MITIGATING ENERGY POVERTY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

By Daniel Adams

Many developing countries face many challenges in regards to increased energy access and affordability. Energy provides services to meet basic human needs in areas such as modern health care, education, the commercial and industrial sector.

There is a direct link between absence of adequate energy and many poverty indicators such as mortality, illiteracy and life expectancy. About 1.6 billion people living in developing countries lack access to adequate energy services. 80% of them live in the rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The use of cleaner energy forms e.g. renewables will help in mitigating energy poverty. Renewable energy has an important role to play in the global energy mix.

According to IAEA Energy and poverty (2002) renewable energy sources is expected to grow faster than any other energy source. Also many OECD countries are promoting renewable based power generation. Energy poverty reduces the productivity of a country and affects the total GDP of a State, hindering growth and development. Some reasons why this unsatisfactory situation persist is due to certain challenges: Financial barrier, Affordability, Political will, Institutional strength, Awareness, Physical distance of the electric grid to the rural areas and finally Decision making on the part of the consumers. Reduced energy poverty will generate positive externalities such as improved standard of living, general economic development through SME’s and reduction of pollution to the environment. Energy enhances level of economic well being and increases the welfare of citizens within a state. A recent initiative at addressing poverty worldwide came from the millennium development initiative which addressed some goals that need to be met for poverty to be reduced especially in the area of modern health facilities, education and the environment as a whole. The millennium development goals clearly points out that to mitigate poverty, energy issues must be addressed. This research aims to propose ways for mitigating energy poverty in developing countries by addressing the barriers to achieving adequate access to clean energy, adopting some of the Millennium Development Goals and also adopting regional policies aimed at addressing this issue. Countries that have been able to achieve success in reducing energy poverty will be examined along with those countries which are yet to achieve this goal.

THE ROLE OF ENERGY AND ACCESS

Energy contributes to general welfare in certain ways. This could either be a negative or positive contribution e.g. the use of animal dung, plant residue or the burning of fire wood pollutes the environment and causes health hazards. Using more modern fuels E.g. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) can help to mitigate the negative effect of using traditional energy forms. The time spent in gathering fired wood can be spent on doing other productive things in the community which will help in human and societal development. Using electricity contributes to educational and medical achievements. It also contributes to economic productivity especially in the area of electricity, heating, lighting and energy for cooking. 

Table 1: Electricity access in 2009 - Regional aggregates
	Population without electricity million	Electrification rate %	Urban electrification rate %	Rural electrification rate %
Africa	587	41.9	68.9	25.0
North Africa	2	99.0	99.6	98.4
Sub-Saharan Africa	585	30.5	59.9	14.3
Developing Asia	799	78.1	93.9	68.8
China & East Asia	186	90.8	96.4	86.5
South Asia	612	62.2	89.1	51.2
Latin America	31	93.4	98.8	74.0
Middle East	22	89.5	98.6	72.2
Developing countries	1,438	73.0	90.7	60.2
Transition economies & OECD	3	99.8	100.0	99.5
World	1,441	78.9	93.6	65.1

Source: IEA World Energy Outlook, 2010.

The table above shows Global electricity access as at 2009.

Energy poverty differs according to region. In most sub-Saharan African countries it is as a result of lack of energy infrastructure and inadequate access. In southern Asia and South America it is mostly due to inability to afford the utility. In most developing countries they make use of poor lighting systems like lanterns and candles. This is very inefficient and contributes to health hazards. While in developed countries the use of electric bulbs and rechargeable lanterns is the norm. According to IEA world Energy Outlook, (2010)[1] About 2.6 billion people rely on traditional biomass for cooking. To get this biomass, the local people in developing countries have to travel long journeys to cut and gather wood to burn for cooking. The use of biomass is inefficient and risky health wise.

According to IEA (2002) about 27 percent of the world’s population lacked electricity access in the year 2000. About one half of this population resides in south Asia, 30 percent live in sub-Saharan Africa and 15 percent are in the Eastern Asian region.

These 3 regions represent about 60 percent of the world’s population and their GDP put together was about 8 percent of Global GDP. This shows an extreme level of inconsistency in the use of energy resources. About 2.39 billion people make use of biomass for heating and cooking in developing countries.

Table 2: Details of traditional energy use in developing countries

Country	Population using biomass (Million)	% of total population	Biomass energy consumption (Mtoe)	Share of biomass in PES	Share of biomass in residential energy demand
China	706	56%	213	18%	72%
Indonesia	155	74%	47	32%	73%
Rest of East Asia	137	37%	62	16%	74%
India	585	58%	198	40%	84%
Rest of South Asia	128	41%	43	44%	84%
Latin America	96	23%	80		44%
North Africa/ Middle East	8	0.05%			10%
Sub-Saharan Africa	575	89%	254	51%	93%

Note: PES – Primary energy supply. Source: IEA (2002)Note: PES – Primary energy supply. Source: IEA (2002)

Energy cannot single handedly make the economy of a country better, but it is very necessary. It will be difficult to run factories or businesses without using energy. Electricity access is very crucial for human development. For example in the use of many basic amenities such as application of house hold appliances, lighting, and refrigeration. It is important to note that it cannot be replaced by other energy forms.

Most Governments of developing countries are highly concerned about electricity and it is at the forefront of their preoccupations. This has made them to embark on a lot of rural electrification programs to monitor and assess the status of rural electrification and development.

Fig 1

 Source: World Energy Outlook, 2009.

The access to modern fuel is usually limited in Sub- Saharan Africa where 83% of the population lacks access to modern fuels while 91% in less developed countries also lack access. Only 31% of the population in Sub- Saharan Africa has access to electricity as at today. Access to improved cooking stoves is also very limited. The use of dung and charcoal for cooking is usually the norm in rural areas than in urban areas. While about 70% of people in the urban areas make use of modern fuels. E.g. gas (UNDP 2009)

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND ENERGY ACCESS

The millennium development goals were set in the year 2000 by the 192 United Nations member states and 23 international organisations. It comprises of 8 international development goals that should be achieved by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals can be achieved by providing good energy polices and clean electricity. This will help to enhance sustainable economic and social development. It is funded by Governments, businesses, foundations and NGOs

Some of these goals are stated below:

-          To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: better access to modern energy will enhance industrial activities, aid the transport sector and help modernize the agricultural sector. Modern energy will help to ensure better preservation of agriculture products and efficient cooking. It will also provide food and jobs for poor people.

-          To Achieve universal primary education: the MDGs will help to ensure that modern energy access will lead to good educational facilities such as efficient electricity in schools and homes to enable students read with the proper lighting system especially to study at night and to ensure that all children have access to primary education by 2015.

-          To ensure environmental sustainability: the production and distribution of energy in many developing countries especially Africa has negative effects on the global environment as well as the local environment. Therefore cleaner energy is needed to ensure sustainability of the environment.

-          To develop a global partnership for development: this aims at providing affordable and reliable energy services which will be environmentally sustainable.

-          To promote gender equality and empower women:  in developing countries most house hold activities are done by women. Access to modern energy can make this work easier and help to save time which can diverted at other activities which will generate income.

NUTSHELL

This article aims to propose ways for mitigating energy poverty in developing countries. In order to do this, Daniel addresses the barriers to achieving adequate access to clean energy, adopting some of the Millennium Development Goals and also adopting regional policies aimed at addressing this issue. This is the first installment of this educating article. Read, Learn, Share and Discuss!!!

[1] IEA world Energy Outlook, (2010)