Harald Heinrichs · Pim Martens Gerd Michelsen · Arnim Wiek Editors

3.1 Energy, Development and Poverty
Energy use is very unequally distributed worldwide. North America, Japan and 
Europe have very high per capita consumptions, while particularly sub-Saharan 
Africa and South Asia dispose of very low amounts of energy per capita, often below 
20 GJ per person per year, which is equivalent to 1.2 l of gasoline per day, much of 
which is typically consumed in industrial and tertiary sector operations (Fig. 
19.3
).
Poverty
and the linked problems of poor health, access to marketed goods and 
services and outlooks for personal progress and better lives are the sad reality for 
more than three billion people worldwide (GEA 
2012
). For most of them this 
Please discuss the following questions:
• What does the term “energy system” mean and how can sustainability be 
understood in the context of energy systems?
• Why are energy systems so difficult to change?
S. Lechtenböhmer and L.J. Nilsson

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includes a lack of access to modern energy services, which often affects them 
threefold:
• First, it cuts them off from various options for (economic) development. For 
example, lack of (electric) lighting reduces the chance to use evening hours for 
learning or productive occupations which could generate additional income. 
Farmers who have access to electricity and thus refrigeration can better store and 
process their crops. This can enable them to adding value to their agricultural 
production.
• Second, cooking (and heating) with traditional wood fuels, cow dung or coal is 
inconvenient as well as a major source of indoor pollution and related respiratory 
diseases.
• Third and adding to the problem, the lack of access to modern energy causes 
high costs for poor people. The costs per unit of energy service from kerosene in 
cans or charcoal are often higher than those of “modern” energies. Thus, poor 
people spend high shares of their income on the purchasing of energy, and in 
many countries they, women in particular, spend several hours a day only to col-
lect fuels.
GJ Final energy / Capita
Cumulative population (million)
0
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
100
50
200
150
300
250
North America
Pacifc OECD
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Former Soviet Union
Middle East and North Africa
Pacifc AsiaLatin America
Centrally Planned Asia & China
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
Transport
Residental / Commercial / Other
Industry
52 GJ/cap (World Average)