More billions needed for universal electrification

Despite massive gains in global access to electricity over the last two decades, governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute.

Between 1990 and 2008, close to 2 billion people worldwide gained access to electricity. But the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that more than 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity, while the United Nations estimates that another 1 billion have unreliable access.

At least 2.7 billion people, and possibly more than 3 billion, lack access to modern fuels for cooking and heating. They rely instead on traditional biomass sources, such as firewood, charcoal, manure, and crop residues, that can emit harmful indoor air pollutants when burned. These pollutants cause nearly 2 million premature deaths worldwide each year, an estimated 44 percent of them in children.

“As new approaches to electrification evolve—ones that don’t rely on expensive regional or national grids but rather a diversity of locally available energy resources—we can begin to reach for the goal of access to electricity for all, rural as well as urban,” said Worldwatch President Robert Engelman.

Between 2010 and 2030, an average of $14 billion will be spent annually, mostly on urban grid connections. But this projected funding will likely still leave 1 billion people, largely those who live in the most remote areas of developing countries, without electricity. Average annual investments will need to rise to $48 billion to provide universal modern energy access, the IEA reports.

It is perhaps the biggest irony that developed parts of the world sees newer gadgets and appliances drawing electricity to bring more and more comfort to lives while a large population remains still struggling with basic energy sources for their basic needs! Will the gap be bridged??