The UN study suggests solar-powered lighting would significantly lower global carbon emissions
The United Nations has carried out an assessment into the benefits of solar-powered lighting.
The report which was carried out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), led assessments of solar-power alternatives in 80 countries and claims that the payback period in most countries would be less than a year.
According to the findings, over 1.3 billion people worldwide live without access to electric light, spending a total of $23 billion each year on their kerosene lamps, requiring a total of 25 billion litres of kerosene. Fuel based-light sources are also responsible for over 2.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, indicating that a switch would impact not just pockets but the environment.
The report suggested that if all of Nigeria’s kerosene lamps, candles and off-grid battery-powered lighting were replaced with solar-powered lighting, over $1.4 billion would be saved, which is the equivalent of 17.3 million barrels of crude oil.
UNEP has announced a partnership on a series of projects with the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA), including in West Africa, where reportedly 76 per cent of the population lives without reliable access to electricity.
By 2030, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Sustainable Energy for All hopes to achieve universal access to modern energy services.
“Investing in the environment and a green economy is not a cost but a sound insurance policy for the future”, the Secretary General said in a message to UNEP’s Governing Council and Global Ministerial Environment Forum.
Referring to the set of anti-poverty targets world leaders have set to achieve by 2015, Mr Steiner, the executive director of UNEP, pointed out that by supporting both “sustainable off-grid and on-grid lighting can bring about major financial savings in a short time, as well as additional educational, health and environmental benefits towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals” [eight international development goals established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations].
