What Energy\u200b Poverty Looks Like<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n
The result of policies designed to hold back the developing world is an ongoing gulf in energy consumption between the West and nations such as Kenya. To practically illustrate the difference, the co-authors compiled an energy diary, one\u200c in Texas \u200cand the\u2064 other in Kenya. <\/p>\n
The diary \u200csummarizes\u200d a typical\u200b day for each household and then expresses the energy used in an easy-to-understand format: the energy equivalent of \u2062a gallon of crude oil. A gallon of crude \u2064contains 135,500 BTUs of energy<\/a> \u2014 a British Thermal Unit<\/a> is defined as the energy\u200b needed to raise the temperature of a pound of water \u200bby one degree Fahrenheit. A gallon of gasoline with 10 percent ethanol has 89 percent of the energy of a gallon of crude. Put another way, \u2064a gallon\u200b of \u2063crude has almost 40 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, or enough\u200b to run a\u2063 1,000-watt hair dryer on high for 40 hours. <\/p>\n
In the \u2063DeVore family\u2019s case, \u200bChuck drives 25 miles\u2064 to work, uses a computer in a well-lit\u2063 and air-conditioned office<\/a> for eight hours, and drives\u2064 back home. \u200cThe family home has a well, \u200da pool, air-conditioning, and heating \u2014\u2064 common U.S.\u2062 amenities. Carefully accounting for energy used, \u2064gasoline for\u2064 travel, and \u2062electricity and propane for household purposes, the DeVore family consumes \u2064energy equivalent to about 6.9 gallons \u200bof crude oil every day. <\/p>\n
The largest share of this energy, 6 gallons of crude, is for heating and cooling the home as\u2063 well as\u200d heating water, followed closely by transportation. The other 0.9 gallons is used for lights, internet, the\u200b well, the pool, the refrigerator, and appliances. This energy costs \u2063almost\u200d $24 a day, including taxes. Importantly, while\u2063 the household spends about two hours a day on household chores, machines \u200cpitch in \u2064with up to five hours\u2019\u200c worth of work that would \u2062otherwise be done by hand.<\/p>\n
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In rural Kenya,\u2064 Jusper\u2064 Machogu lives\u200b a very different life as\u200c a farmer \u2062and agricultural engineer. In Kisii, where Jusper lives, most people rely on muscle power to get work done, with the nature of the\u2063 work differing between\u2063 males and females.\u00a0Men perform energy-demanding manual labor for a short time while women perform low-energy demanding tasks throughout the day.<\/p>\n
Since most Kenyans rely on physical exertion to accomplish work, rather than \u2062machines, it\u2019s useful to understand that an average person at rest produces 100 watts of energy<\/a>, with most of that going to operate the brain, heart,\u2064 and other vital organs. Heavy labor for several minutes can be sustained while generating 300-400 watts, while a professional\u2062 athlete\u2064 might produce 2,000 \u200cwatts\u2062 for short periods of time.<\/p>\n
Thus, a person working in\u200b a field to tend crops over an 8.5-hour day\u200b might generate 2.1 kWh of power \u2014 a \u200blittle less than the energy in one\u2062 cup of crude oil. So, \u2064when thinking of the energy used by the\u2064 DeVore\u200b family in a\u2064 day, 6.9 gallons of crude oil, that\u2019s the equivalent energy\u200d output of about 120 people doing physical labor in a day. <\/p>\n
The Machogu household\u200b uses electricity to power five 12-watt light bulbs for about two hours throughout the day, charge \u2064their phones, and operate\u2063 a small\u200c radio. In three to four days, the family consumes 1 kWh of electricity \u2014\u200c about as much as the typical American family uses in an hour. They also \u200bhave access to\u2062 a small motorcycle, which is used every few days to go into town. \u2064Using both\u200c the motorcycle and the electricity consumes the equivalent energy in 10 tablespoons of oil, or just a bit \u2063more than half a cup of crude.<\/p>\n
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The DeVore household uses about 177 times the energy from manmade sources as does \u2062the Machogu household.<\/p>\n
The main source\u200d of energy for Jusper and his family is wood to\u2062 heat water and cook meals, about 23 pounds of it, day in and day out. The firewood, cut by \u2062hand, yields about as much \u200denergy as a\u200c gallon and a half of crude. This \u2064is\u2064 virtually the same as the energy used by the DeVore family \u2062for heating water and cooking,\u2062 though \u200busing clean-burning propane is far easier on the lungs than burning wood. In other parts of Kenya,\u200b where wood is scarce, dried \u200bcow dung is commonly \u2063used for heating.<\/p>\n
Including the energy from \u2064the wood the Machogu family burns, the DeVores use 4.6 times as much energy.<\/p>\n
With that, this is what a typical day for a female in Jusper\u2019s community during the planting season:<\/p>\n
\n
Up at 6 a.m. to light a fire from\u2063 twigs or sticks or crop residue.<\/li>\n
Milk the cow in \u200babout 10 \u200cminutes.<\/li>\n
Prepare three liters (quarts) of tea for six family members. This \u200cusually consumes about four to seven pounds of firewood \u200din 30 minutes.<\/li>\n
Spend \u200canother half an hour cooking finger millet porridge for lunch, and another 2.5 pounds of firewood burned \u2064for three liters of porridge. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Meanwhile the man:<\/p>\n
\n
Cuts 55 pounds of green Napier grass for the\u2063 cattle from 450 \u2063yards \u200baway and carries it on \u2063his head before cutting it \u200cinto tiny \u2063pieces \u200dwith a machete. \u200bThis takes about 40 minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The woman will then walk to their tiny farm \u200bnearby and start hoeing their lands in preparation for finger millet planting. This usually runs throughout the day from around 8:30 a.m.\u2064 to 4\u2063 or 5 p.m. with just porridge throughout the day. Sunny days are the best, because then the soil is loose and easy to\u2063 work on, and thus an average female farmer will till about 1,000 square feet and clear all sorts of non-soil matter to the sides. <\/p>\n
The man will be plucking\u2064 tea or harvesting corn. <\/p>\n
Often, females and males will pluck tea together. This usually starts at 7 or 8 in\u200c the morning. Men \u2064will feed the cattle and head straight to the farm as the female prepares breakfast. Tea plucking is achieved by picking the buds and two \u2064leaves using fingers\u2062 (China started using machines to\u2062 harvest tea in the past decade, but premium teas are still plucked by hand<\/a>.) This runs to around 1 p.m., and then\u200c the farmers carry up to 44 pounds of fresh tea leaves in\u2063 baskets \u200con their heads to the tea-buying center\u2062 almost half \u2062a \u2062mile away. Sometimes, men carry a larger load of 66 pounds to the market so the female can go prepare lunch. <\/p>\n
For lunch, the\u2062 female cooks ugali (pounded corn flour) and kale and avocado from their farm. This takes almost\u2062 seven pounds of firewood in 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
After lunch, if \u200dit has been raining, collected rainwater can be used for the\u200b cattle, bathing, kitchen, and washing \u2064utensils. If not, the females \u200bjourney downhill to \u2062a spring 0.4 miles away. \u2062Each female \u200bthen\u200b has to carry 20 quarts of water (weighing 44 pounds) on her head, uphill. This takes 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the line to use the spring.<\/p>\n
From 3 to 5 p.m., the family will start threshing corn. Men beat the\u2064 corn with sticks to separate a little more than four pounds while women use a stone or knife to clean kernels off the cobs. <\/p>\n
A\u200c man then splits\u200c firewood \u2062and herds the cattle for an\u2062 hour or so\u200c as \u200cthe female picks up green indigenous vegetables from\u200b their kitchen garden and cooks them. The man \u2063milks the cow as the female prepares supper. Boiling vegetables, cooking\u200c ugali, frying the vegetables, and \u2063boiling milk will take \u2064an hour and consume almost\u2064 nine pounds of firewood.<\/p>\n
After 8 p.m., the family can thresh more corn until 11 p.m. unless they have to wake up early to pluck tea \u200bor go to church. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s not a lot of time in the Machogu family\u2019s day to watch Netflix or play video games<\/a>, assuming they even had\u2062 the electricity to do so. And there are no private jets or Dubai resorts for either family. The elites flying in\u200c to discuss the fate of energy consumers are perfectly willing for the poor to make sacrifices to their political whims. But they have no idea how the rest of us live \u2014\u2063 or do, and don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
Energy,\u2064 Economics, and Well-Being<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe UN wants to fight climate change by taxing Americans and Europeans<\/a> \u200bto send the cash to corrupt Third World leaders, while building a few trophy wind<\/a> and solar\u2063 projects to\u2063 provide unreliable electricity to the masses. This will neither change\u2063 global temperature (whatever\u200d that means) nor lift\u2062 the 6.2 billion people of the planet\u2019s 8.1 billion who live in developing nations \u200bup from poverty.<\/p>\n
Americans use a lot\u200c of energy. It supports our high\u200d productivity. We make a lot of stuff, and we provide a lot of services \u200bwith energy underpinning\u2063 that productivity.\u00a0The average American produced about\u2064 $69.70<\/a> worth of goods and services every working hour\u200b with the aid of machines and energy in 2023 (in 2017 PPP dollars).<\/p>\n
But people around\u2063 the globe \u200bhave a far different relationship with energy. While Americans enjoy a high-carbon lifestyle, most people overseas\u2063 have access to a fraction of the energy\u200b Americans take for granted. <\/p>\n
The Machogu family in Kenya, a nation of 55 million people \u2014 a bit more\u200c than California, Arizona, and Oregon combined, living in \u2064a nation a bit smaller than Texas\u200b \u2014 is \u200cpretty typical. The average Kenyan consumes \u200c1\/44 the energy<\/a> an American does.\u00a0This results in a per capita output of about $4.90 for every hour worked<\/a>, about 1\/14 of that\u2064 in America, after adjusting for Kenya\u2019s lower cost of living.<\/p>\n
But due to policies\u2064 in vogue with Western\u2064 elites, developing nations are discouraged from accessing their own oil and natural gas resources as well as \u200cusing affordable and reliable fossil fuels to power industry, keeping prosperity out of\u200d reach for billions of people.<\/p>\n
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rnrn <\/p>\n
\u2063How\u2063 does the energy consumption of an average household in Texas, USA, compare to\u200c that of a household in Kenya?<\/h2>\n
Inequality in Energy Consumption: Contrasting Lifestyles Around the World”<\/p>\n
In mid-December, United Nations delegates\u200d from around the world gathered \u200bin\u200c Dubai to declare a groundbreaking deal to phase\u2064 out \u2062the use of coal, \u200boil, and natural gas in\u200b the fight against climate change. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized\u200c that\u200d this transition was “inevitable whether they like \u200dit or not.” However, the fact that\u200c these \u200cdelegates arrived at the conference in their private \u200djets highlights the stark contrast in lifestyles \u2063and\u2064 energy consumption between the developed and developing world.<\/p>\n
To investigate \u200dthis\u2062 disparity further, we conducted an experiment to compare the carbon footprints of an average household in Texas, USA, and a household in\u2063 Kenya. We\u200b kept energy diaries \u200dto track their daily energy\u2062 usage, and the results were eye-opening.<\/p>\n
The\u200d energy diary summarized the typical activities of each \u200dhousehold and expressed their \u200cenergy consumption in an easily understandable format\u200b – the energy equivalent of a gallon of crude oil. A \u200cgallon of crude oil contains 135,500 BTUs\u200b of energy. We found that the \u200dDeVore family in Texas, \u2064with their\u2064 well-lit and air-conditioned \u2064home, pool, and modern appliances, consumed energy equivalent\u200d to about 6.9 gallons of crude oil per day. The majority of this energy was used for \u200bheating and cooling the home, followed by transportation.<\/p>\n
In contrast, Jusper Machogu, a farmer \u2064and agricultural \u200cengineer in Kenya, relies on \u2062physical exertion rather than machines to accomplish his work. An average person \u2064at \u200drest produces around 100 watts of energy, while\u200c heavy labor can sustain 300-400 watts, and professional athletes may produce up \u2062to 2,000 watts for short periods of time. A person working in the fields in Kenya for an 8.5-hour day might \u2064generate 2.1 kWh of power, which is less than the energy in a cup of crude oil.<\/p>\n
Jusper’s household primarily relies on\u200d wood\u2062 for heating and cooking, burning\u2064 approximately 23 pounds of \u200bfirewood each day. Additionally,\u200d they use electricity to power a few light bulbs and charge their phones. The energy consumed by\u2062 the Machogu \u200cfamily, including the \u200cwood they burn, is\u200c only a fraction of what\u200b the DeVore family uses.<\/p>\n
The stark difference in energy\u2064 consumption between these two households highlights the ongoing energy poverty in the developing\u2064 world. Policies that hinder the progress \u200dof developing nations perpetuate this gap \u200bin energy consumption. In Kenya, where wood is scarce, \u200balternatives like dried \u2062cow dung are commonly used for heating. The lack of access \u2062to modern\u2064 energy sources \u2063not only affects the quality of life for\u2063 individuals like\u2062 Jusper but \u200calso limits \u2063economic opportunities and well-being.<\/p>\n
The United Nations’ proposed solution to climate change, which involves\u200d taxing Americans and Europeans to fund renewable energy projects<\/a> in developing nations, fails to address the root causes of this energy inequality. \u2064Building a few\u2063 trophy wind and solar projects \u200bmay provide unreliable electricity to the masses, but it does not address the underlying issue of poverty and lack of access to modern energy sources.<\/p>\n
It is essential to acknowledge \u200band understand the contrasting lifestyles and energy consumption patterns around the world. The \u2063elites\u200b flying into international conferences may be willing to\u2063 sacrifice\u2063 the lives and well-being of \u2064the poor to satisfy \u200btheir political agendas, but they often have no real understanding of how\u2063 the majority of the world’s population lives.<\/p>\n
To truly tackle energy inequality and combat climate change<\/a>, we must prioritize sustainable development<\/a>\u200d and empower the developing world by \u2063providing access to reliable and affordable energy \u200csources. By \u200baddressing the underlying issues of poverty and lack of infrastructure, we can create a more equitable and sustainable future for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In December, UN delegates gathered in Dubai, arriving in private jets, to declare a pact to combat climate change by eliminating coal, oil, and gas. UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, firmly stated that this transition was “inevitable, regardless of skeptics’ preferences.” The irony of their private jet usage was not lost<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2950,"featured_media":2193777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/houses.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2193776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/houses.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2950"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2193776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2193776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2193777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2193776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2193776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2193776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}