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Energy Poverty

Sara Wolcott | Tuesday 13th October 2009

The other day when listening to policy-wonks in the UK government warn of 'energy poverty' I was surprised. I've worked on 'energy poverty' before - but in Africa, not the UK. I had to chuckle: I'm always amused when ideas and realities that I associate with international development crop up in British-and-American-speak. Given my ongoing desire to see all countries recognize themselves as 'developing' (and rid themselves of the hubris and the inaccuracy that comes with seeing themselves as fully 'developed' - ridiculous notion, and no aid to sustainable development), I was partly pleased, in an, 'I told you so' kinda way. But only partly. Because energy poverty is no laughing matter.

What is energy poverty? Let's see. Why? Because energy is critical, more critical than we often realize. It's up there with water in terms of how essential it is - not least, because energy is what enables us to get water.

Energy poverty is when you don't have enough energy to meet your basic needs, or you don't get your energy from a 'modern energy system' (ie, you burn wood to make your tea in the morning). Which is about 1.6 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 2.4 billion use wood or other forms of biomass (like cow dung). Despite all the 'bads' associated with burning biomass (bad for health, takes up a lot of time to gather wood, unfair burden on women and children, etc.), I'm not preaching an end-to-biomass as a source of fuel (though some will say sustainable D. requires it).

But the thing about energy poverty that we often don't realize is just how bad it is - most people in the North know, or at least have heard about, the hours and hours that it takes to gather firewood to cook food. They forget that what that also means is there isn't much electricity and not many (or very poor quality) batteries - which means no laptops, difficulty in irrigation, running medical equipment, teaching students, charging cell phones, keeping shops open. Education, health, business, long-distance communication - its all effected by energy. In the UK, it might mean not being able to pay your heating bill. So for many, energy poverty is the same as poverty. Solutions? Lots of them, and many of them are renewable and work best when managed by locals for locals - no surprise in sustainable development. But they can be expensive. More on that next time.

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