Many people in developing countries do not have access to electricity and are forced to use inefficient, unhealthy and unsafe energy sources for cooking and lighting. The majority of the population uses fuel wood or charcoal for cooking and kerosene lamps for lighting. There are also many diesel generators in use to produce electricity. These traditional energy systems have a couple of disadvantages:
High emissions which form a threat to the environment and to health.
Fuel costs account for a significant part (10-20%) of the disposable income of households.
Collecting wood and recharging batteries (for mobile phones) takes a lot of time because large distances have to be travelled. This time could have been spent on income generating activities.
Cooking on a wood fire in Lesotho Women collecting wood in the South of China
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