Energy poverty adversely impacts the lives of billions every day — which means it’s tough to get your head around it. Get up to speed quickly with these six short excerpts from Hub Director Todd Moss’s talk on energy poverty for a Georgetown University guest lecture.

“Not a single country in human history has grown from poverty to prosperity without abundant, reliable energy.”

 

If the US lost 1 million jobs per year due to power outages, it would be a national emergency. But that’s Ghana’s reality.

 

Poor countries “need more energy, not less because of climate change.”

 

“What works in California, or Washington DC, or Germany is not going to be what works best in New Delhi or Nairobi.”

 

“Poverty is not an effective climate change solution if we leave 3 billion people behind.”

 

While the West often condemns any expansion of gas use in Africa itself, exporting African fuels to rich nations is now a pillar of energy security.  The question isn’t whether to extract resources, but who can use them.

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