Poor people's energy outlook 2010

This page refers to the 2010 report. The most recent edition is the Poor People's Energy Outlook 2012.

A Practical Action report

Right now, half the world's population have no access to modern energy. 'Business as usual' projections show that the situation will be the same in 20 years time.

The Poor people's energy outlook 2010 seeks to highlight this injustice as a first step to ending it. It presents the perspective of those living in energy poverty and those for whom energy access has been life changing, people like Mamdhur from Nepal, who says: "Now we have electric lighting, we are very much relieved. We have more time to spend with our children and families, and no longer breathe in the smoke from the kerosene lamp that used to hurt our lungs. It was my dream to have lighting facilities in my village. The dark has turned to light."

Practical Action, a global leader in delivering modern energy for people in the developing world, is proposing the concept of 'total energy access' with its report - the minimum standard of energy access that needs to be in place for essentials such as cooking, lighting, healthcare, livelihoods and education.

But energy access can't be achieved by the formal energy sector alone. The report proposes an ecosystem of government, civil society and private organisations working together towards creation of universal energy access by 2030.

Read the report

Read the report online by following the links to the chapters below or download the whole report.

• Foreword
• Executive summary
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: People's experience of energy
  Describes people's experience of six vital energy services and derives a set of minimum standards and an energy access index for mapping access experience.
• Chapter 2: Practitioner perspectives
  Leading practitioners debate the key issues in energy access, addressing challenges and controversies in the sector.
• Chapter 3: Framework for action
  Presents an overview of the energy poverty outlook and the long-term goal of universal energy access from sustainable sources. A framework for action calls on the international community to rise to this challenge.

This publication will be of interest to anyone seeking to better understand energy access and its role in development at a human scale. It should be required reading for the international energy sector and programme planners at national and local levels.

Download the Poor people's energy outlook 2010 (PDF, 2.4MB)