User:Jme312/sandbox

Energy Poverty

I am interested in the topic of energy poverty because it is becoming an increasingly important issue in our nation. Energy poverty is the result of systemic inequalities that disproportionately affect women, limit overall access to education, and negatively impact public health. This topic encapsulates the climate crisis and other systemic inequalities that create barriers to the access of energy internationally. The section titled “Addressing Energy Poverty” could be joined to the section titled “International Efforts” since it mainly focuses on government and economic interventionism efforts. Additionally, the section titled Regional Analysis” lacks information regarding the statistics of energy poverty in Latin America. I plan to add information to this section since an international understanding of energy poverty is necessary to analyze the underlying causes and possible solutions behind this topic.

Bibliography

Energy poverty

Causes

Units of analysis

• Domestic Energy of Poverty
• Challenges to defining and measuring energy poverty Reviews and Critiques of Measuring Energy poverty 

Energy poverty is challenging to define and measure because energy services cannot be measured concretely and there are no universal standards of what are considered basic energy services. Energy poverty is too complex to work and measure with an indicator and framework that is internationally accepted in a global context. (1) Therefore, binary measures and multidimensional measures of energy poverty are required to consolidate and establish indicators that simplify the process of measuring and tracking energy poverty globally (1).

1. Pelz, Setu, Shonali Pachauri, and Sebastian Groh. 2018. “A Critical Review of Modern Approaches for Multidimensional Energy Poverty Measurement.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment 7 (6): e304. https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.304.

Intersectional issues

• Gender
• Education
• Health (expand on the only two sentences detailing dangers of energy poverty on a household’s health)

Another connection between energy poverty and health is that households who are energy poor are more likely to use traditional biomass such as wood and cow dung to fulfill their energy needs. However, burning wood and cow dung leads to incomplete combustion and releases black carbon into the atmosphere. Black carbon may be a health hazard. Research has found that people who live in energy poverty have an increased risk of respiratory diseases like influenza and asthma and even a positive correlation with higher mortality rates during winters (2) . Moreover, research analyzing the inadequate heating systems in houses in the United Kingdom have found a correlation between inadequate access of heating to an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease (2).

2. Xiao, Yiming, et al. “The Relationship between Energy Poverty and Individual Development: Exploring the Serial Mediating Effects of Learning Behavior and Health Condition.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 16, 1 Jan. 2021, p. 8888, www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8888/htm, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168888.

Regional analysis

• Global North (expand on Latin American statistics of energy poverty and consumption)
• Global South
• Addressing energy poverty ( move the content from this section to “International Efforts” and delete this title)

International efforts

China and India which account for about one third of the global population have booming economies, and other developing nations show similar trends in rapid economic and population growth. As a result of modernization and industrialization, energy demand for modern energy sources also grows. One challenge for developing nations is to support the growing energy needs of their growing populations by expanding their energy infrastructure. Intentional policy-making and action is necessary to prevent more people in developing countries from facing difficulties in accessing modern energy services.

International development agencies intervention methods have not been entirely successful. "International cooperation needs to be shaped around a small number of key elements that are all familiar to energy policy, such as institutional support, capacity development, support for national and local energy plans, and strong links to utility/public sector leadership. Africa has all the human and material resources to end poverty but is poor in using those resources for the benefit of its people. This includes national and international institutions as well as the ability to deploy technologies, absorb and disseminate financing, provide transparent regulation, introduce systems of peer review, and share and monitor relevant information and data."

Energy is important for not only economic development but also public health. In developing countries, governments should make efforts on reducing energy poverty that have negative impacts on economic development and public health. The number of people who currently use modern energy should increase as the developing world governments take actions to reduce social costs and to increase social benefits by gradually spreading modern energy to their people in rural areas. However, the developing world governments have been experiencing difficulties in promoting the distributions of modern energy like electricity. In order to build energy infrastructure that generate and deliver electricity to each household, astronomical amount of money are first invested. And lack of high technologies needed for modern energy development have kept the developing countries from accessing modern energy. It is difficult that the developing countries governments participate in effective development of energy without external aids due to the large funding required to promote the distribution of modern energy. International cooperation is necessary for framing developing countries' stable future energy infrastructure and institutions. Although their energy situation have not been improved much over the past decades, current international aids are playing an important role in reducing the gap between developing and developed countries associated with the use of modern energy. With the international aids, it will take less time to reduce the gap when comparing to nonexistence of international cooperation.

The World Bank says that financial help should not be general fossil fuel subsidies, but should instead be targeted to those in need.

European Union

• European Union

• Global Environmental Facility
• Climate Investment Funds
• See also
• References