/ Globally, 188 mln children – about one in three – go to schools with no electricity.4
The lived experience of little or no energy
The statistics that 2.4 bln people lack clean energy for cooking or 768 mln have no access to reliable electricity are, in some ways, both mindboggling and baffling. A terrific visualisation from Good Data scales world population to 100 people to show demographic distribution of age, education, wealth, access to water and other common factors that make life easy or hard.
Now think of 100 people who live in your neighbourhood. Forty would still cook with wood, charcoal or dung (and have to spend much of their time collecting it) and 10 would not be able to use a single appliance, electronic device or even light in their own home.
If abject energy poverty were evenly distributed geographically, governments might be more inclined take aggressive action – and fellow citizens more inclined to demand that they do. The fact that it is concentrated in remote areas and the poorest parts of megacities makes implementing solutions both complicated and costly. Often, collecting the data needed to justify costs and demonstrate cost-effectiveness requires a substantial share of available budgets.3
EnAct loves data and recognises that it underpins decisions and action. We also recognise the importance of context. For that reason, we couple our films about people with backstories that tell the broader story.
Liberia (2013) ● Until 1979, Liberia boasted one of the more developed and fastest-growing economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting its rich endowment of water, mineral resources and forests, as well as a climate favourable to agriculture. The population was densely concentrated around the capital of Monrovia and access to electricity relatively high.
But a coup d’état in 1980 led to instability and, eventually, to two civil wars – during which rebels systematically destroyed the electricity system. Darkness explores the unprecedented situation in which the current generation of young people have less power than their parents did. And thus, less opportunity.
Filming at both the Ganta United Methodist Hospital (the second-largest in the country) and the Kakata Rural Teachers Training Institute (KRTTI), two things immediately struck the EnAct team. Lying just 700 km (436 miles) north of the Equator, night falls early across the country and is pitch black, broken only by an occasional streetlamp, the headlights of a passing car or what spills from windows of homes, restaurants and hotels. Where there is light, it assaults one’s senses: the unrelenting rumble and acrid smell of diesel generators are never far away.
“You live in the darkest world,” says Harry F. Bombo, student at KRTTI. Just 15 when the civil wars broke out, he spent a decade in hiding in the jungle. Now staring his career at 30, he worries about the gaping hole between himself and experts on the verge of retirement. “At my age, I should already be in middle management, ready to step into such roles.”
At the Ganta Hospital, Assistant Administrator Patrick Mantor agonises over the correlation between high diesel prices and rising maternal and infant mortality. The bid to maintain minimum power at the hospital – which means 9-10 hours per day – means he has no budget left for repairs to the SUV that served as a rural ambulance.
Bobritsya, Ukraine (2016) ● Long before the 2022 Russian invasion sent global energy prices in an upward spin, Ukraine had a precarious position along the supply routes built to satisfy ever-increasing EU demand for oil and gas. For several decades, pipeline networks it was the sole transit country – a role that had Gazprom paying about $2 billion annually for gas-transshipment services.1 Yet, almost every winter, Ukraine found itself caught in the middle when spats broke out over whether Russia was withholding supply or EU countries were late in paying bills – and Russia threatening to turn off the taps, which would plunge the EU into an energy crisis.
In turn, the Ukraine government ‘shared the wealth’ by charging extremely low prices for oil, gas and electricity to both industry and residential consumers. State-owned Naftogaz was selling to consumers for only about 20% of what it cost to import the gas, leaving the government to cover a ballooning deficit.
2014 was a turning point. Russia had invaded the Donbass region, playing a large role in the economy slumping by 8% and pushing the country to the brink of bankruptcy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other donor organisations were prepared to step in with low-cost loans or outright support – but one of the conditions was that Ukraine get its energy budget in order. In that year alone, energy subsidies were estimated to have a price tag of USD 4.1 bln or 4% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP).
1 April 2015 is likely to be etched in the national psyche – and perhaps written into Ukrainian history books – as the day the government drove the entire population into severe energy poverty. Overnight, the price of natural gas increased sevenfold (by 280%).
Cold at Home follows how the price hike affected Katerina, Stephan and Maria – a pensioner, an unemployed father and a university student.
Merthyr-Tydfil, South Wales (2016) ● Across South Wales, abandoned mine pits bear witness to the region’s importance in the energy supply chains that drove the early days (1740s) of the Industrial Revolution. The ore-rich hills fed four of the largest ironworks factories in the World. In 1844, just one factory produced 50 000 tonnes of railway track, helping open the overland route across Russia to Siberia. But the 1929 Depression hit hard: much of the ironworks relocated to Ukraine, where both coal and labour were cheaper. By 1932, 80% of men at one mine were out of work and 27 000 people had left the city.
Industry revived briefly during both World Wars, reflecting growing demand for iron and steel. As World War II ended, several companies saw the chance to move into a well-established town, with well-established factories. But an overarching challenge arose: the factories needed workers, and the workers needed houses. As in many bombed-out cities across the UK, local builders grabbed what was close at hand and built as fast as possible.
2″The construction method was a quick fix,” says Graeme Watson of the Housing Renewal Department, Merthyr-Tydfil County Borough Council. “They cast a slab of concrete, threw in a few sticks of steel, and clad the structure with a bit of tin siding – effectively recycling material from the war, including fighter planes. The aim was to get houses up quickly and replace them once the economy revived – maybe in 15 to 20 years.”
Seventy years on, many of those homes are still occupied, often by people who have grown up thinking it normal to be ‘cold at home.’ But with rising energy prices, Dawn McInnis is keen to teach her own sons and youth in the community about how to save energy at home. In parallel, growing concerns about energy-related emissions and greater awareness of the health risks and costs of chronic cold, the European Union has directed funding for housing upgrades in low-income areas.
Pennies make pounds follow Dawn as she takes on the role of a energy advisor and learns she may be eligible to have her house retrofit.