Energy, Environment, and Social Development: What If You Had No Modern Energy? The Realities of Solving Energy Poverty

Abstract

President's column Hurricane Harvey gave many SPE members in Houston at least a few days’ experience of life without electricity. Most of us find it hard to imagine what life would be like without the access to energy that we take for granted—the flip of a light switch, heating something in the microwave, or climate control in our homes. Yet nearly 1 billion people on our planet go through their days without electric lights, refrigeration, heating/cooling, clean fuel for cooking food indoors, and more. Those who rely on wood, peat, or dung for cooking spend hours each day gathering fuel. The gatherers are often the women and children, precluding their access to education and other opportunities. Use of kerosene for lighting has been linked to lung cancer, pneumonia, heart disease, and other health problems. Lamps are easily knocked over and start fires. A lack of access to electricity has ripple effects across many aspects of people’s lives, health, and safety. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that in 2017 more than 120 million people worldwide gained access to electricity, causing the total number of people without access to fall below 1 billion for the first time ever. IEA is expecting this reduction in energy poverty to double when 2018 data are available. The United Nations is targeting zero energy poverty by 2030. The gains during 2017 are largely attributable to a significant government effort in India to bring electricity to all of its villages and progress in a few African countries. Despite these gains, more than 55% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and around 9% of those in Asia still lack access to the benefits of electricity. In 15 African countries, the percentage of the population without access to electricity is 75% or more. Where did the electricity for those 120 million new consumers come from? Since 2000, according to IEA, 26% of this additional access to electricity has come from natural gas, and to a lesser extent, oil. Another 45% has come from coal (commonly used for electricity in India). Since 2012, renewables have grown in the mix and now constitute 34% of new electric connections in developing areas, led by solar power. Those who argue we should stop using all fossil fuels immediately may not realize that they would be limiting the opportunity of those without power to improve their standard of living. Progress on ensuring access to clean fuels for cooking has been much slower. IEA estimates that 2.8 billion people lack access to modern cooking fuels, virtually unchanged from 2000. China and Indonesia have made progress through policies encouraging use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, and electricity for cooking. IEA reports that 2.5 billion people cook with traditional biomass sources, while another 120 million use kerosene and 170 million use coal for cooking. Natural gas, LPG, and natural gas liquids have the potential for replacing these sources, with significant environmental and health benefits as well.