Energy undoubtedly has the oldest history. Even before the homo sapiens could read and write, fire was discovered and used for hunting ,scaring wild animals ,cooking ,fighting the winters and many other activities .Therefore ,it won’t be wrong to say that fire was the greatest energy invention that humankind has ever made and wood was the main fuel for a long time. Over the period of time with new developments and innovations, it was the Industrial Revolution of Great Britain that marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way and the energy situation was changed considerably.
To more of its credit, Industrial Revolution not only increased the energy consumption options availability to humanity for development but on the other hand it also paved the way for global disparity and wide spread inequity in future energy production, availability, accessibility, consumption and the environmental issues relating to energy.
In today’s world, it won’t be wrong to say that energy is the most important ingredient as well as constraint in development. Energy shortages in the 1970s hindered the pace of development of mainly the poor countries. The 1970s energy crisis was a period when the major industrial countries of the world, particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, faced substantial petroleum shortages, real and perceived, as well as elevated prices. The two worst crises of this period were the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, when the Yom Kippur War and the Iranian Revolution triggered interruptions in Middle Eastern oil exports.[1]
Not taking a clue from that period, the developing countries continued their irresistible dependence on non-commercial biomass resources of wood and other non-renewable sources of energy, which has hit the rural poor in those countries the hardest. Can you even think of how pathetic it could get when there is lack of modern energy services for the poor in their daily life? It makes multiplies the effect of the poverty and it further multiplies their probability of escaping from poverty.
The energy security debate between developed and developing countries have made serious allegations on developed countries as they are highly unfair and biased while addressing the challenges of the developing countries. The biggest challenge today is to not only improve the energy availability but also its access to modern energy services for least developed countries and specially to those people who are the last ones standing in the last line .This has to be done in ways that are sustainably accessible, available and affordable that address energy security concerns and cause the least harm to local and environmental damages.
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