Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap: When and How Governments Power the Lives of the Poor

by Michael Aklin, Patrick Bayer, S.P. Harish, Johannes Urpelainen

Overview

The first comprehensive political science account of energy poverty, arguing that governments can improve energy access for their citizens through appropriate policy design.

In today's industrialized world, almost everything we do consumes energy. While industrialized countries enjoy all the amenities of modern energy, more than a billion people in the developing world still lack energy access. Why is energy poverty persistent in some countries and not in others? Offering the first comprehensive political science account of energy poverty, Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap explores why governments have or have not been able to lead in providing modern energy to their least advantaged citizens.

Focusing on access to modern cooking fuels and household electrification, the authors develop a new political-economic theory that introduces government interest, institutional capacity, and local accountability as key determinants of energy access. They draw on case studies from India, East Asia, Africa, and Latin America to offer the optimistic conclusion that governments can improve institutional capacity and local accountability through appropriate policy design. Energy poverty is a policy problem, the authors assert, and engaging with it as such offers new opportunities not only for ensuring equal energy access, but also for political, economic, and environmental development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262349314
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	12/04/2018
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	1,066,592
File size:	996 KB

About the Author

Michaël Aklin is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and coauthor (with Johannes Urpelainen) of Renewables (MIT Press).

Patrick Bayer is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Glasgow.

S. P. Harish is Assistant Professor in Government at the College of William & Mary.

Johannes Urpelainen is Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Professor of Energy, Resources, and Environment at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS,) Founding Director of the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP), and coauthor (with Michaël Aklin) of Renewables (MIT Press).

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Introduction 1

2 Understanding Energy Poverty in the World 19

3 The Political Economy of Energy Poverty 59

4 Persistent Energy Poverty in India 97

5 Country Case Studies: Determinants of Success 153

6 Country Case Studies: When Success Eludes 199

7 Conclusion 239

Notes 261

References 271

Index 307

What People are Saying About This

Endorsement

In 2018 just under a billion people lack access to sustainable energy. Another two billion lack access to reliable energy. Reliable, affordable, and clean energy is essential for sustainable development; that so many live without it constrains progress. Policy matters as never before. With this book, the authors show a pathway to results.

—Rachel Kyte, Chief Executive Officer and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SEforALL)

From the Publisher

Energy poverty is a persistent but largely invisible affliction affecting the health and well-being of hundreds of millions of women and children. This book does it all, elegantly describing the problem, presenting cases of success and failure, and critically distilling lessons for development practitioners and scholars. It offers the type of fresh thinking and innovative solutions so rarely seen, but oh-so-urgently needed.

—Benjamin K. Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy, University of Sussex; coauthor of Climate Change and Global Energy Security and Global Energy Justice; coeditor of Energy Poverty

Global energy poverty is more than just a technical and economic challenge. The authors provide a much-needed political economy perspective in this book and rightly emphasize the important role that the state plays in any solution to this problem.

—Hisham Zerriffi, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia; author of Rural Electrification: Strategies for Distributed Generation

In 2018 just under a billion people lack access to sustainable energy. Another two billion lack access to reliable energy. Reliable, affordable, and clean energy is essential for sustainable development; that so many live without it constrains progress. Policy matters as never before. With this book, the authors show a pathway to results.

—Rachel Kyte, Chief Executive Officer and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Sustainable Energy for All initiative (SEforALL)