Energy is Vital

Energy is vital. We use it to cook, to heat our homes, to get to work and school. But many of us take for granted the ease with which we can walk into a room and switch on a light or pull up to a gas pump and fill up our tank. 

1.2 billion people living in the world today have no access to electricity. 2.7 billion people cook their food and heat their homes by burning rudimentary biomass such as wood logs, charcoal briquettes, and animal dung - exposing mostly women and children to toxic fumes and smoke. Inhalation of the smoke and fumes produced from burning fuels like wood or charcoal briquettes results in over four million deaths per year in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly among women and children. That’s more deaths than from malaria and HIV/AIDS combined.

Energy poverty remains one of Africa’s biggest barriers to development and prosperity. The lack of access to modern energy systems profoundly constrains people’s life chances, disproportionately affects women, and traps millions in extreme poverty.