ABSTRACT
Energy poverty is commonly defined in the energy and development studies literature as: (a) lack of access to electricity networks; or (b) dependence on burning solid biomass, such as wood, straw, and dung, in inefficient and polluting stoves to meet household energy needs. Energy is valued not so much for its own sake as for the services it enables to bring about. While energy can launch shuttles into space and power computers to work out complex mathematical problems, it is also used for basic services that are essential for human life such as lighting, cooking, heating, cooling, telecommunications, and earning a living (Practical Action 2010). As one study notes, in the developing world the energy for these basic services is frequently derived from wood, agricultural residues, animal dung, candles, kerosene, or by physical exertion (Sovacool et al. 2014).
