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Wednesday, May 20th, 2015

World Bank: One in Seven People Still Live Without Electricity

Author:     Megan Rowling
Source:     Reuters
Publication Date:     19 May 2014
 Link: World Bank: One in Seven People Still Live Without Electricity
Stephan:   Perhaps because electricity seems a given in the world of everyone reading this, we don't fully comprehend how spotty the 21st century technology actually is around the world.  For instance, as this article points out,  nearly 15 per cent of humanity lives without electricity. One of the great benefits of leaving the carbon age will be that solar installations are going to become so reasonable that one way or another the entirety 0f humanity will have electricity, thus light, connectivity, and water pumps. And many countries will skip the entire grid-based monopolistic utility financial model in favor of a dispersed local, regional or personal source. It will produce an existential shift in world consciousness.
Students in the village of Tahipur in Bihar used kerosene lanterns for studying. Credit: opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

Students in the village of Tahipur in Bihar used kerosene lanterns for studying.
Credit: opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com

BARCELONA — Around one in seven people across the globe still live without electricity, despite some progress in expanding access, and nearly three billion cook using polluting fuels, the World Bank said on Monday. (emphasis added)

The global electrification rate rose to 85 percent in 2012 from 83 percent in 2010, pushing the number of people without access to electric power down to 1.1 billion from 1.2 billion.

India made significant advances, but progress in sub-Saharan Africa was far too slow, said a report tracking the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative, launched by the U.N. Secretary-General in 2011.

Almost no headway was made in switching people from biomass cooking fuels such as kerosene, wood and dung, the report added.

“We are heading in the right direction to end energy poverty, but we are still far from the finish line,” said Anita Marangoly George, a senior director for energy […]

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