Ever thought about how much light you need to power your life? Award-winning American photographer Peter DiCampo visited Northern Ghana to find out just how hard it is to live without access to something we take for granted. His images give insight into the experience of the 1.4 billion people who currently live without electricity; people relying on candles, kerosene lanterns or torches to carry out daily activities.
 

With fuel prices soaring and our energy supplies running out, government plans are afoot to reform our electricity market. But what are the real issues at stake here? To get the views of someone from one of the smaller, green electricity suppliers Carla Jones spoke to Juliet Davenport, CEO of Ashden Award winning green electricity supplier Good Energy, about her perspective on this debate.

CJ: Why does the electricity market need reforming – what’s wrong with our current system?

JD: The current market is a product of another time. It is designed around using easily accessible and plentiful fossil fuel supplies to deliver cheap energy, with little consideration for the long-term impact that would have.

Last month a background paper was published for the World Bank’s World Development Report 2012. The paper reviewed what is currently known about the impact on women and girls of expanding access to energy.  While we often hear about the benefits to women of gaining access to energy, it is only recently that there has been in-depth investigation into the ways in which this works. 

As well as time-guzzling and addictive many people don’t realise electronic gadgets are also very energy-guzzling, and a new report from the Energy Saving Trust is very timely for highlighting this.