Bioenergy for Sustainable Development in Africa

The work builds on the results of the COMPETE Bioenergy Competence Platform for Africa, which was supported by the European Commission and coordinated by WIP Renewable Energies, Germany. The five sections cover biomass production and use, biomass technologies and markets in Africa, biomass policies, sustainability, and financial and socio-economic issues. This valuable work is, in effect, a single-source treatment of a key energy sector in a part of the world which still has a lot of unrealised potential for development.


Rainer Janssen graduated in Physics (Dr. rer.nat.) at the Technical University of Munich, Walter Schottky Institute, Germany and performed studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is Head of the Biomass Department at WIP Renewable Energies and Senior Expert in the Biomass field. He is involved in the production, distribution and market penetration of bioenergy (solid biomass, biogas) and biofuels for transport (e.g. bioethanol, biodiesel, vegetable oil) with special emphasis on the development of supportive framework conditions and policy regulations in the EU, Latin America, Africa and other emerging economies.
Since 2000, Dr. Janssen is involved in the coordination of a variety of international and European projects. Recent projects include the FP7 project Global-Bio-Pact focussing on socio-economic impacts of biomass and bioproducts on a global level, the FP7 project BioTop on biofuels assessment on technical opportunities and research needs for Latin America, and the international competence platform COMPETE (FP6) on the sustainable use of energy crops and agro-forestry systems in Africa.
In recent years, Dr. Janssen was invited expert in the field of bioenergy for the European Commission (DG RTD, DG TREN), IEA (International Energy Agengy) Bioenergy, and the GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit). Since 2009, Dr. Janssen is member of working group 4 on 'Sustainability' of the European Biofuels Technology Platform and member of working group 4 on 'Market & Policies Development' within the Biomass Panel of the European Technology Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling.
 
Dominik Rutz graduated in Environmental Science (Dipl.-Ing.) and Consumer Science (M.Sc.) at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and the Institut National d'Horticulture, France. He is Senior Expert at WIP Renewable Energies and his main field of experience includes market support and international cooperation on bioenergy in developing countries and emerging economies worldwide.
Mr. Rutz coordinated the European Union supported projects BioTop (Biofuels Assessment on Technical Opportunities and Research Needs for Latin America), Global-Bio-Pact (Global Assessment of Biomass and Bioproduct Impacts on Socio-economics and Sustainability), BiG>East (Biogas for Eastern Europe) and UrbanBiogas (Urban Waste for Biogas Production). He is author of three handbooks on biogas, liquid biofuels, and biomass heating systems, and furthermore invited expert and lecturer e.g. for a course on 2nd generation biofuels at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and REMBIO (Red Mexicana de Bioenergía).
While travelling to more than 40 countries worldwide and stimulated by his diploma thesis on vegetation ecology in the Okavango Delta in Botswana in 2004, his main fascination is dedicated to the beauty of nature and cultural spirit of the African continent. Nature conservation on the one hand and social equity on the other hand are the main drivers for his engagement in decentralised renewable energy supply. Thereby his interest goes far beyond the bioenergy field, towards a holistic and sustainable energy system.