The 2^nd National Round Table Forum on “Linking Energy Efficiency and Stakeholders’ Daily Activities” was held on March 29^th and 30^th at Adrian Mkoba Secondary School in Morogoro, in the framework of the ACP S&T project ENRICH & the Edulink project SUCCEED Network.

The aim of the event was to bring together representatives of the Energy Industry with end-users (in this case professors and students from a local secondary school), with the University of Mzumbe staff acting as intermediaries, to exchange ideas and discuss energy issues at in energy accessibility and efficiency.

The specific objectives of the National Round Table were to:

• Discuss and understand energy users (stakeholders) awareness about various energy sources used for social-economic activities and mainly their benefit-costs of one source used over the other.
• Discuss challenges and opportunities in energy access and efficiency in Tanzania.
• Discuss the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) support on energy access and efficiency mainly role played by Universities in Tanzania.
• Understand the link between TANESCO and suppliers of other energy sources e.g., solar PV, LPG, wind etc.

The participants agreed that the discussion provided key points in the areas of improving access and use of energy efficient appliances that are generally up to the end user to decide on.

                    Photo: participants in the Round Table at the Adrian Mkoba Secondary School

Of particular interest was the fact that the students indicated a moderate awareness about different energy sources, although they wondered what it had to do with them and why they should be discussing energy efficiency in the school since the energy bill is paid for by the school and not students’ parents or guardians. This provoked more discussion among the participants and the answer was provided looking at the energy value chain. Students were made to understand that if they do not use lights in school with an understanding on energy efficiency then the school’s energy utilization bill will go up, and this in turn might lead to the school administration increasing the school fees and then if parents fail to pay for their increased school fee consequently the students wouldn’t be able to continue with schooling. As a result, students as energy users called for a broader discussion if possible through different forums that will involve villagers and village leaders so as to have a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities of energy access and efficiency in Tanzania.

The full Report of the Round Table “Linking Energy Efficiency and Stakeholders’ Daily Activities” is available on our website.