EUGENE, Oregon — From waking up with an alarm clock to showering with hot water at night, energy access plays a central role in everyday life. A life without energy, a TV, refrigerator or even lights is hard to imagine for many in developed countries, yet this is the reality for 940 million global citizens. Roughly 13% of the global population lacks access to energy resources. Energy deprivation inhibits growth out of poverty as energy is vital to living a healthy, prosperous life. Through two main facets, education and health, increasing energy access combats global poverty.
Empowering Future Workers
Energy access facilitates growth out of poverty by empowering people to pursue education. For people living without electricity, household tasks are laborious and time-intensive. Chores such as washing, cooking and cleaning can take hours, leaving little free time for houseworkers to do anything more. Access to energy eases this time constraint by simplifying these tasks. For example, cooking on a stove is far less time-intensive than building a fire to cook food.
This newfound free time allows people to pursue careers, attend school and participate in their communities. For young girls tasked with caring for the household, the ability to access an education and pursue a career allows them to break down societal barriers and lift themselves out of poverty. Even when able to attend school, energy deprivation impedes the chance for scholastic success. With other responsibilities to fulfill during the daylight hours, a lack of lighting at night makes completing homework and studying nearly impossible for many. Energy access allows students to participate fully in school by ensuring they can study even after the sun goes down. By empowering new students and fostering scholastic success, energy access allows for a future of educated workers who can pursue high-income work.
Strengthening the Health of Communities
Energy access decreases the risk of illness. Households with energy are able to control temperatures, clean their air and maintain healthy humidity levels. This control of harmful conditions reduces the risk of ill health. Of most importance is air quality control as the World Health Organization estimates that three million people die from the effects of air pollution each year. While energy access reduces the risk of illness, diseases and health conditions affect everyone. For this reason, access to quality healthcare facilities is vital to ensuring long-term health and well-being.
Unfortunately, energy deprivation threatens many such facilities. Energy access and poverty in healthcare facilities are particularly worrisome in sub-Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of the world’s most extremely impoverished people. In sub-Saharan Africa, only about 28% of healthcare facilities have reliable energy access. Lack of electricity prevents the use of many life-saving tools, including dialysis equipment, heart rate monitors and sanitation equipment. To ensure safe, complete care, a power source is necessary for healthcare facilities.
While energy access and poverty are heavily linked, not all forms of energy enhance human health and prosperity. The use of solid fuels, coal and biomass pose extreme health risks to the workers who harvest them, the families who use them and the global population at large. These fuel types can pollute the air, contributing to climate change and damaging the lungs of people breathing in the contaminated air. To replace these dangerous fuels, there are renewable forms of energy that pose little to no health risk when managed properly. One such fuel is solar energy, used by many energy-based nonprofits.
Litro de Luz
A Brazilian nonprofit, Litro de Luz, is creating sustainable lighting for impoverished areas throughout the world. Litro de Luz is one of many organizations pioneering clean energy for those suffering due to inadequate energy access and poverty. Established in 2012, the organization has already installed more than 1.25 million lamps and lamp posts in 15 countries.
Thanks to the work of organizations such as Litro de Luz, the number of people without access to energy has dropped from 22% in 2000 to 13% in 2021. Progress is possible, but, to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for everyone, continued work is necessary to light up the world.
– Haylee Ann Ramsey-Code
Photo: Flickr