Lifestyles

Abstract

Chapter 11 compares the quality of lifestyles at different positions on the energy ladder, beginning with low-density non-commercial fuels such as dung, and rising to the pure energy form of electricity. How you live depends on where you are on the energy ladder. The chapter seeks to identify how energy availability and consumption tie to personal aspirations and desires, as well as fertility rates and standards of living. It compares energy consumption in the Global South with the Global North, while explaining how and why total energy demand in China has been rising so abruptly. Likewise, it predicts that renewable energy will substantially contribute to the aspirations of people in non-industrialized countries who continue to be challenged by inadequate access to quality energy supplies. The chapter asserts that having access to plentiful and affordable energy supplies is the key to how people live their lives, whether they are healthy and safe, and whether their hopes and goals are realistic or beyond their reach. Everything depends on where they are on the energy ladder.