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Page added on January 18, 2011
1.6 bn people still have no access to electricity
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in an address to the Fourth World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi that energy provisions can help fight poverty and improve health care services as part of the Millennium Development Goals for the developing world.
‘Our challenge is transformation,’ Ban said. ‘We need a global clean energy revolution – a revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all,’ he said.
An energy revolution would entail cutting back dependence on fossil fuels, minimizing climate change, and empowering people to take care of their lives and improve the world economy, he said.
Energy consumption is expected to increase by 40 percent over the next 20 years, mostly in developing countries where billions of people still rely on the traditional biomass fuels for cooking, heating and other basic daily needs, Ban said.
The use of biomass fuels and coal in poor regions of the world has resulted in indoor air pollution, which kills an estimated two million people a year, most of them women and children. That death toll is twice the number of malaria-related deaths worldwide.
Biomass fuels and coal are traditional energy commodities for some three billion people out of the world population of 6.8 billion.
The UN praised Abu Dhabi authorities for their Masdar Initiative, which is a project showcasing a sustainable and clean-energy future in the city of Masdar. The UAE government funded the project to transform Masdar into a green community.
One Comment on "1.6 bn people still have no access to electricity"
Kenz300 on Thu, 20th Jan 2011 12:40 am
Small scale wind, solar, geothermal and second generation biofuels can provide distributed energy for remote areas.
China is investing billions in wind and solar power manufacturing capacity and their investments will bring the unit cost down. They want to be leaders in the energy systems of the future and are investing to make that happen. Their wind capacity has doubled in each of the last 4 years and continues to grow very rapidly.
LCD TV’s very very expensive just a few years ago but with massive investments in plants and equipment they are now commodities and the priced has dropped.
The wind and solar capacity being added in China is already causing a price drop in the unit cost of production making them more competitive with oil and coal for energy.