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Energy Poverty Affects Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub_Saharan_Africa_Energy_Poverty
Lack of electricity is more than just an inconvenience—it is life-threatening. Two out of every three people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia comprise 95 percent of all people without electricity. While this region hosts only 13 percent of the entire world’s population, at least 48 percent of sub-Saharan Africans make up the total population of people without electricity globally. The already at-risk economies continue to fail due to the lack of electricity affecting health and education. Thirty percent of all schools and health centers are without electricity.  Without proper health and education, the chances of escaping poverty are slim to none.

“Energy plays a big role in this: from mass communications to the refrigeration of vaccines,” says Richard Bridle, an energy analyst with the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative. “We don’t usually talk about how the global economy will benefit because that isn’t the key motivation, though economic growth will certainly benefit if we enhance health, education, clean water, sanitation, heating, transport, cooking add communication services.”

Some argue that putting more investment in infrastructure would fix the issue, but this notion has proven itself to be easier said than done. “Infrastructure can only be deployed and operated in a financially sustainable electricity sector that can recover costs, make investments, provide reliable electricity and meet social and environmental obligations,” explains Bridle. “So, really, it is the lack of a viable electricity sector that is the key gap.”

The funding needed to give sub-Saharan Africa electricity by 2030 is reportedly an enormous amount that affected nations would have to pay themselves. The best shot at fixing this is outside support, which is why many are eagerly waiting to hear about the 2015 version of the U.S.’s Electrify Africa Act. This bill would ensure progress on the issue.

“Energy poverty matters for the same reason that poverty matters,” Bridle says. “We have a duty to ensure that those less well-off then ourselves have access to a good standard of living and equal opportunities.”

– Melissa Binns

Sources: Fuel Fix, World Finance
Photo: United Nations Foundation

5 Facts About Energy Poverty

Energy Poverty
Energy poverty is an issue that is little known by people around the world. Many people assume that poverty only means lacking money or food, but it also means cooking and living with very primitive energy sources, which could be even deadlier than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. If nothing is done by 2030 about the energy poverty crisis, 4,000 people could die each day of the toxic smoke and fires from primitive, unsafe stoves. Also, there are a few surprising facts about energy poverty that many people may not know.

1. There has been a tremendous amount of progress in delivering safe energy to people who need it, but it makes little difference. From 1990 to 2010, 1.7 billion gained access to electricity, and an additional 1.6 billion gained cleaner cooking fuels. But because the population grew by 1.6 billion during those years, there were still billions without safe energy.

2. It’s the quickly-developing countries that have the biggest energy problem. India is the fastest country to get her people access to electricity, and China has the most efficient energy on the planet, yet both countries have millions of people without electricity and other forms of safe energy.

3. About 3.5 million people each year die from indoor pollution caused by the smoke when cooking on wood and biomass cookstoves. Cookstove smoke is considered by some to be the largest environmental threat because it kills more than malaria (1.2 million) and HIV/AIDS (1.5 million) each year.

4. Countries with the most energy have people with the least. Nigeria produces the highest quantity of oil in Africa, yet it has the second highest number of people without safe energy in the world (behind India).

5. Renewable resources are currently not enough to provide safe energy across the world. The UN’s Sustainable Energy For All programs rely on creating more energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, to provide energy without polluting the earth, but renewable energy only accounts for less than 1% of the world’s energy consumption.

– Katie Brockman

Source National Geographic, National Geographic