Africa has been experiencing higher rates of urbanization than any other continent, and today about one-third of the continent‘s population live in urban areas. But studies of energy services for urban residents, especially the poor, are still rare. The supply of electricity to poor city dwellers has not kept pace with urbanisation: in 1970 some 40 million had no access to electricity; by the year 2000 there were over 100 million. The urban poor continue to rely on wood fuel, charcoal, kerosene and dung cakes for energy, with all their environmental drawbacks. This book examines the affordability of modern energy sources for the poor; the relevance of energy subsidies; the impact of subsidies on public finances; and how electricity tariffs affect the operations of small and medium enterprises, the main source of livelihood for the majority of the urban poor outside the formal economic sector.

Based on research presented at The Harvard Business School’s first-ever conference on business approaches to poverty alleviation, Business Solutions for the Global Poor brings together perspectives from leading academics and corporate, non-profit and public sector managers. The contributors draw on practical and dynamic how-to insights from leading BOP ventures from more than twenty countries world-wide. This important volume reflects poverty’s multi-faceted nature and a broad range of actors—multinational and local businesses, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and governments—that play a role in its alleviation.

Around 2.8 billion people globally, also known as the "Other Third" or "energy poor", have little or no access to beneficial energy that meets their needs for cooking, heating, water, sanitation, illumination, transportation, or basic mechanical power. This book uniquely integrates the hitherto segmented and fragmented approaches to the challenge of access to energy. It provides theoretical, philosophical and practical analysis of energy for the low energy (non-hydrocarbon based) Other Third of the world, and how the unmet needs of the energy poor might be satisfied. It comprehensively addresses the range of issues relating to energy justice and energy access for all, including affordable - sustainable energy technologies (ASETs). The book breaks new ground by crafting a unified and cohesive framework for analysis and action that explains the factual and socio-political phenomenon of the energy poor, and demonstrates why clean energy is a primary determinant of their human progress. This is a must-read for all scholars, students, professionals and policy makers working on energy policy, poverty, and sustainable energy technologies.

"The objectives of the RETA [regional technical assistance project], a study based on a literature and project review and on field research in three Asian countries [People's Republic of China, Thailand and India], were to enhance current understanding of how transport and energy infrastructure contribute to poverty reduction, to fill knowledge gaps, and to identify lessons learned and good practices."--P. 1.

This volume explores whether and how trade liberalisation can contribute to achieving universal service goals in telecommunications, water and sanitation, financial services, and electricity, and the types of complementary policies that may be required.

This edited volume looks at energy poverty, an issue whose pivotal role in the fight for human development is only now being recognised by policymakers. Nearly one quarter of humanity still lacks access to electricity. Close to one third rely on traditional fuels like firewood and cow dung for cooking, at great cost to their health and welfare. While most prevalent in parts of Africa and Asia, energy poverty is a global problem which concerns us all. This book, which brings together economists, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other practitioners from all over the world, is dedicated to a single goal: finding a solution to this haunting problem. It is part history, part economics, part political analysis, part business case review, and part field handbook. Part One focuses on defining and measuring the problem and benchmarking progress in solving it, an obvious prerequisite to any successful energy-access policy. Part Two reviews past and current energy access programs, with an eye towards finding out what worked and what didn't and what can be replicated elsewhere. These case reviews are told as seen on the ground - China's experience by top Chinese officials and Africa's by African regulators and scholars. Based in part on those cases, the book's last, more forward-looking section aims to present practitioners with a tool kit, a menu of options to speed up their efforts. The energy access agenda is gaining traction at a time of rising concerns about climate change and resource constraints. This book shows that bringing modern energy to those who lack it not just a moral imperative, but will likely benefit the world as a whole without harming the environment or unduly stretching finite resources.