How do we end energy poverty?

The Shirazi Foundation attended an event hosted by the Brookings Institution titled How do we end energy poverty? Debating solutions for increasing global electricity access. Experts covered the debate over distributed generation in energy vs centralized distribution and what is the best way forward. Experts touched on the small scale interventions around one’s home that can be taken and the effects that it has on energy distribution. The historical approach to electricity was explained and how people would in the past have to migrate to urban cities to obtain electricity. Experts explained briefly the link between energy and climate change and how the two are interconnected due to biomass and its effects on the climate that results in global warming. Today globally billions rely on the traditional use of biomass for an everyday task such as cooking while biomass causes respiratory daisies that contribute to the death of millions every year. Experts expressed that the same necessity that we have for water is now the same level of necessity we currently have for energy. Experts also mentioned that there are many universities that have ramped up their programs on sustainable energy and its effects on our future.