posts: 46715

This table contains the full text for all our old WORDPRESS content in html form. The format is a bit odd as it represents a direct copy from wordpress content that includes a lot of wordpress specific comments that carry some meaning in terms of layout instructions etc.. The html in the content column can thus be rendered as is but will not look identical to the way it looks on our website as several post processing steps are not applied yet. The content should work though as a readable approximation for every post. For easy searching etc, a markdown copy of the content is available in the markdown column. If you want to query all posts (both wordpress and gdocs), use the posts_unified table or the posts_unified_with_content view.

Data license: CC-BY

This data as json

id title slug type status content archieml archieml_update_statistics published_at updated_at gdocSuccessorId authors excerpt created_at_in_wordpress updated_at_in_wordpress featured_image formattingOptions markdown wpApiSnapshot
46715 The ‘Energy Ladder’: What energy sources do people on different incomes rely on? energy-ladder post publish <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rich people use electricity or gas to cook. But <a href="http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels">40% of the world</a> do not have access to these clean, modern energy sources. What do they rely on instead?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The visualization below is the World Health Organization's answer. The so-called ‘Energy Ladder’ shows the dominant sources of household energy at different levels of income. From very low incomes on the left, to high incomes on the right.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The poorest households burn wood and other biomass, like crop waste and dried dung. Those who can afford it cook and heat with charcoal or coal.{ref}WHO (2018) –<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health"> Fact Sheet - Household air pollution and health</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Kirk R Smith (2003) – Indoor air pollution: a global health concern, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68, Issue 1, December 2003, Pages 209–225,<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029"> https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029</a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The pollutants encompass a wide range of different compounds, the most important ones being fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, and carbon monoxide.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>WHO 2006) reports: <em>“Burning solid fuels produces extremely high levels of indoor air pollution: typical 24-hour levels of PM10 in biomass-using homes in Africa, Asia or Latin America range from 300 to 3000 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). Peaks during cooking may be as high as 10 000 µg/m3. By comparison, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has set the standard for annual mean PM10 levels in outdoor air at 50 µg/m3; the annual mean PM10 limit agreed by the European Union is 40 µg/m3.” –– </em>WHO (2006) – Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online<a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421"> here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Delhi is one of the cities with the worst air quality in recent years. Wikipedia has an overview of measurements on their site<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi"> Air pollution in Delhi</a> and daily data on the air quality in Delhi can be found<a href="https://aqicn.org/city/delhi/"> here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For a comparison of indoor air pollution levels from different energy sources see Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., … Brauer, M. (2020) – Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In <em>The Lancet Planetary Health</em>, <em>4</em>(10), e451–e462.<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2"> https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2</a>{/ref}&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>These fuels – from crop waste and dung on the left, to charcoal and coal in the middle of the visualization, are termed ‘solid fuels’. The other fuels, on the higher steps of the energy ladder, are termed ‘clean fuels’. When we track the share of households <a href="http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels">using clean fuels for cooking</a> – an important metric in energy access – this is the definition of <em>clean fuels</em> that is used.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Why is access to clean fuels so important?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Burning solid fuels on open fires or simple stoves fills the room with smoke and toxic chemicals. These traditional energy sources expose those in the household – often women and children – to pollution levels that are <em>far</em> higher than in even the most polluted cities in the world. This indoor air pollution leads to millions of deaths every year. See our entry on <a href="http://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution">Indoor Air Pollution</a> for more information.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:image {"id":44335,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1.png" alt="" class="wp-image-44335"/><figcaption>The Energy Ladder{ref}This visualization is based on the Energy Ladder presented in WHO (2006) – Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online<a href="http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421"> here</a>.<br>Clean fuels are those that do not cause harmful levels of emissions within the household. Among those fuels that are considered in the ‘Energy Ladder’ these are all fuels except the solid fuels and biomass.<br>On clean fuels see:<br>WHO, IEA, GACC, UNDP and World Bank (2018) –<a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17465PB_2_Draft.pdf"> Achieving Universal Access to Clean and Modern Cooking Fuels and Technologies</a><br><a href="https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology">WHO (2014) – WHO indoor air quality guidelines: household fuel combustion</a>.<br>IEA (2020) –<a href="https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology"> Defining energy access: 2020 methodology</a>.<br>It would be possible to add specific technologies (rather than just fuels) to the Energy Ladder, in such an extended version one might consider to include improved biomass cookstoves (ICS) and solar cookers.<br>An improved biomass cookstove (ICS) describes a stove with higher efficiency or lower emissions than a traditional stove. The WHO however cautions:&nbsp; “Most ICS models do not meet WHO Guidelines, but offer some benefits and can be used as transitional solutions.Further innovation, research and investment may indeed produce affordable and widely available biomass stoves that meet the WHO Guidelines levels.” Further below in this text I discuss some of the benefits of high-quality ICS.<br>Solar cookers are not as widely adopted as the fuels considered here and are not included in the Energy Ladder published by the WHO.{/ref}<br></figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Empirical evidence: global cross-country data on access to clean fuels</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What is the empirical evidence for the relationship between income and energy source described by the ‘Energy Ladder’?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are studies that look at this relationship on the household level.{ref}See Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., … Brauer, M. (2020) – Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In <em>The Lancet Planetary Health</em>, <em>4</em>(10), e451–e462.<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2"> https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2</a>{/ref}&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But even across countries the data shows how strongly access to clean cooking fuels differs between poor and rich countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The latest data on the relationship between a country’s average income and the access to clean fuels is shown in the scatterplot.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In most countries in which the average income is lower than $10,000 less than half of the population has access to clean energy. By switching this chart to show the change over time – either by adjusting the time slider or by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita?endpointsOnly=1&amp;time=2000..2020">clicking here</a> – you see that the share who has access to clean energy tends to increase strongly as <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth">incomes grow</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Related</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/energy","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> 
{
    "id": "wp-46715",
    "slug": "energy-ladder",
    "content": {
        "toc": [],
        "body": [
            {
                "left": [
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Rich people use electricity or gas to cook. But ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "40% of the world",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " do not have access to these clean, modern energy sources. What do they rely on instead?",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "The visualization below is the World Health Organization's answer. The so-called \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019 shows the dominant sources of household energy at different levels of income. From very low incomes on the left, to high incomes on the right.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "The poorest households burn wood and other biomass, like crop waste and dried dung. Those who can afford it cook and heat with charcoal or coal.{ref}WHO (2018) \u2013",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " Fact Sheet - Household air pollution and health",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Kirk R Smith (2003) \u2013 Indoor air pollution: a global health concern, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68, Issue 1, December 2003, Pages 209\u2013225,",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "The pollutants encompass a wide range of different compounds, the most important ones being fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, and carbon monoxide.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "WHO 2006) reports: ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "\u201cBurning solid fuels produces extremely high levels of indoor air pollution: typical 24-hour levels of PM10 in biomass-using homes in Africa, Asia or Latin America range from 300 to 3000 micrograms per cubic metre (\u00b5g/m3). Peaks during cooking may be as high as 10 000 \u00b5g/m3. By comparison, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has set the standard for annual mean PM10 levels in outdoor air at 50 \u00b5g/m3; the annual mean PM10 limit agreed by the European Union is 40 \u00b5g/m3.\u201d \u2013\u2013 ",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "WHO (2006) \u2013 Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " here",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ".",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Delhi is one of the cities with the worst air quality in recent years. Wikipedia has an overview of measurements on their site",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " Air pollution in Delhi",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " and daily data on the air quality in Delhi can be found",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://aqicn.org/city/delhi/",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " here",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ".",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "For a comparison of indoor air pollution levels from different energy sources see Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., \u2026 Brauer, M. (2020) \u2013 Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "The Lancet Planetary Health",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ", ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "4",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "(10), e451\u2013e462.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "{/ref}\u00a0",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "These fuels \u2013 from crop waste and dung on the left, to charcoal and coal in the middle of the visualization, are termed \u2018solid fuels\u2019. The other fuels, on the higher steps of the energy ladder, are termed \u2018clean fuels\u2019. When we track the share of households ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "using clean fuels for cooking",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " \u2013 an important metric in energy access \u2013 this is the definition of ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "clean fuels",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " that is used.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Why is access to clean fuels so important?",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Burning solid fuels on open fires or simple stoves fills the room with smoke and toxic chemicals. These traditional energy sources expose those in the household \u2013 often women and children \u2013 to pollution levels that are ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "far",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " higher than in even the most polluted cities in the world. This indoor air pollution leads to millions of deaths every year. See our entry on ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "http://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "Indoor Air Pollution",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " for more information.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    }
                ],
                "type": "sticky-right",
                "right": [
                    {
                        "alt": "",
                        "size": "wide",
                        "type": "image",
                        "filename": "Energy-Ladder-1.png",
                        "parseErrors": []
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Empirical evidence: global cross-country data on access to clean fuels",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "left": [
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "What is the empirical evidence for the relationship between income and energy source described by the \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019?",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "There are studies that look at this relationship on the household level.{ref}See Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., \u2026 Brauer, M. (2020) \u2013 Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "The Lancet Planetary Health",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ", ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "4",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "(10), e451\u2013e462.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": " https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "{/ref}\u00a0",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "But even across countries the data shows how strongly access to clean cooking fuels differs between poor and rich countries.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "The latest data on the relationship between a country\u2019s average income and the access to clean fuels is shown in the scatterplot.\u00a0",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "In most countries in which the average income is lower than $10,000 less than half of the population has access to clean energy. By switching this chart to show the change over time \u2013 either by adjusting the time slider or by ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita?endpointsOnly=1&time=2000..2020",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "clicking here",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " \u2013 you see that the share who has access to clean energy tends to increase strongly as ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "incomes grow",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ".",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    }
                ],
                "type": "sticky-right",
                "right": [
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita",
                        "type": "chart",
                        "parseErrors": []
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Related",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels",
                "type": "prominent-link",
                "title": "",
                "description": "",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/energy",
                "type": "prominent-link",
                "title": "",
                "description": "",
                "parseErrors": []
            }
        ],
        "type": "article",
        "title": "The \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019: What energy sources do people on different incomes rely on?",
        "authors": [
            "Max Roser"
        ],
        "dateline": "December 1, 2021",
        "sidebar-toc": false,
        "featured-image": "Energy-Ladder-1.png"
    },
    "createdAt": "2021-12-01T08:41:57.000Z",
    "published": false,
    "updatedAt": "2022-02-18T11:11:43.000Z",
    "revisionId": null,
    "publishedAt": "2021-12-01T08:42:57.000Z",
    "relatedCharts": [],
    "publicationContext": "listed"
}
 
{
    "errors": [
        {
            "name": "too many figcaption elements after archieml transform",
            "details": "Found 24 elements after transforming to archieml"
        },
        {
            "name": "unexpected wp component tag",
            "details": "Found unhandled wp:comment tag image"
        },
        {
            "name": "unhandled html tag found",
            "details": "Encountered the unhandled tag hr"
        },
        {
            "name": "unexpected wp component tag",
            "details": "Found unhandled wp:comment tag separator"
        }
    ],
    "numBlocks": 6,
    "numErrors": 4,
    "wpTagCounts": {
        "html": 1,
        "image": 1,
        "column": 4,
        "columns": 2,
        "heading": 2,
        "paragraph": 17,
        "separator": 1,
        "owid/prominent-link": 2
    },
    "htmlTagCounts": {
        "p": 17,
        "h4": 2,
        "hr": 1,
        "div": 6,
        "figure": 1,
        "iframe": 1,
        "figcaption": 1
    }
}
 2021-12-01 08:42:57 2024-02-16 14:22:52 1RJ0adOwtP0rmeNm4s27mW-y_sdx2CZfkksuEXOTdp9M 
[
    "Max Roser"
]
   2021-12-01 08:41:57 2022-02-18 11:11:43 https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1.png 
{}
 Rich people use electricity or gas to cook. But [40% of the world](http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels) do not have access to these clean, modern energy sources. What do they rely on instead? The visualization below is the World Health Organization's answer. The so-called ‘Energy Ladder’ shows the dominant sources of household energy at different levels of income. From very low incomes on the left, to high incomes on the right. The poorest households burn wood and other biomass, like crop waste and dried dung. Those who can afford it cook and heat with charcoal or coal.{ref}WHO (2018) –[ Fact Sheet - Household air pollution and health](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health) Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Kirk R Smith (2003) – Indoor air pollution: a global health concern, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68, Issue 1, December 2003, Pages 209–225,[ https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029](https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029) The pollutants encompass a wide range of different compounds, the most important ones being fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, and carbon monoxide. WHO 2006) reports: _“Burning solid fuels produces extremely high levels of indoor air pollution: typical 24-hour levels of PM10 in biomass-using homes in Africa, Asia or Latin America range from 300 to 3000 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3). Peaks during cooking may be as high as 10 000 µg/m3. By comparison, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has set the standard for annual mean PM10 levels in outdoor air at 50 µg/m3; the annual mean PM10 limit agreed by the European Union is 40 µg/m3.” –– _WHO (2006) – Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online[ here](http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421). Delhi is one of the cities with the worst air quality in recent years. Wikipedia has an overview of measurements on their site[ Air pollution in Delhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi) and daily data on the air quality in Delhi can be found[ here](https://aqicn.org/city/delhi/). For a comparison of indoor air pollution levels from different energy sources see Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., … Brauer, M. (2020) – Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In _The Lancet Planetary Health_, _4_(10), e451–e462.[ https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2){/ref}  These fuels – from crop waste and dung on the left, to charcoal and coal in the middle of the visualization, are termed ‘solid fuels’. The other fuels, on the higher steps of the energy ladder, are termed ‘clean fuels’. When we track the share of households [using clean fuels for cooking](http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels) – an important metric in energy access – this is the definition of _clean fuels_ that is used. Why is access to clean fuels so important? Burning solid fuels on open fires or simple stoves fills the room with smoke and toxic chemicals. These traditional energy sources expose those in the household – often women and children – to pollution levels that are _far_ higher than in even the most polluted cities in the world. This indoor air pollution leads to millions of deaths every year. See our entry on [Indoor Air Pollution](http://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution) for more information. <Image filename="Energy-Ladder-1.png" alt=""/> ## Empirical evidence: global cross-country data on access to clean fuels What is the empirical evidence for the relationship between income and energy source described by the ‘Energy Ladder’? There are studies that look at this relationship on the household level.{ref}See Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., … Brauer, M. (2020) – Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In _The Lancet Planetary Health_, _4_(10), e451–e462.[ https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2){/ref}  But even across countries the data shows how strongly access to clean cooking fuels differs between poor and rich countries. The latest data on the relationship between a country’s average income and the access to clean fuels is shown in the scatterplot.  In most countries in which the average income is lower than $10,000 less than half of the population has access to clean energy. By switching this chart to show the change over time – either by adjusting the time slider or by [clicking here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita?endpointsOnly=1&time=2000..2020) – you see that the share who has access to clean energy tends to increase strongly as [incomes grow](https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita"/> ## Related ### https://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels ### https://ourworldindata.org/energy 
{
    "id": 46715,
    "date": "2021-12-01T08:42:57",
    "guid": {
        "rendered": "https://owid.cloud/?p=46715"
    },
    "link": "https://owid.cloud/energy-ladder",
    "meta": {
        "owid_publication_context_meta_field": []
    },
    "slug": "energy-ladder",
    "tags": [],
    "type": "post",
    "title": {
        "rendered": "The \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019: What energy sources do people on different incomes rely on?"
    },
    "_links": {
        "self": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/46715"
            }
        ],
        "about": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post"
            }
        ],
        "author": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/users/2",
                "embeddable": true
            }
        ],
        "curies": [
            {
                "href": "https://api.w.org/{rel}",
                "name": "wp",
                "templated": true
            }
        ],
        "replies": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=46715",
                "embeddable": true
            }
        ],
        "wp:term": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=46715",
                "taxonomy": "category",
                "embeddable": true
            },
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=46715",
                "taxonomy": "post_tag",
                "embeddable": true
            }
        ],
        "collection": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts"
            }
        ],
        "wp:attachment": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=46715"
            }
        ],
        "version-history": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/46715/revisions",
                "count": 4
            }
        ],
        "wp:featuredmedia": [
            {
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media/44335",
                "embeddable": true
            }
        ],
        "predecessor-version": [
            {
                "id": 49245,
                "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/46715/revisions/49245"
            }
        ]
    },
    "author": 2,
    "format": "standard",
    "status": "publish",
    "sticky": false,
    "content": {
        "rendered": "\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Rich people use electricity or gas to cook. But <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels\">40% of the world</a> do not have access to these clean, modern energy sources. What do they rely on instead?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The visualization below is the World Health Organization&#8217;s answer. The so-called \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019 shows the dominant sources of household energy at different levels of income. From very low incomes on the left, to high incomes on the right.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The poorest households burn wood and other biomass, like crop waste and dried dung. Those who can afford it cook and heat with charcoal or coal.{ref}WHO (2018) \u2013<a href=\"https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health\"> Fact Sheet &#8211; Household air pollution and health</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, Kirk R Smith (2003) \u2013 Indoor air pollution: a global health concern, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68, Issue 1, December 2003, Pages 209\u2013225,<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029\"> https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/ldg029</a></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pollutants encompass a wide range of different compounds, the most important ones being fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, and carbon monoxide.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>WHO 2006) reports: <em>\u201cBurning solid fuels produces extremely high levels of indoor air pollution: typical 24-hour levels of PM10 in biomass-using homes in Africa, Asia or Latin America range from 300 to 3000 micrograms per cubic metre (\u00b5g/m3). Peaks during cooking may be as high as 10 000 \u00b5g/m3. By comparison, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has set the standard for annual mean PM10 levels in outdoor air at 50 \u00b5g/m3; the annual mean PM10 limit agreed by the European Union is 40 \u00b5g/m3.\u201d \u2013\u2013 </em>WHO (2006) \u2013 Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online<a href=\"http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421\"> here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Delhi is one of the cities with the worst air quality in recent years. Wikipedia has an overview of measurements on their site<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi\"> Air pollution in Delhi</a> and daily data on the air quality in Delhi can be found<a href=\"https://aqicn.org/city/delhi/\"> here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a comparison of indoor air pollution levels from different energy sources see Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., \u2026 Brauer, M. (2020) \u2013 Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In <em>The Lancet Planetary Health</em>, <em>4</em>(10), e451\u2013e462.<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2\"> https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2</a>{/ref}&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>These fuels \u2013 from crop waste and dung on the left, to charcoal and coal in the middle of the visualization, are termed \u2018solid fuels\u2019. The other fuels, on the higher steps of the energy ladder, are termed \u2018clean fuels\u2019. When we track the share of households <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels\">using clean fuels for cooking</a> \u2013 an important metric in energy access \u2013 this is the definition of <em>clean fuels</em> that is used.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is access to clean fuels so important?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Burning solid fuels on open fires or simple stoves fills the room with smoke and toxic chemicals. These traditional energy sources expose those in the household \u2013 often women and children \u2013 to pollution levels that are <em>far</em> higher than in even the most polluted cities in the world. This indoor air pollution leads to millions of deaths every year. See our entry on <a href=\"http://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution\">Indoor Air Pollution</a> for more information.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"3532\" height=\"2460\" src=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-44335\" srcset=\"https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1.png 3532w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-400x279.png 400w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-790x550.png 790w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-150x104.png 150w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-768x535.png 768w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-1536x1070.png 1536w, https://owid.cloud/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-2048x1426.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3532px) 100vw, 3532px\" /><figcaption>The Energy Ladder{ref}This visualization is based on the Energy Ladder presented in WHO (2006) \u2013 Fuel for life: household energy and health. Online<a href=\"http://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43421\"> here</a>.<br>Clean fuels are those that do not cause harmful levels of emissions within the household. Among those fuels that are considered in the \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019 these are all fuels except the solid fuels and biomass.<br>On clean fuels see:<br>WHO, IEA, GACC, UNDP and World Bank (2018) \u2013<a href=\"https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17465PB_2_Draft.pdf\"> Achieving Universal Access to Clean and Modern Cooking Fuels and Technologies</a><br><a href=\"https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology\">WHO (2014) \u2013 WHO indoor air quality guidelines: household fuel combustion</a>.<br>IEA (2020) \u2013<a href=\"https://www.iea.org/articles/defining-energy-access-2020-methodology\"> Defining energy access: 2020 methodology</a>.<br>It would be possible to add specific technologies (rather than just fuels) to the Energy Ladder, in such an extended version one might consider to include improved biomass cookstoves (ICS) and solar cookers.<br>An improved biomass cookstove (ICS) describes a stove with higher efficiency or lower emissions than a traditional stove. The WHO however cautions:&nbsp; \u201cMost ICS models do not meet WHO Guidelines, but offer some benefits and can be used as transitional solutions.Further innovation, research and investment may indeed produce affordable and widely available biomass stoves that meet the WHO Guidelines levels.\u201d Further below in this text I discuss some of the benefits of high-quality ICS.<br>Solar cookers are not as widely adopted as the fuels considered here and are not included in the Energy Ladder published by the WHO.{/ref}<br></figcaption></figure>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Empirical evidence: global cross-country data on access to clean fuels</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>What is the empirical evidence for the relationship between income and energy source described by the \u2018Energy Ladder\u2019?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are studies that look at this relationship on the household level.{ref}See Shupler, M., Hystad, P., Birch, A., Miller-Lionberg, D., Jeronimo, M., Arku, R. E., Chu, Y. L., Mushtaha, M., Heenan, L., Rangarajan, S., Seron, P., Lanas, F., Cazor, F., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., Camacho, P. A., Perez, M., Yeates, K., West, N., Ncube, T., \u2026 Brauer, M. (2020) \u2013 Household and personal air pollution exposure measurements from 120 communities in eight countries: Results from the PURE-AIR study. In <em>The Lancet Planetary Health</em>, <em>4</em>(10), e451\u2013e462.<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2\"> https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30197-2</a>{/ref}&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But even across countries the data shows how strongly access to clean cooking fuels differs between poor and rich countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest data on the relationship between a country\u2019s average income and the access to clean fuels is shown in the scatterplot.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In most countries in which the average income is lower than $10,000 less than half of the population has access to clean energy. By switching this chart to show the change over time \u2013 either by adjusting the time slider or by <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita?endpointsOnly=1&amp;time=2000..2020\">clicking here</a> \u2013 you see that the share who has access to clean energy tends to increase strongly as <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/what-is-economic-growth\">incomes grow</a>.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/access-to-clean-fuels-for-cooking-vs-gdp-per-capita\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n\n<h4>Related</h4>\n\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/no-clean-cooking-fuels</link-url>\n        <title></title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/energy</link-url>\n        <title></title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>",
        "protected": false
    },
    "excerpt": {
        "rendered": "",
        "protected": false
    },
    "date_gmt": "2021-12-01T08:42:57",
    "modified": "2022-02-18T11:11:43",
    "template": "",
    "categories": [
        48,
        1
    ],
    "ping_status": "closed",
    "authors_name": [
        "Max Roser"
    ],
    "modified_gmt": "2022-02-18T11:11:43",
    "comment_status": "closed",
    "featured_media": 44335,
    "featured_media_paths": {
        "thumbnail": "/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-150x104.png",
        "medium_large": "/app/uploads/2021/07/Energy-Ladder-1-768x535.png"
    }
}

Links from other tables