Professional Documents
Culture Documents
andEnergy Poverty
in Africa
ENERGY
FOR
ALL
2030
Author:
Teodoro Sanchez,
teo.sanchez@practicalaction.org.uk
Energy Technology Advisor,
Practical Action
February 2010
European Comission
External Cooperation
Programmes
Abstract
CONTENTS
1. Energy a human need
2. Energy needs and energy consumption ofthe
poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
3. Affordability and unequal opportunities on
energy access
4. Climate change and appropriate energy options
for the poor
5. The moral responsibility of rich countries
6. Case Study: Promotion of LPG for cooking in Al
Fasher, Darfur, Sudan
7. Conclusions
8. Practical Action
9. References
Disclaimer
This document has been produced with the financial assistance
oftheEuropean Union. The contents of this document are the sole
responsibility ofPractical Action and can under no circumstances be regarded
as reflecting the position of the European Union.
01.
02.
The quantity of energy required to meet all the MDGs for an individual or
group depends on a range of factors; the physical environment where they live
(people living in warm regions will require little or no space heating compared
to those living cold regions); the type of activities that the poor engage in to
make a living (farming, fishing, business, etc); the physical capital that they
possess, for example subsistence farmers may require energy only for cooking
and lighting while farmers with more land may see opportunities for adding
value to their harvest by transforming their products to sale at a better price in
the markets. The priorities that each individual or groups put on its needs in
most cases those priorities are associated to social or cultural issues.
During the last two decades there have been several studies to determine
the energy consumption of the poor, in order to have a clearer idea of what
it would take to provide energy for all, and the policy and financing requirements to make that possible. Most literature references, surveys, case studies, impact assessments, etc (see Kaufman et al., 2000; World Bank, 2001;
ESMAP[5], University of Cape Town[6], others) agree that the amount of energy
required/consumed by the poor is small; the electricity consumption of families in rural villages or in peri-urban settlements range from about 10kWh/
month to 50 kWh/month, and its growth is very small with time, partly
because the opportunities to engage in productive or transformative activities
are limited. Regarding cooking fuels, literature shows that the amount of clean
cooking fuel required to displace these solid fuels is modest and is estimated
to be about 35 kg of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) per person per year[7].
From the above figures, the present electricity requirement to provide this
service to the 585 million without electricity in Sub-Saharan African Countries amounts to 70.2 billion kWh per year, this represents only 0.43% of the
total electricity consumed worldwide (16,378 Billion kWh[8]), however comparing this with the total consumption in Africa the requirement is significant
(12.8%). Similarly the requirements of modern fuels for cooking (assuming
that 90% of the population that presently cook with solid biomass switch
to LPG); it will require 29.4 million tons of LPG, which is about 13% of the
total consumption of LPG worldwide (2006 the total consumption of LPG
worldwide was 223 million tons)[9].
03.
The most common strategy used by the poor to cope with their energy needs
is to find the cheapest option; however that strategy does not always work for
all; for example in many cases people living in peri-urban areas cannot buy
subsidised LPG simply because they do not have money to pay the upfront
cost of the cookers (or cylinders in the case of LPG) and consequently have to
cook with charcoal or wood fuel paying more to do the same. A study carried
out by Practical Action in Al Fasher, Darfur, in Sudan revealed that people
kept cooking with wood and charcoal despite the fact that the cost of wood
and charcoal was three times higher than LPG, simply because they could not
afford to purchase gas cookers and cylinders, instead they had to buy a few kg
of charcoal or wood on a daily basis (see case study).
Most rural inhabitants cook with costless biomass resources such as agricultural residues, dung and wood (other than the cost of the time taken to
collect it), however in some cases the poorest and those that are landless have
to make greater effort to collect cooking fuels because of the longer distances
to access community forests. The shortage of wood fuels for the poor also
sometimes ends up affecting the quantity and/or quality of food eaten. It is
often the case that, the poorer the family is, the smaller the agricultural land
that they own and consequently the less access to cooking fuels it has. Therefore the poorest families generally have to invest more time to collect fuels for
cooking, or they have to cook for reduce the number of meals during the day.
People with access to electricity are more likely to use it for lighting, however
in many cases costs or unsuitable billing may be the main constraint; for
example when a grid is extended into poor peri-urban or rural areas, in many
cases households are disconnected soon after because people cannot afford
to pay a regular monthly bill, simply because they have no regular monthly
income. Those without access to electricity use a range of energy sources for
lighting, kerosene, wax candles, dry and wet batteries, all of these resources
are generally used through inefficient technologies, therefore people end up
expending a significant proportion of the family budget.
03.
04.
According to the World Energy Assessment Overview 2004 Update (Johansson and Goldenberg, 2004), 82% of anthropogenic carbon emissions come
from energy-related activities and the other 18% derive from activities that
include agriculture, deforestation, savannah burning, forest burning, agricultural residues and other uncontrolled burning.
The UN has recently proposed an international objective on energy access
for all Ensure Universal Access to Modern Energy Services by 2030[11]. The
UN also considers that access to modern energy services must be reliable and
affordable, sustainable and, where feasible, from low-GHG-emitting energy
sources. The aim of providing universal access should be to create improved
conditions for economic growth, contribute to attaining the MDGs, and enable the poorest of the poor to escape poverty.
04.
04.
05.
The range of technologies developed and their use has gone beyond the
technologies associated with basic development to include production,
transformation, transport, communications, improvement in living standards,
comfort and recreation, and even sophisticated weapons of mass destruction.
All of these technologies have meant an increase in energy consumption per
capita in developed countries. This energy consumption has gone beyond a
contribution to prosperity, but has also been expended on pleasure and comfort, while poor countries have had opportunities neither for development nor
for pleasure or comfort. Therefore the developed world has a moral debt to the
poor, and now it is time to help them leave the trap of underdevelopment by
providing access to energy for at least basic needs.
Case
Study
Clean cooking Darfur
Low Smoke Stoves
Project, Sudan
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Case Study
The Low Smoke Stoves project reduces greenhouse gas emissions by facilita-
ting the switch to more energy efficient stoves and cleaner-burning fuel in low
project of the promotion of LPG as cooking fuel that was funded by the UK
The dissemination of LPG stoves and LPG containers is made through a sys-
tem of loans. Carbon Clear provides the financial support against the carbon
nnels the financial resources for loans through to WADAN; WADAN provi-
the loan recovery. This project started in November 2008; so far more than
5,000 poor families have been benefiting with loans and are now cooking with
LPG in Darfur.
credits, Practical Action manages the project and provides training and cha-
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Case Study
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07.
Conclusions
08.
Practical Action
Practical Action is an international development charity with a difference,
working together with some of the worlds poorest women, men and children,
helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world through the innovative
use of technology.
Practical Actions particular strength is its simple approach: finding out what
people are doing and helping them to do it better. This enables poor communities to build on their own knowledge and skills to produce sustainable and
practical solutions: driving their own development.
Practical Action is currently implementing a range of projects related to energy access for the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa. The charity works in the development and dissemination of appropriate technologies and enabling the poor
to bring their voice to policy debate as well as raising awareness in Europe and
lobbying the EC for more support to Sub-Saharan African countries to tackle
energy needs for the poor (see the project: Energy Access for the poor in the
Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the MDGs, funded by the EC).
13
09.
references
[1] www.undp.org/energy
[2] www.uneca.org/mdgs/goal1.asp
[3] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDATASTA/641999551178226923002/21326741/FINALPressReleaseLGDB2007.pdf
[4] www.iea.org/work/2004/eswg/05_weo.pdf
[5] www.esmap.org/esmap/sites/esmap.org/files/ESMAP_PeruNationalSurvey_Web_0.pdf
[6] www.afrepren.org/project/gnesd/esdsi/erc.pdf
[7] www.iiiee.lu.se/publication.nsf/c05cf70b5a5648c8c1256b4a004a5a9f/68
48cd20ca737308c1256f1f00423ac2/$FILE/Goldemberg%20et%20al.pdf
[8] www.eia.doe.gov/iea/elec.html
[9] www.worldlpgas.com/page_attachments/0000/0330/Petroleum_Economist.pdf
[10] www.esmap.org/esmap/sites/esmap.org/files/Report_FuelUseMulticountryStudy_05.pdf, http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/tanzania/press_corner/all_news/news/2010/20101207_01_en.htm
[11] www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/climatechange/shared/Documents/
AGECC%20summary%20report%5B1%5D.pdf
[12] http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/emissions_of_carbon_dioxide_in_africa_and_selected_oecd_countries
[13] www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2010/weo2010_poverty.pdf
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External Cooperation
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