Tuesday, November 24, 2009

One-Quarter of World's Population Lacks Electricity

PRIMITIVE ENERGY: With no electricity, many people in Third World countries cook their food over wood fires. ISTOCKPHOTO/DORINS

From Scientific American:

Replacing wood and coal with electricity could help reduce poverty and pollution.

Some 130 years since Thomas Edison's breakthrough with artificial light, nearly a quarter of humanity still lacks electricity, a fact officials here want delegates to the upcoming U.N. climate talks to consider.

Vast swaths of the world also have no access to modern fuels like natural gas, kerosene or propane, relying instead on wood or charcoal as principal sources of energy. Switching to energy sources that are more efficient and less detrimental to human health is a prerequisite for raising billions out of poverty as nations promised to do, U.N. officials point out.

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