Tags: Renewable energy

With 5% of global primary energy use and 15% of the
world’s population, per capita energy consumption in
Africa is only a third of the global average. Nearly half
of the current energy use is traditional biomass, a major
cause of health problems and deforestation. In 2009,
657 million Africans relied on traditional biomass and
587 million people lacked access to electricity. Limited
and unreliable energy access is a major impediment for
economic growth. In the coming decades, the energy
mix will have to change to modern fuels, the per capita
energy use will increase and the population will grow
much faster than the global average. Together, these
three factors will put tremendous pressure on future
African energy supply.