Publication: Modernizing Energy Services for the Poor: A World Bank Investment Review, Fiscal 2000-08
Loading...
Published
2010-12
ISSN
Date
2017-08-10
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The term energy access has various connotations to energy development specialists. For this review, we define energy access as relating both to physical proximity to energy infrastructure and to the policies and frameworks supporting the transition to better, reliable, and more efficient use of electricity and modern fuels. This viewpoint frames energy access as a development process sometimes referred to as the energy transition that starts with reliance on low-quality energy sources (straw, dung, candles) and finishes when high-quality energy sources, such as commercial fuels or electricity, are available. Access to these higher-quality energy sources allow for services (lighting, communication, cooling, pumping), which are not available at lower rungs of the energy ladder. This report focuses on the World Bank's portfolio of energy access-related projects approved during most of the past decade (FY2000-08). The objectives of the review were to compile an up-to-date data base on energy access-related assistance commitments and review current trends and patterns of energy access-related assistance. The authors also wanted to examine to the greatest extent possible the lessons that could be learned across regions, focusing on policy and project design recommendations. Finally, it was important to establish a solid methodology for measuring energy access in order to provide a baseline for future reviews of the investment portfolio. This study focuses on the World Bank's role in energy access investments for the period between fiscal years 2000 and 2008. Developing and transition countries face huge investments in energy access in order to meet their commitments to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Barnes, Douglas F.; Singh, Bipul; Shi, Xiaoyu. 2010. Modernizing Energy Services for the Poor: A World Bank Investment Review, Fiscal 2000-08. ESMAP Report;. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27705 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Restoring Balance : Bangladesh's Rural Energy Realities(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-03)This study, the first to concentrate on Bangladesh's energy systems and their effects on the lives of rural people, drew on these background studies, as well as other World Bank-financed research on IAP and rural infrastructure, to present a rural energy strategy for the country. The study's broad aim was to identify ways to improve the living standard in rural Bangladesh through better and more efficient use of energy, while creating an environment conducive to growth and poverty reduction. For any developing country, the crux of a rural energy strategy is to have more and better choices for meeting rural demand for energy through market mechanisms and sound policy. This goes hand in hand with the development of competent implementing institutions, which are critical to the process. Also important are new supply- and demand side technologies that can be used to raise rural people's welfare and improve productivity to increase growth prospects. Accordingly, the rural energy strategy advocated by this study aims to satisfy the types of demand that increase household welfare and raise rural growth prospects as energy becomes a direct input into the production process.Publication Restoring Balance : Bangladesh's Rural Energy Realities(World Bank, 2010-03-01)Bangladesh is one of the world's poorest countries. Nearly 80 percent of the nation's 140 million people reside in rural areas; of these, 20 percent live in extreme poverty. Geographically, many low-lying areas are vulnerable to severe flooding, while other regions are prone to drought, erosion, and soil salinity. Such an unfavorable agricultural landscape, combined with mismanagement of natural resources and increasing population pressure, is pushing many of the rural poor to the brink. Because Bangladesh is such a poor country, it also is one of the world's lowest energy producers. Total annual energy supply is only about 150 liters of oil equivalent per capita (International Energy Agency, or IEA 2003); in rural areas, conditions are even worse. Compared to other developing countries, Bangladesh uses little modern energy. Despite its successful rural electrification program, close to two-thirds of households remain without electricity and, with the exception of kerosene, commercial fuels are beyond reach for many. Moreover, biomass fuels are becoming increasingly scarce. Collected mainly from the local environment as recently as two decades ago, bio-fuels are fast becoming a marketed commodity as access to local biomass continues to shrink. This study, the first to concentrate on Bangladesh's energy systems and their effects on the lives of rural people, drew on these background studies, as well as other World Bank-financed research on indoor air pollution (IAP) and rural infrastructure, to present a rural energy strategy for the country. Much of this study's analytical underpinning was based on several background studies. This study also reanalyzed data from earlier research to better understand the benefits of modern energy use for rural households, farm activities, and small businesses.Publication Household Energy Access for Cooking and Heating : Lessons Learned and the Way Forward(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012)Half of humanity about 3 billion people are still relying on solid fuels for cooking and heating. Of that, about 2.5 billion people depend on traditional biomass fuels (wood, charcoal, agricultural waste, and animal dung), while about 400 million people use coal as their primary cooking and heating fuel (UNDP and WHO 2009). The majority of the population relying on solid fuels lives in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South Asia. In some countries in Central America and in East Asia and the Pacific, the use of solid fuels is also significant. The inefficient and unsustainable production and use of these fuels result in a significant public health hazard, as well as negative environmental impacts that keep people in poverty. Strategies to improve energy access to the poor have focused mainly on electricity access. They have often neglected non electricity household energy access. It is, however, estimated that about 2.8 billion people will still depend on fuel wood for cooking and heating in 2030 in a business-as-usual modus operandi (IEA 2010). The need for urgent interventions at the household level to provide alternative energy services to help improve livelihoods is becoming more and more accepted. This report's main objective is to conduct a review of the World Bank's financed operations and selected interventions by other institutions on household energy access in an attempt to examine success and failure factors to inform the new generation of upcoming interventions. First, the report provides a brief literature review to lay out the multidimensional challenge of an overwhelming reliance on solid fuels for cooking and heating. Second, it highlights how the Bank and selected governments and organizations have been dealing with this challenge. Third, it presents lessons learned to inform upcoming interventions. And finally, it indicates an outlook on the way forward.Publication One Goal, Two Paths : Achieving Universal Access to Modern Energy in East Asia and the Pacific(World Bank, 2011-09-14)The purpose of the current flagship report is to address energy access and related developmental issues in East Asia Pacific (EAP) that so far have received less attention compared to the macro energy issues of climate change and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. EAP countries have two steep paths to climb to achieve universal access to modern energy: electricity and modern cooking solutions. Approximately 170 million people, or 34 million households, in EAP countries do not have electricity connections in their homes. This number is equivalent to approximately 9 percent of the Region's total population, and 30 percent of the Region's population excluding China. Moreover, approximately 6 times that number, or over 1 billion people, still lack access to modern cooking solutions. In addition, EAP is exceeded by only Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia in the number of people who lack access to electricity. However, access to both electricity and modern cooking solutions is essential to address the enduring impacts of poverty and to move the poor onto a rising development trajectory. The link between access to modern energy and development is most clearly defined by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The MDGs were formulated to reduce global poverty while increasing education, empowering women, and improving child and maternal health. Although there is no direct reference to energy in the MDGs, the need for access to energy, particularly modern energy, to improve overall welfare is well recognized by the development community.Publication Household Cookstoves, Environment, Health, and Climate Change(Washington, DC, 2011)Open fires and primitive stoves have been used for cooking since the beginning of human history. They have come in various sizes and styles, having been adapted to myriad cultures and food preparation methods. As society has progressed, more sophisticated stove models have been developed. Today's modern kitchens reflect the many types of standardized and specialized cooking devices available, from coffee and tea pots to toasters and gas cook tops. But in many developing countries worldwide, the poor still burn biomass energy to meet their household cooking needs. These open fires are fairly inefficient at converting energy into heat for cooking; the amount of biomass fuel needed each year for basic cooking can reach up to two tons per family. In addition, collecting this fuel sometimes can take an hour a day on average. Furthermore, these open fires and primitive cook stoves emit a significant amount of smoke, which fills the home; this indoor cooking smoke has been associated with a number of diseases, the most serious of which are chronic and acute respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. This report takes a fresh look at what new approaches might be used to tackle this well known yet complex multi-sector issue. Although there are other ways to reduce household air pollution, including inter fuel substitution and household ventilation, this study focuses mainly on the recently developed biomass cook stoves for developing countries and their financing models and sources. Known by many as 'advanced biomass cook stoves,' these new cook stoves generally have better energy-combustion properties and reduce fuel consumption by about half. Such innovations warrant the development of a more serious program to deal with both the emissions and health issues resulting from cooking with open fires or traditional biomass cook stoves.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication FY 2024 Uruguay Country Opinion Survey Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-20)The Country Opinion Survey in Uruguay assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in better understanding how stakeholders in Uruguay perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in Uruguay on: (1) their views regarding the general environment in Uruguay; (2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Uruguay; (3) overall impressions of the WBG’s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in Uruguay; and (4) their perceptions of the WBG’s future role in Uruguay.Publication Exchange Rate Volatility, Financial Constraints, and Trade(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2015-09-29)In this paper, we study how firm-level export performance is affected by Real Exchange Rate (RER) volatility and investigate whether this effect depends on existing financial constraints. Our empirical analysis relies on export data for more than 100,000 Chinese exporters over the 2000–6 period. We confirm a trade-deterring effect of RER volatility. We find that firms' decision to begin exporting and the exported value decrease for destinations with a higher exchange rate volatility and that this effect is magnified for financially vulnerable firms. As expected, financial development seems to dampen this negative impact, especially on the intensive margin of export. These results provide micro-founded evidence suggesting that the existence of well-developed financial markets allows firms to hedge exchange rate risk. The results also support a key role of financial constraints in determining the macro impact of RER volatility on real outcomes.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication India Development Update(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-09-06)In India, economic growth increased from 7.0 percent in FY22/23 (April 2022-March 2023) to 8.2 percent y-o-y in FY23/24. On the demand side, growth was primarily driven by a significant expansion of investment, in particular public infrastructure investment and private investment in real estate. On the supply side, it was supported by a rebound in the manufacturing sector, benefitting from a buoyant construction sector and low input costs. India needs to diversify its exports and increase its participation in Global Value Chains (GVCs). Over the past decades, despite rapid overall economic growth, India's trade in goods and services has decreased as a percentage of GDP and India’s participation in GVCs has fallen. Exports are also relatively concentrated in goods and services that tend not to be labor-intensive. As a result, trade-jobs linkages are not fully exploited. A key factor behind this decline is the increase in import tariffs on key intermediary inputs, which has raised production costs and made producers less competitive in international markets. To achieve its ambitious export target and maximize the job creation potential of trade, India must diversify its export basket and enter new markets. Participating more actively in GVCs is crucial for doing so, and it would also boost overall competitiveness in the domestic economy and attract greater foreign investment. India's current trade policy stance features both liberalizing measures and rising protectionism. The implementation of the National Logistics Policy and digital initiatives aimed at reducing logistics costs are proactive steps towards enhancing trade facilitation and competitiveness. However, a resurgence in protectionist measures, including increased tariff and non-tariff barriers, is restricting India's trade openness. Recent Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Australia signify a move towards preferential agreements. However, India does not participate in mega trade blocs, such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), despite potential benefits from broader trade cooperation.Publication The Role of Income Inequality for Poverty Reduction(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2022-01-07)This paper approximates the identity that links growth in mean incomes and changes in the distribution of relative incomes to reductions in absolute poverty and examines the role of income inequality for poverty reduction. Under the assumption that income is log-normally distributed, we show that we can approximate this identity well. We find that the inequality elasticity of poverty reduction is larger, on average, compared to the growth elasticity of poverty reduction and that the growth elasticity declines steeply with a country’s initial level of inequality. However, we find that prior changes in poverty were, in large part, explained by changes in mean incomes. This is a consequence of changes in income inequality being an order of magnitude smaller than changes in mean incomes. Overall, our results highlight the important role income inequality can play in reducing poverty despite prior poverty changes being, in large part, a consequence of economic growth.