Summaries
Technical Summary
countries’ development prospects. Overall, cost considerations cannot be discussed independently of the burden-sharing regime adopted, that is, without specifying who assumes the costs for the benefits brought about from reduced GHG emissions, which can be characterized as a global public good. [9.3.1.4]
US & Canada 1990 2005
RoW 1990 2005
OECD Europe 1990
9.3.2
Energy access
2005
Significant parts of the global population today have no or limited access to modern and clean energy services. From a sustainable development perspective, sustainable energy expansion needs to increase the availability of energy services to groups that currently have no or limited access to them: the poor (measured by wealth, income or more integrative indicators), those in rural areas and those without connections to the grid. [9.3.2]
China 1990 2005
Russia 1990 2005
OECD Pacific 1990
Acknowledging the existing constraints regarding data availability and quality, 2009 estimates of the number of people without access to electricity are around 1.4 billion. The number of people relying on traditional biomass for cooking is around 2.7 billion, which causes significant health problems (notably indoor air pollution) and other social burdens (e.g., time spent gathering fuel) in the developing world. Given the strong correlation between household income and use of low quality fuels (Figure TS.9.2), a major challenge is to reverse the pattern of inefficient biomass consumption by changing the present, often unsustainable, use to more sustainable and efficient alternatives. [9.3.2]
2005
India 1990 2005
Brazil 1990
Other Transport
2005
Services Households
Mexico 1990
Manufacturing
2005
South Africa 1990 2005
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50
60
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Figure TS.9.1 | Energy use (EJ) by economic sector. Note that the underlying data are calculated using the IEA physical content method, not the direct equivalent method.1 Notes: RoW = Rest of World. [Figure 9. 2] 1. Historical energy data have only been available for energy use by economic sector. For a conversion of the data using the direct equivalent method, the different energy carriers used by each economic sector would need to be known.
as an important contribution to job creation, which has been stressed in many national green-growth strategies. [9.3.1.3] In general, the purely economic costs of RE exceed those of fossil fuelbased energy production in most instances. Especially for developing countries, the associated costs are a major factor determining the desirability of RE to meet increasing energy demand, and concerns have been voiced that increased energy prices might endanger industrializing
By defining energy access as ‘access to clean, reliable and affordable energy services for cooking and heating, lighting, communications and productive uses’, the incremental process of climbing the steps of the energy ladder is illustrated; even basic levels of access to modern energy services can provide substantial benefits to a community or household. [9.3.2] In developing countries, decentralized grids based on RE have expanded and improved energy access; they are generally more competitive in rural areas with significant distances to the national grid and the low levels of rural electrification offer significant opportunities for RE-based mini-grid systems. In addition, non-electrical RE technologies offer opportunities for direct modernization of energy services, for example, using solar energy for water heating and crop drying, biofuels for transportation, biogas and modern biomass for heating, cooling, cooking and lighting, and wind for water pumping. While the specific role of RE in providing energy access in a more sustainable manner than other energy sources is not well understood, some of these technologies allow local communities to widen their energy choices; they stimulate economies, provide incentives for local entrepreneurial efforts and meet basic needs and services related to lighting and cooking, thus providing ancillary health and education benefits. [9.3.2]
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