Taken for Granted: Electricity

Here in the United States, and the rest of the developed world, there is something so ubiquitous in our lives we use it without thinking. Yet 1.3 billion people lack this everyday item. What is it you ask? The answer is simple: electricity.

Today 1.3 billion people lack electricity, that is nearly equal to the population of the United States and China combined. We take electricity for granted, yet our lives are wholly dependent on it. When you woke up you dispelled the darkness in your room with a flick of a switch. You walked to your kitchen and grabbed chilled milk out of the fridge to pour cereal.  You looked at your phone to catch up on the news and check social media. You went to the office and worked on a computer. You heated up your lunch in a microwave. The list of ways we use electricity goes on and on.

Right now the fossil fuels represent the cheapest way to bring power to the developing world, and new technologies are making them cleaner and cleaner. Efforts to stop the use of fossil fuels will only continue to deprive the developing world electricity, and the amenities we daily take for granted.  Green energy is expensive and beyond the reach of the developing world. So before condemning fossil fuels, take a moment to think of all the ways you use electricity, and remember 1,300,000,000 people are currently living without it.