Potential for Energy Efficiency: Developing Countries
Book chapter:
Encyclopedia of Energy, Volume 5, © 2004 Elsevier Inc.
Authors: R. Spalding-Fecher, J. Roy, Y. Wang, W. Lutz
This article presents the improvements in energy efficiency in developing countries. It starts by discussing the relevant development context (poverty and suppressed demand for energy services) as well as additional barriers that energy efficiency programmes face in poor countries. These include: affordability and financing of energy efficiency improvements; physical access to or availability of fuels; constraints to appliance ownership by space and tenure problems in informal unplanned urban settlements; multiple fuel use in households, and the symbolic value of appliances.
The article includes overviews of the potential for energy efficiency and specific issues in key energy consuming sectors in major countries and world regions: India, China and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. The director of Energy-Strategies, Wolfgang F. Lutz, was invited to write Section 3.4 which concerns Latin America.