Authors Louise Tait and Harald Winkler claim proponents of alleviating energy poverty via coal power plant production create unnecessary trade-offs between South Africa's climate and energy poverty objectives, and that energy shortages do not, and will not in future, stem from the energy poor, but rather from energy intensive industry.
January 2012: The University of Cape Town’s Energy Research Centre (ERC) has released a paper titled “Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Achieving Universal Access to Electricity in South Africa” that confronts claims that construction of coal-fired power-plants is needed to alleviate energy poverty.
The report, by Louise Tait and Harald Winkler, argues that proponents of alleviating energy poverty via coal power plant production create unnecessary trade-offs between South Africa’s climate and energy poverty objectives. In estimating residential electricity demand to 2020, the report finds that electricity for low-income households will comprise a small portion of total plant output from any newly built coal-fired power plants, and emissions from these households will have a minute impact on South African emissions. They conclude that energy shortages do not, and will not in future, stem from the energy poor, but rather from energy intensive industry, which would do better to adopt energy efficiency measures and diversify the fuel mix away from low-grade coal.
The ERC is part of Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development, facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). [Report: Estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with achieving universal access to electricity in South Africa]