Access To Electricity And New Energy Are Growing

Global electricity access grows—but we're not on track for 2030 sustainable energy goals; International report points to progress on electricity access, but finds clean cooking solutions and renewable energy in transportation and heating need to be bolstered.

Brian Bienkowski, May 22, 2019 (Environmental Health News)

“More people on the planet have access to electricity than ever before, however, the world is on pace to fall short on the goal of affordable and sustainable energy for all by 2030…[Meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for electricity access] will require innovative solutions— such as solar lighting and full-home systems, as well as mini-grids—to serve the poorest and hardest to reach people…[The Energy Progress Report found about 840 million people (about 11 percent of the people on the planet) now live without electricity, which is down from 1 billion in 2016, and 1.2 billion in 2010. Most of the progress over the past few years in connecting people was made in India, Bangladesh and Kenya…

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…[T]here is still a rural-urban divide: with the rural access rate at 79 percent, compared to 97 percent in urban areas…A bulk of those without electricity—573 million—are in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to the 20 countries with the lowest rates of electricity…Each year between 2015 and 2017 about 153 million people gained access to electricity. If this rate continued, the 2030 UN goal of universal electricity would be reached…[But] the latest projection places the access rate in 2030 at 92 percent, leaving 650 million people around the world without access to electricity…[A]bout 17.5 percent of global energy consumed in 2016 was from renewable sources, which was up from 16.6 percent in 2010. The number of renewables used in electricity grew at its fastest rate in nearly 30 years—largely driven by Latin America hydropower, China's ‘record-level’ wind capacity added in 2015; and solar growth in China and the U.S…” click here for more

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