesel generators, Electricity supplies from renewable energy sources, Regulatory and price reforms, unbundling and privatization -- Innovations in renewable energy : Technical progress in using the solar resources, Policies toward new renewable energy sources in rural area, program development, prices, credit, taxes and subsidies -- Cooking fuels - toward more sustainable supply and use : Improving end-use efficiency with biomass stoves, Improving charcoal efficiency, Agro-forestry and farm forestry, Forest management, Kerosene and gas, Subsidies vs price privatization, Effects of high taxes on cooking fuels -- Role of the world bank groups : policies and operations since the 1970s, Sustainable production and use of woodfuels, renewable energy, Project innovations and advisory services,Energy sector reforms -- World bank lending to rural and renewable energy projects fiscal 1980-95 : rural electrification projects, renewable energy projects, Fuelwood-related projects, World bank lending to rural and renewable energy