Ecology-poverty consideration of developing sustainable energy sources

Background/Question/Methods Lack of access to modern forms of energy constrains impoverished populations, forcing people to rely on solid biofuels, which are limited in productive applications and may cause severe, localized health and environmental impacts. Transitions to cleaner, more efficient forms of energy like electricity, liquid, and gaseous fuels are proposed as one means of alleviating poverty throughout the developing world. However, the causes of poverty are complex and multi-faceted. Access to energy alone is unlikely to shift people out of poverty. Moreover, if populations shift to electricity, liquid, or gaseous fuels, the household and community-level impacts associated with energy consumption are reduced, but some degree of environmental risk is shifted both spatially and temporally through increased GHG emissions and other pollution associated with the life-cycle of those “modern” energy carriers.

Results/Conclusions We present a set of three papers examining interactions between multiple forms of energy, poverty, and environmental impacts. One paper explores sustainability in “traditional” energy systems, finding that the environmental implications of woodfuel reliance are highly dependent on specific management practices, which can be highly contingent on social factors and local history. A second paper examines the nexus of poverty and ecology in the context of sustainable alternative energy. The third paper explores the ecological implication of the rapid expansion of “modern” biofuels and the degree to which biofuels can alleviate (or contribute to) poverty in developing regions.