It’s going to take a lot more money to meet UN energy goals

We need to start spending more money – a lot more money (roughly $400 billion annually) – in order to meet the United Nation’s goal of making clean electricity universally available by the year 2030. According to a study performed by the World Bank, that equates to doubling, or even tripling, most countries’ current spending on green technology.

Developing countries are not only struggling to play catch-up with the rest of the world, they’re struggling with population control. Approximately 1.2 billion people, almost as many as the entire population of India, continue to live without reliable access to electricity, while another 2.8 billion people rely on wood, agricultural waste, and biomass to perform simple chores, like heat their homes and cook their food. And those numbers keep growing by the minute!

If we fail to address energy poverty, our other efforts to create economic sustainability are likely to fall short, the study showed. "Access to energy is absolutely fundamental in the struggle against poverty," said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President. "It’s energy that lights the lamp that lets you do your homework, that keeps the heat on in a hospital, that lights the small businesses where most people work. Without energy, there is no economic growth, there is no dynamism, and there is no opportunity."

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is tasked with meeting the UN's Sustainable Energy for All goals. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is serving as co-chairman on his advisory board. Their goal is simple – figure out how to make clean, low-cost electricity available to every man, woman, and child on Earth. Ok – maybe not so simple.

But their task could be made simpler with the help of NRGLab. We’ve developed a carbon-free generator that’s affordable, portable, and dependable in every sense of the word. It’s called the SH-Box, and it’s changing lives. By affording people access to an independent, renewable source of energy, we’re freeing them from the necessity of public utility. So it doesn’t matter if you live in Singapore, New York City, or a deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific – you, too, can enjoy first-world amenities.

Executive director of the UN’s universal energy initiative, Richenda van Leeuwan, claims the data is "a critical step forward" in resolving the issue. "It is impossible to determine how we are doing in the absence of a measurement mechanism," said van Leeuwan. "Having credible data is key to being able to determine and report back on where we are—as a world—in achieving these common goals, and where efforts need to be redoubled."

Want to break free from your power supplier, and pay a fraction of what you’re spending right now for electricity? Visit nrglab.asia for more information on the SH-Box, and NRGLab’s various green energy projects.