Abstract:
Many of the energy systems functioning across the developing world are poorly designed and largely inadequate to meet
a country’s commercial and domestic energy needs. This is especially so in Latin America, where poverty trends have been
exacerbated by limited access to energy, which could be used towards supporting industrial and small-scale commercial
activities. This has characterised the widespread trend of energy poverty. This phenomenon poses a major barrier towards
achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addressing climate change, since lack of access to reliable
energy generation systems hinders the development of economic activities and limits the comfort of living conditions.
This paper reports on a study aimed at catering to a better understanding of the challenges related to energy poverty in Latin America and identifying some of the tools that may be deployed to address them. The methodological procedures
used were bibliometric analysis and survey. The main findings of this research evidence that reducing energy poverty
in Latin American countries is crucial to alleviating household costs since a considerable part of family income is used
to pay the energy needs. Less use of coal, greater access to electricity—including those from renewable generation—as
well as the use of technologies and programs subsidized by governments would significantly contribute to increasing
the Latin American citizens’ quality of life and achieving the SDGs.
