The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) Tackles Energy Poverty

The energy-savvy are well-versed on the direct positive impacts of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the arenas of climate change and energy security. However, clean and reliable energy access has far-reaching implications in many areas not readily associated with energy, including poverty alleviation, healthcare, and economic development. Thus, the impact of energy efficiency/renewable energy cannot simply be measured in emissions reductions, but must also be evaluated through the lens of economic development and global health. The Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), conceived during the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, has recognized this link and works both on a program level by providing funding for energy efficiency/renewable energy (EE/RE) projects, and on a policy level by engaging experts and decision-makers. The Alliance to Save Energy houses the North American Secretariat for REEEP.

In its recent funding cycle of its programmatic work, REEEP will be expanding its project portfolio to draw attention to the humanitarian dimensions of clean energy services or ‘energy justice.’ Currently, about 1.6 billion people (a little more than one-quarter of the world’s population) do not have access to electricity at home. Nearly 2.5 billion people rely on traditional biomass (wood, straw, dung, etc.) for cooking and heatingⁱ, and the indoor air pollution resulting from open cooking fires and inefficient stoves is responsible for as many as 2 million premature deaths per year, with women and children making up a high proportion of that toll. The lack of refrigeration and clean water supply takes a toll on public health, while improper lighting reduces the quality of education and constrains the economic viability of local businesses. Those most seriously affected are the poorest of the poor in sparsely-populated rural areas and in densely-populated urban slums.

At present, four out of five people living without electricity live in rural areas in less developed regions, ⁱⁱ where long distances from urban generation and distribution centers and sparse populations often complicate energy transmission. Yet off-grid renewable technologies can fill the gaps; hydro, wind, and solar microgrids can light up otherwise isolated communities, while energy efficiency projects like the REEEP-funded project for disseminating efficient cook stoves in rural northeast Brazil, can immediately improve the health of poor households.

In urban centers, the problem of reliable energy services doesn’t stem from the lack of grid infrastructure, but rather from heavy and concentrated demand overloading the grid. As rural-to-urban migration rates rapidly increase and reshape the global landscape, the strain put on city grids, particularly in dense urban slums, can trigger brownouts or blackouts like those commonly experienced in India or South Africa. Often, urban populations resort to dirty diesel generators which further compound the negative climate impacts. In these situations, energy efficiency—on both supply and demand sides—plays a very important role. Supply-side EE measures increase plant productivity, and demand-side management can level out the peaks in energy demand.

Renewable technology programs such as a REEEP solar water heating project in Uganda also help flatten demand peaks. The solar water heater project in Uganda reduced electricity rationing and energy bills for Ugandan households as well as reduced emissions related to dependence on diesel-powered thermal power plants. Explicitly addressing the link between energy access and economic development, REEEP finances a number of projects around the world with a focus on energy efficiency/renewable energy microenterprises targeted specifically at poor populations to offer opportunities for economic mobility while providing energy services. This project currently operates in Brazil, China, India, and South Africa.

In addition to its programmatic work, REEEP also engages in high-level policy discussions, drawing from its on-the-ground, in-country project experiences to add depth and concrete knowledge. At the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-15) in May 2007, REEEP was profiled by the United Nations during the build-up to the meeting and also hosted a side event titled “REEEP—Delivering Sustainable Energy for Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth.”ⁱⁱⁱ In September 2008, REEEP convened a policy briefing featuring speakers Senator Ken Salazar, Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and Chair of the event; Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Member and Former Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky, U.S. State Department. The speakers each addressed the leading role the United States should play internationally in energy justice and the alleviation of both poverty and climate change through sustainable energy solutions.

As part of its overall objectives, REEEP aims to incorporate wider humanitarian implications into the energy discussion as a means to better integrate cooperation across sectors. Utilizing energy efficiency and renewable energy to improve clean energy access isn’t simply a timely solution to climate change; it’s also an ethical issue that resonates in the fields of development, healthcare, and poverty alleviation.

ⁱ International Energy Agency,” World Energy Outlook 2002”. OECD/IEA 2002.

ⁱⁱ Ren21 Renewable Energy Policy Network, “Energy for Development: The Potential Role of Renewable Energy in Meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” Worldwatch Institute, 2005. http://www.ren21.net/pdf/REN21Report%20RETs%20for%20MDGs.pdf

ⁱⁱⁱ REEEP 2007/2008 Annual Report, pg. 34