Fuel for thought: an environmental strategy for the energy sector

ENERGY IS BASIC TO DEVELOPMENT. At the level of the individual, modern energy services can transform peoples' lives for the better. They can improve peoples' productivity. They have the potential to free millions of women and children from the daily grind of water and fuelwood collection, and through the provision of artificial lighting can extend the working day, providing also the invaluable ability to invest more time in education, health, and the community. They open a window to the world through radio, television, and the telephone. In the aggregate, they are a powerful engine of economic and social opportunity: no country has managed to develop much beyond a subsistence economy without ensuring at least minimum access to energy services for a broad section of its population. It is therefore not surprising to find that the billions who live in developing countries attach a high priority to energy services. On average, these people spend nearly 12 percent of their income on energy- more than five times the average for people living in OECD countries. As a "revealed preference," to use the economists' jargon, energy services are high on the agenda of the world's poorest people.