OPINION
How much does energy poverty cost?
How much is lost in productivity by societies where men, women, and children are obliged to secure their own biomass fuel?
What is the monetary value of global deforestation for biomass fuel use?
What is the cost (in CO2-equivalent) of the volumes of black carbon being pumped into the atmosphere?
What percentage of national budgets go to treat illnesses attributable to indoor air pollution from inefficient biomass combustion?
How much potential income is lost from the estimated 1,500,000 people who die annually as a consequence of exposure to indoor air pollution?
And what would it cost to solve the problem?
I’ve been asking myself this question as we try to nail the opportunity cost that would justify investing in large-scale biomass energy-efficiency programs.
As a first step in establishing a baseline for what is at stake, I think the bionergy community could greatly benefit from a comprehensive analysis — à la Nicholas Stern report — on the global and local long-term economic cost of our energy poverty. We could break it down by regions, if you prefer: Africa, Sub-Continent, Asia, Latin America.
I’m not quite certain which figure would be most staggering: the loss of GDP worldwide over the next several decades from the consequences of energy poverty and unsustainable biomass use, or how little money it would take to solve this looming crisis?
There are a number of parallels between how the world responded to Climate Change in the last decade, and the lack of attention being paid to energy poverty today. A Nick Stern type report would be a great way to get the conversation going!
The parallels between Climate Change and unsustainable Bionergy dependence will be the subject of our next post, so stay tuned!
Rgds,
Kim
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