Energy access is a powerful multiplier of virtually all of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Energy services are intricately linked to the provision of adequate health and educational services that depend on a reliable infrastructure. Delivery of clean water and irrigation for agriculture, the capacity to transport produce to markets without spoilage, cooking with cleaner energy sources, reducing drudgery and burden on women for critical household tasks, and economic empowerment of individuals through labor saving devices all rely on affordable energy services. Universal energy access is now within reach but requires rapid diffusion of clean energy options.
The lead paper for this issue by Professor Nathwani and Professor Kammen identifies the need for a global movement to create an “Energy Access Extension Service for the Planet” as a powerful solution because of the need to focus coequally on knowledge creation, social and behavioral change, and both evolutionary and radical systems redesign.
The strategy for effective global change is to establish “energy access innovation centres” (EAICs) that bring into a sharp operational focus the creation and transfer of knowledge effectively and with urgency. The concept marks the transition from academic systems knowledge to practical implementation knowledge, based on robust and evidence-based empirical studies, direct feedback from end users, and deep engagement with communities to ensure adoption of solutions that meet the test of social and cultural acceptability.
Energy access is one key pathway for the reduction of endemic global inequality, but it will require radical progress in the development of scientific and technological solutions that can deliver aggressive cost reductions without compromising quality and significant improvements in performance. Low-cost energy becomes the driver of high-value impacts on life quality. The value of energy can be observed through many lenses, but certainly a simple and dramatic summary is how strongly and clearly across regions it correlates with the quality of life indicators, such as the human development index (HDI).
Lack of access is felt most acutely in regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where 62.5 per cent of the population are without electricity, and Southeast Asia where 20 per cent of the population are without electricity. Within these energy-impoverished regions, a stark energy divide exists between urban and rural areas, with urban electrification at 97 per cent compared to rural electrification at 76 per cent. Despite recent progress, mainly in developing Asia, population growth continues to outpace electrification rates and future projections by the IEA suggest that by 2030 an estimated 670 million will still be without electricity (Ibid).
The basic aim here is to nurture and accelerate the “use-inspired basic research” for energy access on a global scale. To bridge the gap between leading research labs and impact-oriented organizations that work in the field, the research focus is to develop and test reliable and cost-effective strategies for reaching the goal of providing affordable, equitable, and clean access to energy supplies. Enhancing affordability through technological innovation is particularly important in meeting the needs of the most impoverished markets. For new technologies to be successful, they must be designed with a deep understanding of their use.
Leading university research labs around the world are engaged in the research on the topic of energy access – from technology to data analysis and modeling to policy, finance, community engagement, and so on. These research groups span the natural and social sciences’ spectrum. They house a wealth of knowledge, resources, and capacity to develop new solutions, including those that can significantly reduce the costs of energy systems through breakthrough innovations.
Additional contribution in the Proceedings encapsulating the current global knowledge on this subject are as below: Electricity for all: issues, challenges, and solutions for energy-disadvantaged communities Edited by C. Cañizares, J. Nathwani, and D. Kammen.
About the Webinar
The webinar provided an overview of the main issues, ideas, and solutions discussed in the September 2019 Proceedings special issue “Electricity for All: Issues, Challenges, and Solutions for Energy-Disadvantaged Communities.” Waterloo’s Professor Jatin Nathwani opened the webinar with a synopsis of the policy and social issues associated with energy access. Berkeley’s Professor Dan Kammen then reviewed various aspects of data relevance and requirements, as well as planning approaches and tools to facilitate electricity access. Finally, Waterloo’s Professor Claudio Cañizares discussed some of the examples and deployments addressing electricity access in various regions of the world introduced in the special issue. The presentations were followed by Q&A with the panelists
Panelists
Claudio Cañizares
University of Waterloo, Canada
Jatin Nathwani
University of Waterloo, Canada
Daniel Kammen
University of California, Berkeley, USA