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The book analyzes energy technologies, business models and policies to promote sustainable development. It proposes a set of recommendations for further activities and networking on access to energy and renewable energies and promotes an integrated approach to sustainable resource management. The book discusses access to energy, as a precondition for socio-economic progress. It depicts the global dimension of the challenge in terms of access to electricity and other forms of energy in developing countries. The three main interlinked topics related to energy and sustainable growth are separately discussed: appropriate technologies for modern energy services, business models for the development of new energy markets, and policies to support new energy systems. The description of activities and programmes of some public and private Italian stakeholders is also included.

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Renewable Energies to Promote Local Development.- Global Dimension of Universal Access to Energy.- Modern Energies Services for Cooking: from Improved Cook-Stoves to Domestic and Community Biogas Based Systems.- Distributed Generation for Access to Electricity: ´´Off-Main-Grid´´ Systems from Home-Based to Microgrid.- Grid Connected Systems for Access to Electricity: From Microgrid to Grid Extension.- Technologies for Power Generation in Rural Contexts.- End Use Application: The Case of Solar Thermal Systems.- Energy and Sustainable Economic Development.- Financing Energy Access.- Integrating the Social Dimension into New Business Models for Energy Access.- Enabling Environment for Promoting Energy as an Income Opportunity.- Energy Policy Design for Low and Middle Income Countries: From Best Practices to ´Next´ Practices.- The Vision of Public Donors.- The Contribution of Civil Society.- The Role of Academia for Sustainable Development.- The Mandate of the Association of Producers.- The Contribution of Multinational Companies: Eni Corporate, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.- The Enabling Electricity Programme: Enel Vision and the Role of Enel Foundation.

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Emanuela Colombo is Associate Professor in Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics and Energetic at Politecnico di Milano. She is also Rector´s Delegate to the international relationship with Africa and to Cooperation and Development at Politecnico di Milano.

Stefano Bologna is the Director of the International Centre for Science and High Technology (ICS) of United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which focuses on scientific and technical capacity building of developing countries particularly in the areas of renewable energies and utilization of bio-resources.

Diego Masera is the Chief of the Renewable and Rural Energy Unit at UNIDO, where he coordinates the Organization´s global portfolio of Renewable Energy.

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