A World of Difference in Energy Access
WASHINGTON, 9 May: At Kayunga Hospital in Uganda, medical instruments include not only scalpels but flashlights (lommelygter).
Unlike about 75 percent of households in Africa, the hospital is lucky enough to be connected to an electrical grid. But the hospital only gets electricity every other day – about 15 days a month—and there is a time lag before the generator clicks on, explains Dr. Musisi Dirisa.
– Many times you have to improvise and use a torch (fakkel) or something like that. It is a big challenge for us. Many times we have to refer patients to other hospitals, which is a cost to the hospital and puts the lives of the patients in danger, he says.
Seven Times Less Power
Sub-Saharan Africans use seven times less electric power than people in high income countries, according to the World Banks Little Green Data Book, released May 8 during UN Sustainable Development meetings in New York.
Only 25 percent of Africans have access to modern energy, according the Banks Investment Framework for Clean Energy and Development.
About 56 percent of total energy use comes from traditional biomass – mostly firewood. The top 20 biomass users in the world are all African countries, with the exception of Nepal (fourth), Haiti (11th) and Myanmar/Burma (12th), according to the book.
The growing appetite for energy has helped shrink (svinde ind) forests. Nearly 45.000 square kilometers (som Danmarks areal) of forest were lost in low income countries between 1990 and 2005, and another 38.000 square kilometers of forest were lost in lower middle income countries.
– Most people in Africa do not have access to clean energy. As a result they suffer health consequences, says Katherine Sierra, the Banks Vice President for Sustainable Development.
– They are breathing (indånder) indoor air pollution caused by poor fuels. There is no lighting in the evening, so kids can not study for school. There is no refrigeration at clinics, vaccines spoil (ødelægges), added she.
Impact on Poverty Reduction
She says the problem poses a major challenge to economic growth and the achievement of global development goals, such as halving extreme poverty by 2015.
– All this is very much related to poverty alleviation, Sierra says, adding: – It is very clear major increases in modern energy will be part of the solution. But we are projecting (forudsiger) by 2030, even with a doubling in the amount of expenditure that might be able to go to energy in Africa, access (adgangs) rates, on average, will still be about 50 percent.
Even that increase would require a doubling in aid, from the current 2 billion a year to 4 billion US dollar, says Sierra.
– We think it is an achievable goal. It is a difficult one, and when we made the goal we tried to look at it both in terms of what was available in terms of financing, and also what was achievable in terms of capacity on the ground to be able to stretch that far, she notes.
Encouraging a Greener Growth Path
Sierra says substantially more money will be needed to “encourage a greener growth path in developing countries” based on new, cleaner technologies.
Worldwide, the Bank estimates the power sector alone needs at least 30 billion dollar a year to move to a lower carbon economy. That is in addition to the 165 billion-plus dollar per year needed to provide electricity in developing countries.
The carbon market, which helps finance clean energy and energy efficiency projects in non-OECD countries, surged to 30 billion dollar in 2006. Some 5 billion went to developing countries.
Sierra says a bigger carbon market, fueled by more ambitious greenhouse gas-reduction targets in the European Union and other countries, could help finance clean development in developing countries to the tune of 50 billion dollar in the next few decades.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
