Certain studies have found that around 1.1 billion people living in developing countries have no access to constant electricity. In fact, about 590 million of them live in Africa, where the electrification rate of rural areas is low at only 14%. Lack of electricity often hampers development, the ability of people to learn, create enterprises, and provide public services–such as health care. One of the goals of the United Nations is for countries to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030 as it is a necessity for a superb quality of life. However, the investment cost required to meet this mark is enormous and could be up to $640 billion, according to the International Energy Agency.
Electricity is pivotal to the ability of several modern societies to function, and a major failure or attack on the power grid of a nation would cause the country itself to shut down.
If you live in Singapore, there is a Singapore open electricity market where you can select from the wide range of providers.
Besides that, electricity is crucial in the world of today as it helps in a variety of ways which include:
Making cities safe and secure: Electricity is used in powering close-circuit televisions (CCTV) and several other security equipment. It is also easier and cheaper to operate city lights on electricity as opposed to other forms of power.
Increasing productivity: It is useful for the continued and untethered productivity of individuals and businesses. For instance, electricity is used to cook and preserve food in refrigerators and freezers.
Passing information: It will be impossible to power gadgets and equipment–such as mobile phones, computers, television–during the information age without electricity.
Communication purposes: Electricity allows information to be sent and received within a short period of time. This is via the use of email and other internet related services.
Health purposes: equipment used in hospitals run on electricity, which renders it essential for health purposes.
The increasing reliance on electricity has shown that electricity is crucial to our operations, and it is capable of affecting the quality of life of people on different fronts. Also, the supply of power has positive effects on certain businesses and clinics.
A research carried out in Rwanda found that electric lighting yielded significant benefits for households. For instance, the availability of electricity caused the study time of children at home to increase by 19 to 44 minutes after nightfall, although it had no effect on the total time the students studied. The reason for this is because the children simply shifted their study time and chose to study in the nighttime rather than the daytime. Electricity increases flexibility.
Stable electricity can improve the quality of life of individuals as it enhances communication, information passage, and improves security, safety, productivity, health and many more. However, it is not without its drawbacks as it can also be damaging to individuals and the environment; for instance, electricity often results in the release of hazardous materials thereby causing pollution.
There are several ways through which electricity helps to improve the life conditions of people, and it is difficult to imagine what the world would be like without electricity.