Description
Incredibly, close to one-quarter of humanity lives without electricity or other modern forms of energy, while as many as one-third of the world's population relies (at least in part) on traditional biofuels, such as cow dung or firewood, at great cost to its health, security, and economic welfare. Although these stark facts have only recently been fully acknowledged, energy deprivation is a major obstacle to development efforts around the world, especiallythough not exclusivelyin the Bottom Billion' economies of sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia. Indeed, sustainable development cannot succeed without a robust energy-access component. Furthermore, this is not just a ghastly problem for the poor, but rather a global concern. Energy deprivation is a leading contributor to disease epidemics, social discontent, political unrest, and environmental instabilityit gravely threatens the energy-haves' as well as the have-nots'.
Research in and around energy, poverty, and deve
