People Power

TWAS Supplement to Nature Publishing Group PRESSURE POINT People Power Dilip Ahuja Five ways to enable two billion people to turn on the lights, listen to the radio and pump drinking water. he world has faced energy crises before, community activities such as rural clinics and low cost. The WHO estimates that exposure T but none like the one confronting us today. An overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels is posing grave consequences for the Earth’s schools, can be provided for with an average of just 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) per person per year (excluding cooking and transportation). to indoor pollution from the use of fuels like wood and dung causes as many as 1.6 million deaths annually worldwide, primarily among climate. At the same time, a large fraction of the Supplying this level of basic electricity to the women and young children. Furthermore, world’s population — over 2 billion people, by 1.6 billion people worldwide who lack it would gathering fuel can cause local environmental some estimates — still lacks access to at least increase global demand by about 80 billion degradation. one form of basic energy supply such as electricity, kWh per year. That is just 0.5% of global annual The second recommendation is to promote clean cooking fuel or adequate transportation. electricity production. energy efficiency. At first blush it seems How can governments help to meet the needs of While providing safe, reliable and affordable insensitive to recommend energy conservation these people while making the transition to clean, energy supplies to people, particularly in rural for countries that consume so little by global low-carbon energy supplies? areas, is important, any new energy supplies standards. Yet small, incremental improve- People in the developing world currently should also be clean, low-carbon and sustain- ments in efficiency over time can deliver consume on average one-sixth of the primary able. enormous benefits by making economies energy of those living in Organization for The environmental challenge is more complex. less wasteful, more productive and more Economic Co-operation and Development Emissions from power plants, automobiles, heavy competitive. (OECD) countries (primary energy is an original equipment and industry have led to levels of air The third task is to reform energy subsidies. form of energy before refinement or conversion pollution that routinely exceed the health thresh- Subsidies for fossil fuels still amount to to another form). olds set by the World Health Organization (WHO). several tens of billions of dollars in developing The quality of life for many poor households Indoor air pollution from traditional fuels used for countries. The justification usually offered is could be greatly improved with a level of cooking and heating exposes billions of people that they help the needy. Wealthier households energy consumption far below the average of an to significant cardiovascular and respiratory that consume more tend to benefit the most. industrialized country. For many people, access health risks. While greenhouse-gas emissions Subsidies also undermine attempts to make to only a modest amount of electricity means that from developed countries play an overwhelmingly energy supplies sustainable by distorting the they will be able to pump drinking water, listen to greater role in climate change, the burdens of market and encouraging inefficient levels of the radio and read at night. global warming are likely to fall disproportionately consumption. Basic household services, along with on developing countries. Their participation in ef- One area where subsidies might be forts to de-carbonize the world’s energy systems necessary is in developing renewable energy is essential as a matter of self-interest and for the resources — the fourth priority for developing sake of the planet. countries. Many developing countries hold great Of the various technologies likely to play opportunities for renewable energy, but in most a role in a low-carbon future, renewable cases government support will be needed to sources are particularly relevant to develop- make the best of them. ing countries because they are well suited The fifth recommendation is that developing to rural areas where access to the grid is nations seek support from developed countries often prohibitively expensive. Most forms of for the transfer of advanced energy technologies. renewable energy have become substantially One potentially promising approach would be cheaper in recent decades. In the early 1990s, to develop regional institutes that could provide for example, only hydropower could compete training in basic skills to local organizations as with conventional plants. Since then, wind well as independent assessments of alternative and geothermal power have become competi- technologies. tive. Solar photovoltaic technology remains For developing countries, the job of expensive but can compete in places the grid transforming their energy systems is in many cannot reach. It is likely that the cost of all ways more difficult than for developed countries. renewable technologies will drop significantly Yet they also have some advantages. They over the next decade given the rate at which can learn from the past experience of others this market is expanding. and, in some cases, can leapfrog directly to The challenge for developing countries is cleaner, more efficient technologies. Much will clear. Yet what can they do to meet it? Five depend on the extent to which developing and basic recommendations could help developing developed countries work together on this countries shift to a path of sustainable energy challenge. When it comes to energy, we are production. ultimately bound by the same fate. Sharing that The first is to accelerate the transition from fate in ways that benefit us all is in everyone’s traditional cooking methods to the use of interest. ■ clean, efficient cook stoves. This might seem like a narrow objective, but it is worth singling Dilip Ahuja is the ISRO professor of science and tech- out because improved cook stoves offer enor- nology policy at the National Institute of Advanced mous health and welfare benefits at relatively Studies (NIAS) in Bangalore, India. 25