Energy brings countless benefits to human life. Energy facilitates heating and cooling, lighting, communications, health, food, education, industrial production, and transportation. Unfortunately, these benefits have yet to reach more than two billion people around the world.
Rural women suffer most from lack of access to electricity.
In Africa, for example, it is estimated that many women spend up to six hours each day manually milling grain. Through electrification, the same task could be completed in a fraction of the time enabling women to devote more time to education, childcare, or entrepreneurial activities. To achieve and maintain social and economic progress, developing countries need to expand their energy supply without destroying the environment. Equitable, sustainable development depends on widespread access to appropriate energy services. Following are success stories from Nepal , Guatemala , and West Africa .