Did you know 840 million people lack electricity access and 1 billion people are connected to low-quality electricity services? (World Bank, 2020).

Dr. Robyn Meeks (Duke Sanford School of Public Policy) presents a foundational talk on global #energyaccess. She discusses the relationship between energy access and human development, notes relevant international goals in this area, and offers a quick overview of the extent and complex nature of energy access challenges. These include availability of electricity infrastructure, political and institutional structures that may limit access, affordability issues, and low-quality electricity services. Meeks describes the need for evaluation of the impact of programs and policies that address energy access, and outlines four promising areas in which more research is needed: #electrification and development, service quality, renewable energy and barriers to its adoption, and the potential role of energy efficiency in #climatechange mitigation.


1️⃣ 0:00 – Introduction
2️⃣ 1:02 – Access to energy and human development
4:11 – Per capita energy consumption data
4:38 – Per capita energy consumption data and Human Development Index data
3️⃣ 8:24 – Electrification and development
4️⃣ 10:57 – Quality of electricity service
12:57 – Outages and low-service quality data scenarios
5️⃣ 14:37 – How to increase electricity access?
6️⃣ 16:02 – Energy efficiency
7️⃣ 17:00 – Why evaluate energy access programs and policies?
8️⃣ 19:02 – Areas of research
19:52 – Electrification and development
24:45 – Role of service quality
25:31 – Renewable energy
27:21 – Energy efficiency and climate mitigation

Part of the Foundations for Energy Data Analytics Series. Some videos in the series introduce data science concepts and techniques that are applicable to energy challenges. Others (like this one!) are designed to provide background on energy systems and policy, elucidating contexts that are rich with opportunities for data scientists. (   • Foundations for Energy Data Analytics  )

This talk was originally presented during a workshop of the Energy Data Analytics Ph.D. Student Fellows Program (https://energy.duke.edu/energy-data-a..., organized by the Energy Data Analytics Lab (https://energy.duke.edu/research/ener...) at Duke University. The Fellows Program is funded by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Grant-G2020-13922. (https://sloan.org)

(Note: Conclusions reached or positions taken by researchers or other grantees represent the views of the grantees themselves and not those of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation or its trustees, officers, or staff).

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