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Energy access in informal settlements. Results of a wide on site survey in Rio De Janeiro
Energy Policy 134 (2019) 110943
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Energy access in informal settlements. Results of a wide on site survey in Rio De Janeiro
T
Federico Maria Buteraa, Paola Caputoa, , Rajendra Singh Adhikaria, Renata Meleb ⁎
a b
Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonardi 9, 20133, Milan, Italy ENEL Foundation, Via Vincenzo Bellini 24, 00198, Rome, Italy
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Informal settlements Energy access Energy poverty Energy consumption Energy survey Latin America
This paper presents the results of a survey on two informal settlements in Rio De Janeiro: Reta Velha (Itaboraí) and Jardim Bom Retiro (São Gonçalo). A detailed analysis of energy access and energy poverty level has been accomplished by questionnaires carried out in 400 households. The questionnaire was based on a detailed multitier approach. It was aimed at exploring the actual energy access and energy poverty in favelas, in addition to draw the local living conditions and the availability of the basic services. The outcomes of the research underline the problem of outages and low tension, and illegal connections. Furthermore, electricity consumption is very high compared to the service provided, and expenditures are generally disproportioned to the households’ income. Many interesting outcomes emerge from the survey. Referring to energy poverty, it is a status in which 50% of households are in Jardim Bom Retiro and 20% in Reta Velha. Due to the representativeness of the treated case, the results permit the definition of the state of the art and of enhancing guidelines suitable also for other contexts, at least in the universe of informal settlements in Latin America and Caribbean.
1. Introduction
on biomass, coal or kerosene as their primary cooking fuel (IEA, 2018) Moreover, many more millions who do have access to infrastructures are unable to meet their basic energy needs because they cannot afford to pay for energy (IEA, 2013). The problem of energy consumption and energy poverty has been discussed widely in the literature e.g. (Niu et al., 2012; Bhattacharyya, 2006), but most of these studies are focused on rural and urban households and are rarely specific on the context of informal settlements. Improving the living conditions in slums is a crucial topic also addressed by the sustainable development goals, and access to modern energy services (electricity, clean and safe cooking systems) plays a fundamental role in achieving these specific goals (McCauley et al., 2019). While infrastructural challenges in slums have been addressed by certain urban development policies, the failure to recognize energy as a basic service has been identified as a major gap (Singh et al., 2015). While the lack of modern cooking systems affects mainly health (indoor pollution due to the production of smoke deriving from the combustion of biomass has a strong impact on women and children health) and family expenditure, lack of electricity access has a strong impact on education and on productive income-generating activities. For this reason access to modern energy services (clean cooking and access to electricity) for slum dwellers is a crucial need for improving
The impressive urban growth that we are witnessing in the last decades is shaping our future development. Cities are the places where cultures, innovation and economies grow. At the same time, cities also concentrate some of the worst characteristics of our society, such as inequalities and very poor living conditions, crime and pollution. According to UN-Habitat (UN-Habitat, 2003), the term ‘slum’ describes a wide range of low-income settlements and/or poor human living conditions. ‘Slum’, at its simplest, is ‘a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor’. This definition encapsulates the essential characteristics of slums: high densities and low standards of housing (structure and services), and ‘squalor’. Slums and their dwellings may vary from simple shacks to more permanent structures, while access to basic services and infrastructure tends to be limited or badly deteriorated. As of today, slum dwellers, whose global number is estimated in about 1 billion, slightly less than one third of the global urban population and this number grows by 500,000 a week (Aron et al., 2009). Poverty is a fact of life for millions of people, and energy poverty is both a cause and consequence of it. An estimated nearly 1 billion people (14% of the global population) have no access to electricity and almost 2.7 billion do not have access to clean cooking facilities, relying instead ⁎
Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Caputo).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.110943 Received 25 January 2019; Received in revised form 10 June 2019; Accepted 16 August 2019 0301-4215/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Energy Policy 134 (2019) 110943
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their quality of life and promoting the development of low income urban areas. According to a study (Sovacool, 2012) energy poverty is defined as the “inability to cook with modern cooking fuels and the lack of a bare minimum of electric lighting to read or for other household and productive activities at sunset”. The most common concept illustrating energy poverty involves “energy ladders” for household services. The idea implies that the primary types of energy used by the poorest fraction of population in developing countries can be arranged on a “ladder” with the “simplest” or most “traditional” fuels and sources, such as animal power, candles, and wood, at the bottom and with the more “advanced” or “modern” fuels such as electricity LPG at the top. The ladder is often described in terms of efficiencies, with the more efficient fuels or sources placed higher on the ladder. Energy poverty of household is usually measured by means of the fraction of the total income used for providing energy services (cooking, lighting, etc.); conventionally, energy poverty starts when this fraction is above 10% (DECC. National Statistics, 2016). In some slums of developing countries, the fraction is far higher, such as in Nairobi (UNHabitat/GENUS, 2009), where - on the average - households spend about 26% of their monthly income on energy with a maximum of 34% and a minimum of 15%. Within this framework, slums electrification is a priority that still finds barriers preventing a fruitful cooperation between utilities, slum dwellers, and local authorities (Schnitzer et al., 2014; Mimmi, 2014; Butera et al., 2015; Al-Sumaiti et al., 2017). In particular, among the barriers, connection fee and the inability to pay regularly are the most relevant and direct consequence of the informality of the settlements: people cannot enter in formal agreements, and cannot pay a regular bill because of irregular income. As a consequence, many families opt to pay a neighbour to share a meter or turn to unlicensed electricians and even local cartels that provide the service illegally (Depuru et al., 2010; Mimmi and Ecer, 2010; Smith, 2004). This mechanism damages both the utilities and the dwellers: utilities experience significant insolvency rates plus both technical and non-technical losses, while dwellers (both formal and informal) suffer from voltage outages due to the irregular load produced by the illegal connection. Furthermore, because of a virtually free connection, electricity theft triggers inefficient habits and energy waste. In the literature, analysis on the household electricity consumption in the less developed countries have been carried out through survey (Niu et al., 2016a, 2016b; Huang, 2015) but again these are not directly related to slums. An analysis of energy consumption and energy efficiency in informal settlements of developing countries was developed within a collaborative project among Enel Foundation,1 Politecnico di Milano2 and UN-Habitat.3 A survey on households energy consumption and energy efficiency was carried out in two communities in Rio de Janeiro State with characteristics of informal settlements: Reta Velha, in the town of Itaboraí and Jardim Bom Retiro, in the town of São Gonçalo. Climatic conditions of the two sites can be considered the same as in Rio de Janeiro. According to 2010 census, the population in barrio Bom Retiro amounts to about 21,000 inhabitants (http://populacao.net.br/p); population of Jardim Bom Retiro is a not known fraction of the entire barrio. According to ENEL (ENEL, 2014) the population of Reta Velha amounts to about 5300 people (2010 census) (http://populacao.net.br/ p). Both settlements suffer widespread phenomena of violence and crime because of the parallel power of militias and drug traffickers,
especially in Reta Velha, and illegal connections to the electric grid are quite common. 2. Methodology After a wide desk research activity focused on understanding the use of energy in the slums (Butera et al., 2016), a questionnaire, based on a multi-tier approach (Ampla Energia e Serviços) described in following section, was adopted in the survey and completed by 400 households. Information collected were then organized by an Excel sheet, able to implement data cleaning and elaboration. 2.1. The questionnaire The questionnaire is based on researches developed by ESMAP (https://www.esmap.org) within its program on energy access worldwide. They imply a Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) that resolves the shortcomings of binary metrics (yes/no) by replacing these categories with tiers of energy supply performance. Energy access is thus defined as the ability to obtain energy that is adequate, available when needed, reliable, of good quality, affordable, legal, convenient, healthy and safe for all required energy applications across households, productive enterprises and community institutions (Bhatia and Angelou, 2015; IEA, 2015). The survey is focused on the exploration of the following themes: home and dwelling features; energy sources employed; energy expenditure in relation with salary and willingness to pay; energy data (lighting, food preservation, cooking, other home appliances, water heating, dwelling cooling, dwelling heating, productive activities appliances and problems related to energy access and management). These themes were explored by means of a list of 158 questions, many of them with multiple-choice answers. The questionnaire was originally developed in English by the research team of Politecnico di Milano and was in some parts adapted to the local context (some questions showed to be not applicable or redundant) and translated into Portuguese. 2.2. Sampling, interviews and data elaboration up.
A digital database containing all the collected information was set
The questionnaire, containing 160 questions, was based on direct interview approach, with collaboration of properly trained assistants. A team of eight people was involved: six surveyors and two field coordinators with second level degree, chosen among Reta Velha's or Jardim Bom Retiro's dwellers and engaged by the “Viva Rio” NGO.4 In order to ensure an even coverage of male and female respondents, the interview timings were split between morning, afternoon and evening hours. The interviews were carried out between 16 November and 18 December 2015 by 400 households (150 households in Reta Velha Itaboraí and 250 in Jardim Bom Retiro - São Gonçalo), considering the objective of the study, timetable and available resources. To make the sample as representative as possible, interviewed people were chosen as follows: each interviewer started from his home and defined a safe area for administrating the questionnaire. In each area one household out of five was chosen; if the interview was refused, then the interviewer moved to the next household in the same street until the interview was accepted. One of the main issues faced by the surveyors was a high-level 4 Viva Rio (www.vivario.org.br) is a traditional and reliable local organisation and has been successfully working in these two communities with AMPLA (the local electric company). The NGO has committed staff and manages to work with local people, a key element for the success of this survey.
1
www.enelfoundation.org. 2 www.polimi.it. 3 unhabitat.org. 2
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Table 1 General demographic information on the samples surveyed.
Reta Velha Jardim Bom Retiro
No. inhabitants of households surveyed
Average persons per household
Kids %
Average age years
Male %
Female %
Single %
395 739
2.65 2.95
30 40
28.7 31.6
52 46
48 54
19 34
violence crisis in the communities, which delayed the conclusion of the work, especially in Reta Velha. Information were organized by an Excel sheet and, after an important step of verification of collected data, interesting indicators and graphs were elaborated, as described in section 3.
situation in Reta Velha are instead less than 5%. 3.3. Dwellings conditions Dwellings characteristics and conditions provide an idea of the quality of living and are a very important indicator for, inter alia, predicting thermal comfort conditions, with consequent effect on energy consumption for achieving it. As a general perception, in Reta Velha interviewed people is reasonably satisfied of the global conditions of their house: 60% find them good and 40% medium. Not so in Jardim Bom Retiro, where the percentage of interviewed people considering good the conditions of the house in which they live drops to 22%, the majority consider them medium (60%) and a minority (17%) declare that the conditions are poor. The reason of the different perception between the two settlements can be found in the construction characteristics of the buildings; not because of the walls material (in both cases bricks are used, and sometimes concrete or wood for internal partitions), but mainly because of the roof material. In Reta Velha 57% of the interviewed people declare that their roof is made of tiles or prefabricated slab, and in 23% is made of concrete; in 20% of cases the roof is made of asbestos-cement sheets. In Jardim Bom Retiro about half of the interviewed people roofs are made of tiles or prefabricated slabs, and the other half are made of asbestos-cement slabs. Asbestos-cement slabs, besides being carcinogenic, are very thin and when sun hits the roof, they become very hot, and radiate towards the inside, making the indoor environment uncomfortably hot. During the clear nights in the cooler season, on the other hand, these this slabs can give raise to internal condensation because the sheet becomes very cold as effect of re-radiation towards the sky. Material of floors contributes to the different perception found in the two settlements. In Reta Velha floors are made of ceramic tiles in the 97% of houses, while in Jardim Boim Retiro the percentage drops to 72%, the remaining houses having concrete floors. Also windows’ types, shading devices and flyscreens show some differences in the two settlements, giving a further support to the different perception of their dwelling conditions. In Reta Velha almost 95% of buildings hosts a single dwelling; in Jardim Bom Retiro this percentage is 85%, as 15% of buildings hosts two dwellings. In Reta Velha the large majority of the interviewed people live in dwelling with two or more rooms; in Jardim Bom Retiro, instead, almost half of the households live in a one-room dwelling,7 confirming once more the lower level of economic development of the latter. This difference is reflected in the average dwellings’ floor area: 75.5 m2 in Reta Velha and 55.3 m2 in Jardim Bom Retiro; in both cases the average floor-to-ceiling height is 2.7–2.8 m. The survey showed, surprisingly, that the percentage of those having a room used only as kitchen (separate kitchen) is higher in Jardim Bom Retiro than in Reta Velha.
3. Results of the survey The first step in data analysis aimed to the evaluation of their quality and reliability. Completeness of data is sometimes critical for Reta Velha, reflecting the above-mentioned difficult social context coupled with some errors made by the surveyors. In both settlements, in some cases the answers are contradictory, either because not fully understood or because the answer was given without thinking too much. The raw data deriving from the field survey were processed aiming to draw a reasonably accurate picture of the settlements for all the issues having direct or indirect connection with energy consumption. This activity was accomplished with the help of local contacts. A part of the questionnaire aimed to draw a picture of the two settlements’ social and economic status. Demography, employment and literacy were also analyzed and a detailed description about income, dwellings, water, sewerage and energy conditions was drawn as reported in the following sections. 3.1. Demographic composition and social aspects The demographic composition of the sample surveyed is summarised in Table 1. It appears that in Jardim Bom Retiro dwellings are more crowded, there are more kids, more aged people and more women than men, consistently with the national statistics, even if at a larger extent.5 Surveyed samples’ population at working age (more than 16 and less than 65 years) amounts to 76.5% in Reta Velha and 66.8% in Jardim Bom Retiro, which is consistent with the higher percentage of kids and elderly in the latter. The structure of families, according to the marital status appears rather different in the two settlements. In Jardim Bom Retiro, compared with Reta Velha there is a larger percentage of singles and a smaller percentage of married couples, with a preference for an informal cohabitation. The number of unemployed people is higher in Jardim Bom Retiro and the type of activities of its inhabitants shows a lower social and economic development compared to Reta Velha. Surprisingly, here 73.4% of the interviewed people declared that he/she never attended school, conversely in Jardim Bom Retiro this share drops to 64.5%. 3.2. Income It can be noted that about 30% of households in Jardim Bom Retiro have an income lower than the minimum salary, or salario minimo, which was 788 R$/month (214 €) in 2015.6 The households in this 5
At national level, population is made of 48.6% male and 51.4% female (source: Portal Brasil, http://www.brasil.gov.br/cidadania-e-justica/2015/03/ mulheres-sao-maioria-da-populacao-e-ocupam-mais-espaco-no-mercado-detrabalho). 6 880 R$/month (242 €) in 2016.
7 Includes the following options: One room + kitchen and bathroom; one room with the cook-stove inside it; one room with kitchen outside.
3
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Fig. 1. Households electricity consumption in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
100–150 R$/month and 36% more than 150 R$/month; the average expenditure is 131 R$/month. The expenditures declared in Jardim Bom Retiro are: 45% of households spend less than 100 R$/month, 24% in the range 100–150 R $/month and 31% more than 150 R$/month; the average expenditure was 122 R$/month. There is to note that 18% of interviewed did not answer to the question about the expenditures, and this percentage is very close to the percentage of those who answered that they were illegally connected. The average LPG consumption for cooking resulted to be about 11 kg in Reta Velha and 10 kg in Jardim Bom Retiro, with a corresponding expense of 52 and 46 R$/month, respectively. The average annual electricity consumption in Reta Velha is 2428 kWh, and in Jardim Bom Retiro (1898) kWh, and most likely the actual values are higher if combination of legal and illegal connections are considered. According to ISTAT8 (Italian Statistics Institute) the average Italian electricity consumption per domestic user in 2012 was 2299 kWh; slightly higher (2417 kWh) according to ENEA9 (the Italian Agency for Energy and Environment). It may be surprising to find that the average consumption in Reta Velha is higher than the average Italian one, considering the far higher Italian average income. This apparent inconsistency can depend on the combination of three reasons: the lower efficiency of electric appliances, the lower energy awareness in the Brazilian settlements, and the different climatic conditions (i.e higher energy needs for air conditioning or fans in the hottest season). Anyway the comparison with Italy shows that electricity consumption is oversized compared to the service and comfort achieved. Fig. 3 shows an inconsistency: a number of relatively rich households with rather low electricity consumption. One explanation could be that they combine legal and illegal electricity connections. In Jardim Bom Retiro the inconsistency is less marked. The same inconsistency, predictably, comes out from Fig. 4: a number of households with relatively high income spend very little for electricity. The same explanation given above can be applied and the phenomenon is less
3.4. Energy access, water and sewerage To complete the picture of a settlement, living conditions in relation also to basic services such as water, sewage, waste and energy were taken into account. Access to electricity and waste collection is close to 100% of the households, but this condition is not sufficient to guarantee energy access as described in section 3.1. The fuel used for cooking is always LPG, except an occasional use of wood or charcoal for barbecues. The situation about water and sewerage is very critical. Less than 5% of households have access to the water network in both settlements. In Reta Velha about 95% of households rely entirely or partially on water pumped from onsite wells; in Jardim Bom Retiro water pumped from wells provide water to about 82% of household. Access to sewerage is available to about 40% of households in Reta Velha and only to a mere 5% in Jardim Bom Retiro. This situation implies, inter alia, that most likely the underground water, the one pumped from wells, is contaminated. 3.5. Energy consumption and expenditures The different income distribution in the two settlements is reflected in the households’ electricity consumption and in the consequent expenditures (Figs. 1 and 2). In Reta Velha 15% of households consumes less than 100 kWh/ month, 18% in the range 100–150 kWh/month and 67% more than 150 kWh/month; the average consumption is 202 kWh/month; in Jardim Bom Retiro 28% of households consumes less than 100 kWh/ month, 34% in the range 100–150 kWh/month and 38% more than 150 kWh/month; the average consumption is 158 kWh/month. The higher percentage of households with lower electricity consumption (hence expenditures) in Jardin Bom Retiro could be due to the combination of the lower income (prevailing factor) and the higher percentage of single (34% in Jardin Bom Retiro vs. 19% in Reta Velha, as shown in Table 1). In Reta Velha the expenditures declared are as follows: 36% of households spends less than 100 R$/month, 28% in the range
8 9
4
http://dati.istat.it/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DCCV_CNSENRG. http://kilowattene.enea.it/KiloWattene-consumi-famiglie.html.
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Fig. 2. Households electricity expenditures in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
Fig. 3. Electricity consumption per household income range.
marked in Jardim Bom Retiro.
knowing the number of liters lifted and from which depth or if for water pump is meant a device for lifting the water pressure; Considering the average income of households in both settlements, the penetration of air conditioning units is surprisingly high, almost 45% in Reta Velha and 20% in Jardim Bom Retiro; Among the electric appliances, that with the higher penetration is the fan (around 90% in both settlement, where in more than 50% of dwellings two or more fans are present) demonstrating that cooling is a critical issue. Even if all the households in Reta Velha and almost all in Jardim Bom Retiro an electric shower is available, the declared use of hot water is not much widespread: only in 26.7% of households in the former and in 36.8% in the latter. The electric shower can be a critical issue not only for the consumption but also because of its impact on the transmission lines, as its power is high (> 5 kW), especially if they are used all within a narrow time frame (back from work, in the afternoon, for example).
3.6. Electric domestic appliances To obtain a more detailed insight in the electricity use the two settlements households, an obliged step is the analysis of the amount and type of electric domestic appliances present and used (Fig. 5). It can be observed from the figures: There are more households using incandescent bulbs in Reta Velha than in Jardim Bom Retiro; this is quite surprising, as in the former, being the household somehow richer, the cost of fluorescent lamps is more affordable than in the latter. A possible explanation is given later; Consistently with the higher average income and electricity consumption in Reta Velha, the penetration of the more expensive and energy consuming devices is higher; Water pumping is, especially in Reta Velha, a cause of electricity consumption – even if it is difficult to evaluate its importance not 5
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Fig. 4. Expenditures for electricity per household income range.
Fig. 5. Penetration of electric domestic appliances in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
3.7. Air conditioning and fans
In spite of the lower number of air conditioners in Jardim Bom Retiro, 68% of responses to the question “Is space cooling compatible with your needs?” was yes, compared with 57% in Reta Velha. This different perception is confirmed by the answers to the question: “Is your expenditure related to space cooling compatible with your level of thermal comfort?“. In Reta Velha the positive answers were 53% and in Jardim Bom Retiro 65%. Where more than 50% of respondents in Reta Velha was satisfied of the level of comfort they can achieve during the hot season, at the same time 94% of them finds that their expenditure related to cooling is not compatible with their income, probably because most of them relay mainly on air conditioning; in Jardim Bom Retiro the figure is 70%. An inconsistency with previous answers derives from the answers to the question “Do you have any problems with space cooling?“. In Jardim Bom Retiro we had 70% of positive answers: this should mean that they are not satisfied of the level of comfort that they achieve,
In Jardim Bom Retiro the majority of households rely mainly on fans, one or more, and much less on just an air conditioner; a significant part of households combine one air conditioner with one or more fans. In Reta Velha, households rely less on fans only, and a significant number combine one air conditioning unit with one or more fans. Air conditioning units are generally the smallest ones on the market (7000 btu/h, or 2 kW); a few slightly more powerful ones (9000 btu/h, or 2.6 kW) are declared in some Jardim Bom Retiro households. Too few answers to be statistically significant were given in Reta Velha about the duration of use of air conditioners. In Jardim Bom Retiro, instead, all the interviewed people declaring the ownership of an air conditioner gave an answer, and the average duration of use resulted to be more than 100 h/month, corresponding to over 60 kWh/ month consumption per air conditioner in the hottest period. 6
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where previously 68% answered that space cooling was compatible with their needs. Most likely there was some misinterpretation of the question. In general, however, we can say that the demand for thermal comfort is not, by large extent, satisfied and can be expected to grow. The growth could be less steep if some measure is taken for improving the building envelope.
The unsatisfied people in both settlements complain about outages number and length, and low tension. A minority of households (27%) in Jardim Bom Retiro is willing to change their primary source of electricity, and almost none in Reta Velha. Those willing a change would all switch to a PV system (certainly, their information is rather limited, as the PV system as alternative to the grid would be a rather expensive stand-by system). Also the access to cooking energy shows some problem. A minority of the interviewed persons complained about LPG (6.7% in Reta Velha and 14.4% in Jardim Bom Retiro), because of the quality of the bottle (probably sometimes the bottle is sold not completely filled with fuel). In Jardim Bom Retiro about one out of 5 interviewed people thinks that his cookstove does not meet all his cooking needs, as that they would like to have a stove capable to make cooking faster. The percentage of those willing to change their cookstove is slightly higher: 28%, as it includes also those willing to substitute their old device with a new one. No complain from Reta Velha, instead.
3.8. Energy services satisfaction In Reta Velha all the users declare that they are legally connected to the grid. A different picture is shown in Jardim Bom Retiro, where 13% of the interviewed declared that they get electricity via an illegal connection to the grid, 3% borrows it from a neighbour, and 1.6% does not have any access. The most critical issue, regarding the quality of electricity service as perceived by the users, is linked to the outages and the low and variable tension, especially in the hot season. The answers in the two settlements, however, were different: the situation seems better in Reta Velha, where only 18% on the interviewed answered yes to the question: “In the last 12 months, did the performance of your primary source of electricity vary across seasons?“, while in Jardim Bom Retiro the number of yes reached 50%. The fact that not all the interviewed answered yes could mean that there are areas better serviced than others are. The interviewed people answering yes where then asked about the worst season. As expected all agreed on the hot season, when fans, air conditioners, refrigerators and probably also an increased use of showers stress the grid, because of the higher temperatures. As consequence of the low and variable tension, in Reta Velha there is some complain (5%) about damages to the electric appliances; the complains in Jardim Bom Retiro are higher: 28%. Some contradiction arises from the declared cost of kWh, as read on the bill. The values range from an average 0.70 R$/kWh in Reta Velha to an average of 0.67 in Jardim Bom Retiro. The gap is narrow, and may derive from the structure of the tariff, according to which the unit cost of electricity depends on the consumption. Being higher the number of consumers in the low range in Jardim Bom Retiro, the average cost of electricity for the entire sample results lower.
3.9. Energy poverty and summary of results The results of the survey can be also used for evaluating the energy poverty of the settlements. In literature, many ways of defining energy poverty can be found (European Commission, 2015). Often it is defined in terms of ratio of the total energy expenditures (electricity and cooking, in our case) to the income of a household, i.e. a household is classified as being in the status of energy poverty when its energy expenditure is above 10% of its income, adopting the threshold used in UK for fuel poverty (DECC. National Statistics, 2016; Santamouris et al., 2007). Even if its use is controversial for evaluating the absolute value of energy poverty, this indicator can be used quite effectively for comparing the two settlements. The energy poverty analysis shows that in Jardim Bom Retiro 47% of households is below the energy poverty threshold; in Reta Velha consistently, as the average income of this settlement is higher than that of the other - the percentage is much lower: 20.6%. A detailed picture of energy poverty in both settlements is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Comparing these percentages with the percentages of households below the salario minimo, it can be said that the minimum salary is not sufficient for freeing from the energy poverty a household with only
Fig. 6. Energy poverty in Reta Velha. 7
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Fig. 7. Energy poverty in Jardim Bom Retiro. Table 2 Summary of the main results.
Number of interviews Availability of data Energy source used in the dwellings Summary questions about electricity Is there electricity connection in the dwellings? Is the electricity shared with neighbourhoods? Is there an electricity meter in the dwellings? Which is the average monthly electricity consumption per dwelling? Which is the average monthly electricity expenditure per dwelling? Which is the ratio between the number of families in energy poverty and the total number of families? Are there illegal or not official electricity connections? Are there frequent outages or voltage fluctuations? Which types of lamps are there in the dwellings? Incandescent Fluorescent Led Which types of appliances there are in at least the 75% of the dwellings? Is DHW adopted? Which system is adopted for DHW? Are there fans in the dwellings? Is air conditioning adopted? Are there known programs about energy efficiency?
Reta Velha
Jardim Bom Retiro
150 7.15% of N/A Electricity, LPG, wood/charcoal (occasionally)
250 7.46% of N/A Electricity, LPG, Wood/charcoal (occasionally)
98.7% 0.0% 98.0% 202 kWh/month
84.0% 10.4% 79.6% 158 kWh/month
132 R$/month
123 R$/month
20.6%
46.9%
0.0% YES (18%)
13.0% YES (50%)
21.0% 79.0% 0.0% Radio, mobile phone charger, colour TV, electric fan, washing machine, water pump, refrigerator, electric iron, electric shower 26.7% Electric shower YES (93.3%) YES (44.0%) YES (12.0%)
16.0% 83.0% 1.0% Mobile phone charger, electric fan, refrigerator electric iron, electric shower 36.8% Electric shower YES (88.8%) YES (20.0%) YES (30.4%)
Legend – R$ is the local currency.
• Electricity consumption is very high compared to the service pro-
one person earning the salario minimo. In spite of the clear evidence of a lack of balance between households income and energy expenditure above enlightened, energy efficiency is a poorly known concept. Table 2 reports the main results of the survey.
•
4. Discussion of results The most important, critical issues deriving from the survey can be summarised by the following list:
• 8
vided, and expenditures are generally disproportioned to the households' income. In spite of the low average income, electricity consumption is as high as in the far more wealthy Italian or German households; The electricity access (almost 100% in Reta Velha) is jeopardized by outages and low tension, as it creates problems to the functionality, reliability and durability of the electrical devices and builds up bad relationships between customers and the electricity distribution company; According to the interviews, there is a share (16%) of illegal
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• • •
•
connections in Jardim Bom Retiro, none in Reta Velha. Considering the obvious reluctance to confess the illegal connection, much likely these values underestimate the phenomenon. Average electricity consumption higher than the one declared is highly likely, as also derives from data analysis (possible combination of legal and illegal connection in the same household); therefore it should be compared with the data resulting to the electricity distribution company; Energy poverty is a status in which are one out of two households are in Jardim Bom Retiro and 1 out of five in Reta Velha. Energy poverty can be tackled in two ways: increasing the income and decreasing the energy consumption. Increasing the income is a broad political problem; more manageable locally is the latter; Almost every household in both settlements has a refrigerator and there is a very high penetration of the washing machine, especially in Reta Velha: the efficiency of such devices is of paramount importance for reducing electricity consumption, and consequent expenditure; Electric showers are, at present, not much used but, if their use increases, a significant increase of electricity consumption and an overload on the grid could result, given the high power required (each unit's power is > 5 kW) and the possible simultaneity of use. Diffusion of solar water heaters could be a way to cope with both problems; The roofs of houses, both in Reta Velha and in Jardim Bom Retiro, are lightweight, not insulated and often made of an asbestos-cement sheet. As a consequence of their warming up under the sun they
• • •
•
radiate downwards in the rooms below them, creating an uncomfortably hot environment, far hotter than outdoors. This explains both the high number of cooling devices (air conditioners and fans) and their use for long time, with the consequent high energy consumption. Modest investment on roof insulation could have a significant impact on energy consumption; It can be expected that air conditioners penetration, because of their lowering price and the growing demand for comfort, will raise – with consequent further increase of electricity consumption. The efficiency of such devices is of the greatest importance, especially considering that, usually, the cheaper, the less efficient they are; It is not easy to determine the amount of energy consumed for water pumping, but certainly is not negligible, and it is an issue that should be addressed; Energy consumption could be contained, without affecting the services provided by the appliances, by improving the energy awareness of the users (such as to be aware of the effect on electricity consumption of shadowing windows, painting white the roof, keeping the refrigerator door open the minimum possible time, switching off the fan when nobody is in the room, etc.). Awareness that, at present, seems to be very poor; Because of the very poor water, sewage and waste collection services available, people might perceive those as more critical and important than energy that, otherwise, is limited only by the individual spending capability and/or willingness. The energy-waterwaste nexus should be highlighted to change this perception.
Table 3 Guidelines as a list of 10 main actions. Action
Main aims
1. Fighting non-technical losses requires non-technical solutions
To develop a systemic and multidisciplinary approach, to contact community leaders, the municipality, other service providers, to inform and involve them in the regularisation project and to ensure the coordination of the on-going activities in the slum. A mediation by an NGO is suggested. To locate and to register the customers. Detailed maps must be created in order to layout the new distribution system and geo-referencing equipment and customers. To prepare consumers for regularisation by door-to-door visits, in order to explain the process and to assist them for resolving any problem occurred during the project. Community events are useful if proper arguments are mentioned (life quality, safety, consumers rights etc.). To make affordable becoming regularized, by several measures like: free meter, assistance to heads of household to prove eligibility to receive the low-income tariff, capping of billed consumption e.g. at about 150 kWh/month for a number of months or until all consumers in the slum had been regularized, mini-audits of households to identify energy efficiency opportunities, flexibility in payment options for connection fees, proactive actions for income generation and employment promotion etc. To make the electricity company known and respected within the community for effective service delivery. To make customers proud to be considered first class citizens as they get the same advanced services they would have in a developed country. Useful actions can be: to adopt prepaid meters, to maintain vigilance in disconnection of illegal connections, to monitor and reduce to minimum the outages and possible complaints for bad service etc. To follow-up the regularisation program in the medium-long term. This implies, inter alia: creation of an organizational unit in charge of coordination of all activities, periodic field inspections, improving customer service, to consider the opportunities offered by development of the smart grid + distributed energy generation concept as a possibility to leapfrog from the previous situation to a modern – renewable energy based - distribution system etc. To achieve that the low-income consumer can face the electricity bill by programs for helping to reduce power consumption like: rewiring internal installation; replacing lights and appliances by more efficient ones, reducing the need for mechanical cooling by envelopes interventions, energy awareness campaigns etc. To promote RE when already competitive and cost effective both for the distribution company and the customer. Options, repayable in the electricity bill, can be, e.g., replacement of electric showers with solar water heaters and sale of PV systems. To promote an innovative approacha able to promote a common action, with the company providing piped water, for improving both the electricity and the water service. To avoid the failure of the regularisation projects because of the lack of trust towards the distribution company from the customer side. A different approach should be considered, like, e.g., to offer a set of collateral services, obtainable with the regularisation, capable to make it more appealing than illegal connections, in a joint action with other trusted players.
2. Mapping, Registration, and Meter Setting 3. Community Campaigns 4. Affordability improvement
5. Fighting the energy theft culture
6. Company's organisation adaptation
7. Energy Efficiency Assistance 8. Renewable energy (RE) promotion 9. Exploiting the energy-water-waste nexus 10. Make the regularisation more appealing than illegal connections
a This approach is based on the evidence that water and sewerage services, together with energy are among the most important services in terms of their impact on quality of life of communities, and they are linked through the need of energy for lifting water and the potential energy value of waste and wastewater. Moreover, water service suffers many of the same problems of electricity service: outages, thefts, unaffordability for the poor and lack of trust towards the water distribution company (public or private).
9
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High losses in electricity distribution continue to be an issue jeopardizing sustainability of the power sector in several developing countries worldwide. Moreover, even when a grid connection has been established, power supply can be unreliable. Too often, they invest in small diesel generators for back up. These generators pollute, with greenhouse gas emissions, noxious exhaust and annoying noise (UN Environment, 2017). For decades, nongovernmental organizations have promoted decentralized solar photovoltaic systems in inaccessible rural areas, particularly to power public services, such as school and clinic lighting, information exchange and communications, community pumping and vaccine refrigeration. Now, they can be considered as an alternative solution to grid electricity anywhere in developing countries where governments and the private sector cannot meet expectations for the expansion and maintenance of a grid network, including informal urban settlements (UN Environment, 2017; Sovacool, 2018). Further energy efficiency can contribute significantly towards improving energy access (De la Rue du Can et al., 2018).
References
The authors thank ENEL Foundation for funding the research and for the assistance. Special thanks to Vincent Kitio (UN Habitat) and Elisa Portale (World Bank) for the important suggestions, Viva Rio NGO and Marja Edelman for the support in developing and administering the questionnaire.
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McCauley, D., Ramasar, V., Heffron, R.J., Sovacool, B.K., Mebratu, D., Mundaca, L., 2019. Energy justice in the transition to low carbon energy systems: exploring key themes in interdisciplinary research. Appl. Energy 233–234, 916–921. Mimmi, L.M., 2014. From informal to authorized electricity service in urban slums: findings from a household survey in Mumbai. Energy Sustain. Dev. 21, 66–80. Mimmi, L.M., Ecer, S., 2010. An econometric study of illegal electricity connections in the urban favelas of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Energy Policy 38 (9), 5081–5097. Niu, S., Zhang, X., Zhao, C., Niu, Y., 2012. Variations in energy consumption and survival status between rural and urban households: a case study of the Western Loess Plateau, China. Energy Policy 49, 515–527. Niu, S., Jia, Y., Ye, L., Dai, R., Li, N., 2016a. Does electricity consumption improve residential living status in less developed regions? An empirical analysis using the quantile regression approach. Energy 95, 550–560. Niu, S., Jia, Y., Ye, L., Dai, R., Li, N., 2016b. Survey data on household electricity consumption and living status in Northwestern China. Data Brief 7, 1106–1111. Santamouris, M., Kapsis, K., Korres, D., Livada, L., Pavlou, C., Assimakopoulos, M.N., 2007. On the relation between the energy and social characteristics of the residential sector. Energy Build. 39 (8), 893–905. Schnitzer, D., Lounsbury, S., Carvallo, J.P., Deshmukh, R., Apt, J., Kammen, D.M., 2014. Microgrids for Rural Electrification. United Nations Foundation. Singh, R., Wang, X., Mendoza, J.C., Ackom, E.K., 2015. WIREs Energy Environ. 4, 339–353. 2015 - Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment - Wiley Online Library. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wene.148. Smith, T.B., 2004. Electricity theft: a comparative analysis. Energy Policy 32, 2067–2076. Sovacool, B.K., 2012. The political economy of energy poverty: a review of key challenges. Energy Sustain. Dev. 16 (3), 272–282. Sovacool, B.K., 2018. Success and failure in the political economy of solar electrification: lessons from World Bank solar home system (SHS) projects in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Energy Policy 123, 482–493. UN Environment, 2017. Frontiers 2017: emerging issues of environmental concern. https:// www.unenvironment.org/resources/frontiers-2017-emerging-issues-environmentalconcern. UN-Habitat, 2003. The Challenge of Slums - global report on human settlements 2003. Down Earth 8. Earthscan. https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/Challenge%20of%20Slums.pdf. UN-Habitat/GENUS, 2009. Expert group meeting - promoting energy access for the urban poor in Africa: Approaches and challenges in slum electrification. http://www.unhabitat.org/ downloads/docs/8292_16690_GENUS%20AFRICA.EGM%20Final%20Report.pdf.
10 These recommendations take into account those proposed in: GNESD, Energy poverty in developing countries' urban poor communities: assessments and recommendations - Country Report 2013, Brazil - http://www.iee.usp.br/ sites/default/files/Brazil_final%20(3).pdf and in USAID, Innovative Approaches to Slum Electrification, 2004 (http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/ Pnadb219.pdf). Many of them were already followed for the AMPLA's
(footnote continued) Conexão Social project – whose effects on the medium long term, however, are not yet known.
5. Conclusions and policy implications The IPCC report (IPCC, 2018) warns: “Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050”. At the same time, the UN Sustainable Development Goals include the goal 7, “affordable and clean energy”, with the sub-goal 7.1: “By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services”. Fulfilling the goal 7.1 means, inter alia, to provide electricity to almost 1 billion people. However, this is only a part of the problem, because even if the connection to an electricity grid exist, this does not mean that electricity is reliably available, nor affordable. Moreover, if electricity is provided using fossil fuels to produce it, there would be an increase of the CO2 emissions, not the needed decrease. The present study highlights the three issues: access, affordability, renewable energy in a context, the slums, where unfortunately large part of urban population still lives and, much likely, will continue to live. As policy implications, based on the experience of Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro, any actions aimed at regularising electricity use should take into account the following recommendations10, which were subdivided into 10 actions schematically reported in Table 3. As conclusion, the main innovation of the research here presented relies on the large amount of information managed, on the representativeness of the sample of interviewed, on the validation of results and on the replicability of the method. Indeed, both the settlements examined can be considered a sample that quite well represent the universe of favelas in Brazil, but not only. Many crucial characteristics are shared with that of the informal settlements in Latin America. Thus, the approach and measures here described are applicable, with minor adaptations, to any informal settlement of other developing contexts. Acknowledgment
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Energy access in informal settlements. Results of a wide on site survey in Rio De Janeiro
T
Federico Maria Buteraa, Paola Caputoa, , Rajendra Singh Adhikaria, Renata Meleb ⁎
a b
Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonardi 9, 20133, Milan, Italy ENEL Foundation, Via Vincenzo Bellini 24, 00198, Rome, Italy
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Keywords: Informal settlements Energy access Energy poverty Energy consumption Energy survey Latin America
This paper presents the results of a survey on two informal settlements in Rio De Janeiro: Reta Velha (Itaboraí) and Jardim Bom Retiro (São Gonçalo). A detailed analysis of energy access and energy poverty level has been accomplished by questionnaires carried out in 400 households. The questionnaire was based on a detailed multitier approach. It was aimed at exploring the actual energy access and energy poverty in favelas, in addition to draw the local living conditions and the availability of the basic services. The outcomes of the research underline the problem of outages and low tension, and illegal connections. Furthermore, electricity consumption is very high compared to the service provided, and expenditures are generally disproportioned to the households’ income. Many interesting outcomes emerge from the survey. Referring to energy poverty, it is a status in which 50% of households are in Jardim Bom Retiro and 20% in Reta Velha. Due to the representativeness of the treated case, the results permit the definition of the state of the art and of enhancing guidelines suitable also for other contexts, at least in the universe of informal settlements in Latin America and Caribbean.
1. Introduction
on biomass, coal or kerosene as their primary cooking fuel (IEA, 2018) Moreover, many more millions who do have access to infrastructures are unable to meet their basic energy needs because they cannot afford to pay for energy (IEA, 2013). The problem of energy consumption and energy poverty has been discussed widely in the literature e.g. (Niu et al., 2012; Bhattacharyya, 2006), but most of these studies are focused on rural and urban households and are rarely specific on the context of informal settlements. Improving the living conditions in slums is a crucial topic also addressed by the sustainable development goals, and access to modern energy services (electricity, clean and safe cooking systems) plays a fundamental role in achieving these specific goals (McCauley et al., 2019). While infrastructural challenges in slums have been addressed by certain urban development policies, the failure to recognize energy as a basic service has been identified as a major gap (Singh et al., 2015). While the lack of modern cooking systems affects mainly health (indoor pollution due to the production of smoke deriving from the combustion of biomass has a strong impact on women and children health) and family expenditure, lack of electricity access has a strong impact on education and on productive income-generating activities. For this reason access to modern energy services (clean cooking and access to electricity) for slum dwellers is a crucial need for improving
The impressive urban growth that we are witnessing in the last decades is shaping our future development. Cities are the places where cultures, innovation and economies grow. At the same time, cities also concentrate some of the worst characteristics of our society, such as inequalities and very poor living conditions, crime and pollution. According to UN-Habitat (UN-Habitat, 2003), the term ‘slum’ describes a wide range of low-income settlements and/or poor human living conditions. ‘Slum’, at its simplest, is ‘a heavily populated urban area characterized by substandard housing and squalor’. This definition encapsulates the essential characteristics of slums: high densities and low standards of housing (structure and services), and ‘squalor’. Slums and their dwellings may vary from simple shacks to more permanent structures, while access to basic services and infrastructure tends to be limited or badly deteriorated. As of today, slum dwellers, whose global number is estimated in about 1 billion, slightly less than one third of the global urban population and this number grows by 500,000 a week (Aron et al., 2009). Poverty is a fact of life for millions of people, and energy poverty is both a cause and consequence of it. An estimated nearly 1 billion people (14% of the global population) have no access to electricity and almost 2.7 billion do not have access to clean cooking facilities, relying instead ⁎
Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Caputo).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.110943 Received 25 January 2019; Received in revised form 10 June 2019; Accepted 16 August 2019 0301-4215/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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their quality of life and promoting the development of low income urban areas. According to a study (Sovacool, 2012) energy poverty is defined as the “inability to cook with modern cooking fuels and the lack of a bare minimum of electric lighting to read or for other household and productive activities at sunset”. The most common concept illustrating energy poverty involves “energy ladders” for household services. The idea implies that the primary types of energy used by the poorest fraction of population in developing countries can be arranged on a “ladder” with the “simplest” or most “traditional” fuels and sources, such as animal power, candles, and wood, at the bottom and with the more “advanced” or “modern” fuels such as electricity LPG at the top. The ladder is often described in terms of efficiencies, with the more efficient fuels or sources placed higher on the ladder. Energy poverty of household is usually measured by means of the fraction of the total income used for providing energy services (cooking, lighting, etc.); conventionally, energy poverty starts when this fraction is above 10% (DECC. National Statistics, 2016). In some slums of developing countries, the fraction is far higher, such as in Nairobi (UNHabitat/GENUS, 2009), where - on the average - households spend about 26% of their monthly income on energy with a maximum of 34% and a minimum of 15%. Within this framework, slums electrification is a priority that still finds barriers preventing a fruitful cooperation between utilities, slum dwellers, and local authorities (Schnitzer et al., 2014; Mimmi, 2014; Butera et al., 2015; Al-Sumaiti et al., 2017). In particular, among the barriers, connection fee and the inability to pay regularly are the most relevant and direct consequence of the informality of the settlements: people cannot enter in formal agreements, and cannot pay a regular bill because of irregular income. As a consequence, many families opt to pay a neighbour to share a meter or turn to unlicensed electricians and even local cartels that provide the service illegally (Depuru et al., 2010; Mimmi and Ecer, 2010; Smith, 2004). This mechanism damages both the utilities and the dwellers: utilities experience significant insolvency rates plus both technical and non-technical losses, while dwellers (both formal and informal) suffer from voltage outages due to the irregular load produced by the illegal connection. Furthermore, because of a virtually free connection, electricity theft triggers inefficient habits and energy waste. In the literature, analysis on the household electricity consumption in the less developed countries have been carried out through survey (Niu et al., 2016a, 2016b; Huang, 2015) but again these are not directly related to slums. An analysis of energy consumption and energy efficiency in informal settlements of developing countries was developed within a collaborative project among Enel Foundation,1 Politecnico di Milano2 and UN-Habitat.3 A survey on households energy consumption and energy efficiency was carried out in two communities in Rio de Janeiro State with characteristics of informal settlements: Reta Velha, in the town of Itaboraí and Jardim Bom Retiro, in the town of São Gonçalo. Climatic conditions of the two sites can be considered the same as in Rio de Janeiro. According to 2010 census, the population in barrio Bom Retiro amounts to about 21,000 inhabitants (http://populacao.net.br/p); population of Jardim Bom Retiro is a not known fraction of the entire barrio. According to ENEL (ENEL, 2014) the population of Reta Velha amounts to about 5300 people (2010 census) (http://populacao.net.br/ p). Both settlements suffer widespread phenomena of violence and crime because of the parallel power of militias and drug traffickers,
especially in Reta Velha, and illegal connections to the electric grid are quite common. 2. Methodology After a wide desk research activity focused on understanding the use of energy in the slums (Butera et al., 2016), a questionnaire, based on a multi-tier approach (Ampla Energia e Serviços) described in following section, was adopted in the survey and completed by 400 households. Information collected were then organized by an Excel sheet, able to implement data cleaning and elaboration. 2.1. The questionnaire The questionnaire is based on researches developed by ESMAP (https://www.esmap.org) within its program on energy access worldwide. They imply a Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) that resolves the shortcomings of binary metrics (yes/no) by replacing these categories with tiers of energy supply performance. Energy access is thus defined as the ability to obtain energy that is adequate, available when needed, reliable, of good quality, affordable, legal, convenient, healthy and safe for all required energy applications across households, productive enterprises and community institutions (Bhatia and Angelou, 2015; IEA, 2015). The survey is focused on the exploration of the following themes: home and dwelling features; energy sources employed; energy expenditure in relation with salary and willingness to pay; energy data (lighting, food preservation, cooking, other home appliances, water heating, dwelling cooling, dwelling heating, productive activities appliances and problems related to energy access and management). These themes were explored by means of a list of 158 questions, many of them with multiple-choice answers. The questionnaire was originally developed in English by the research team of Politecnico di Milano and was in some parts adapted to the local context (some questions showed to be not applicable or redundant) and translated into Portuguese. 2.2. Sampling, interviews and data elaboration up.
A digital database containing all the collected information was set
The questionnaire, containing 160 questions, was based on direct interview approach, with collaboration of properly trained assistants. A team of eight people was involved: six surveyors and two field coordinators with second level degree, chosen among Reta Velha's or Jardim Bom Retiro's dwellers and engaged by the “Viva Rio” NGO.4 In order to ensure an even coverage of male and female respondents, the interview timings were split between morning, afternoon and evening hours. The interviews were carried out between 16 November and 18 December 2015 by 400 households (150 households in Reta Velha Itaboraí and 250 in Jardim Bom Retiro - São Gonçalo), considering the objective of the study, timetable and available resources. To make the sample as representative as possible, interviewed people were chosen as follows: each interviewer started from his home and defined a safe area for administrating the questionnaire. In each area one household out of five was chosen; if the interview was refused, then the interviewer moved to the next household in the same street until the interview was accepted. One of the main issues faced by the surveyors was a high-level 4 Viva Rio (www.vivario.org.br) is a traditional and reliable local organisation and has been successfully working in these two communities with AMPLA (the local electric company). The NGO has committed staff and manages to work with local people, a key element for the success of this survey.
1
www.enelfoundation.org. 2 www.polimi.it. 3 unhabitat.org. 2
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Table 1 General demographic information on the samples surveyed.
Reta Velha Jardim Bom Retiro
No. inhabitants of households surveyed
Average persons per household
Kids %
Average age years
Male %
Female %
Single %
395 739
2.65 2.95
30 40
28.7 31.6
52 46
48 54
19 34
violence crisis in the communities, which delayed the conclusion of the work, especially in Reta Velha. Information were organized by an Excel sheet and, after an important step of verification of collected data, interesting indicators and graphs were elaborated, as described in section 3.
situation in Reta Velha are instead less than 5%. 3.3. Dwellings conditions Dwellings characteristics and conditions provide an idea of the quality of living and are a very important indicator for, inter alia, predicting thermal comfort conditions, with consequent effect on energy consumption for achieving it. As a general perception, in Reta Velha interviewed people is reasonably satisfied of the global conditions of their house: 60% find them good and 40% medium. Not so in Jardim Bom Retiro, where the percentage of interviewed people considering good the conditions of the house in which they live drops to 22%, the majority consider them medium (60%) and a minority (17%) declare that the conditions are poor. The reason of the different perception between the two settlements can be found in the construction characteristics of the buildings; not because of the walls material (in both cases bricks are used, and sometimes concrete or wood for internal partitions), but mainly because of the roof material. In Reta Velha 57% of the interviewed people declare that their roof is made of tiles or prefabricated slab, and in 23% is made of concrete; in 20% of cases the roof is made of asbestos-cement sheets. In Jardim Bom Retiro about half of the interviewed people roofs are made of tiles or prefabricated slabs, and the other half are made of asbestos-cement slabs. Asbestos-cement slabs, besides being carcinogenic, are very thin and when sun hits the roof, they become very hot, and radiate towards the inside, making the indoor environment uncomfortably hot. During the clear nights in the cooler season, on the other hand, these this slabs can give raise to internal condensation because the sheet becomes very cold as effect of re-radiation towards the sky. Material of floors contributes to the different perception found in the two settlements. In Reta Velha floors are made of ceramic tiles in the 97% of houses, while in Jardim Boim Retiro the percentage drops to 72%, the remaining houses having concrete floors. Also windows’ types, shading devices and flyscreens show some differences in the two settlements, giving a further support to the different perception of their dwelling conditions. In Reta Velha almost 95% of buildings hosts a single dwelling; in Jardim Bom Retiro this percentage is 85%, as 15% of buildings hosts two dwellings. In Reta Velha the large majority of the interviewed people live in dwelling with two or more rooms; in Jardim Bom Retiro, instead, almost half of the households live in a one-room dwelling,7 confirming once more the lower level of economic development of the latter. This difference is reflected in the average dwellings’ floor area: 75.5 m2 in Reta Velha and 55.3 m2 in Jardim Bom Retiro; in both cases the average floor-to-ceiling height is 2.7–2.8 m. The survey showed, surprisingly, that the percentage of those having a room used only as kitchen (separate kitchen) is higher in Jardim Bom Retiro than in Reta Velha.
3. Results of the survey The first step in data analysis aimed to the evaluation of their quality and reliability. Completeness of data is sometimes critical for Reta Velha, reflecting the above-mentioned difficult social context coupled with some errors made by the surveyors. In both settlements, in some cases the answers are contradictory, either because not fully understood or because the answer was given without thinking too much. The raw data deriving from the field survey were processed aiming to draw a reasonably accurate picture of the settlements for all the issues having direct or indirect connection with energy consumption. This activity was accomplished with the help of local contacts. A part of the questionnaire aimed to draw a picture of the two settlements’ social and economic status. Demography, employment and literacy were also analyzed and a detailed description about income, dwellings, water, sewerage and energy conditions was drawn as reported in the following sections. 3.1. Demographic composition and social aspects The demographic composition of the sample surveyed is summarised in Table 1. It appears that in Jardim Bom Retiro dwellings are more crowded, there are more kids, more aged people and more women than men, consistently with the national statistics, even if at a larger extent.5 Surveyed samples’ population at working age (more than 16 and less than 65 years) amounts to 76.5% in Reta Velha and 66.8% in Jardim Bom Retiro, which is consistent with the higher percentage of kids and elderly in the latter. The structure of families, according to the marital status appears rather different in the two settlements. In Jardim Bom Retiro, compared with Reta Velha there is a larger percentage of singles and a smaller percentage of married couples, with a preference for an informal cohabitation. The number of unemployed people is higher in Jardim Bom Retiro and the type of activities of its inhabitants shows a lower social and economic development compared to Reta Velha. Surprisingly, here 73.4% of the interviewed people declared that he/she never attended school, conversely in Jardim Bom Retiro this share drops to 64.5%. 3.2. Income It can be noted that about 30% of households in Jardim Bom Retiro have an income lower than the minimum salary, or salario minimo, which was 788 R$/month (214 €) in 2015.6 The households in this 5
At national level, population is made of 48.6% male and 51.4% female (source: Portal Brasil, http://www.brasil.gov.br/cidadania-e-justica/2015/03/ mulheres-sao-maioria-da-populacao-e-ocupam-mais-espaco-no-mercado-detrabalho). 6 880 R$/month (242 €) in 2016.
7 Includes the following options: One room + kitchen and bathroom; one room with the cook-stove inside it; one room with kitchen outside.
3
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Fig. 1. Households electricity consumption in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
100–150 R$/month and 36% more than 150 R$/month; the average expenditure is 131 R$/month. The expenditures declared in Jardim Bom Retiro are: 45% of households spend less than 100 R$/month, 24% in the range 100–150 R $/month and 31% more than 150 R$/month; the average expenditure was 122 R$/month. There is to note that 18% of interviewed did not answer to the question about the expenditures, and this percentage is very close to the percentage of those who answered that they were illegally connected. The average LPG consumption for cooking resulted to be about 11 kg in Reta Velha and 10 kg in Jardim Bom Retiro, with a corresponding expense of 52 and 46 R$/month, respectively. The average annual electricity consumption in Reta Velha is 2428 kWh, and in Jardim Bom Retiro (1898) kWh, and most likely the actual values are higher if combination of legal and illegal connections are considered. According to ISTAT8 (Italian Statistics Institute) the average Italian electricity consumption per domestic user in 2012 was 2299 kWh; slightly higher (2417 kWh) according to ENEA9 (the Italian Agency for Energy and Environment). It may be surprising to find that the average consumption in Reta Velha is higher than the average Italian one, considering the far higher Italian average income. This apparent inconsistency can depend on the combination of three reasons: the lower efficiency of electric appliances, the lower energy awareness in the Brazilian settlements, and the different climatic conditions (i.e higher energy needs for air conditioning or fans in the hottest season). Anyway the comparison with Italy shows that electricity consumption is oversized compared to the service and comfort achieved. Fig. 3 shows an inconsistency: a number of relatively rich households with rather low electricity consumption. One explanation could be that they combine legal and illegal electricity connections. In Jardim Bom Retiro the inconsistency is less marked. The same inconsistency, predictably, comes out from Fig. 4: a number of households with relatively high income spend very little for electricity. The same explanation given above can be applied and the phenomenon is less
3.4. Energy access, water and sewerage To complete the picture of a settlement, living conditions in relation also to basic services such as water, sewage, waste and energy were taken into account. Access to electricity and waste collection is close to 100% of the households, but this condition is not sufficient to guarantee energy access as described in section 3.1. The fuel used for cooking is always LPG, except an occasional use of wood or charcoal for barbecues. The situation about water and sewerage is very critical. Less than 5% of households have access to the water network in both settlements. In Reta Velha about 95% of households rely entirely or partially on water pumped from onsite wells; in Jardim Bom Retiro water pumped from wells provide water to about 82% of household. Access to sewerage is available to about 40% of households in Reta Velha and only to a mere 5% in Jardim Bom Retiro. This situation implies, inter alia, that most likely the underground water, the one pumped from wells, is contaminated. 3.5. Energy consumption and expenditures The different income distribution in the two settlements is reflected in the households’ electricity consumption and in the consequent expenditures (Figs. 1 and 2). In Reta Velha 15% of households consumes less than 100 kWh/ month, 18% in the range 100–150 kWh/month and 67% more than 150 kWh/month; the average consumption is 202 kWh/month; in Jardim Bom Retiro 28% of households consumes less than 100 kWh/ month, 34% in the range 100–150 kWh/month and 38% more than 150 kWh/month; the average consumption is 158 kWh/month. The higher percentage of households with lower electricity consumption (hence expenditures) in Jardin Bom Retiro could be due to the combination of the lower income (prevailing factor) and the higher percentage of single (34% in Jardin Bom Retiro vs. 19% in Reta Velha, as shown in Table 1). In Reta Velha the expenditures declared are as follows: 36% of households spends less than 100 R$/month, 28% in the range
8 9
4
http://dati.istat.it/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=DCCV_CNSENRG. http://kilowattene.enea.it/KiloWattene-consumi-famiglie.html.
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Fig. 2. Households electricity expenditures in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
Fig. 3. Electricity consumption per household income range.
marked in Jardim Bom Retiro.
knowing the number of liters lifted and from which depth or if for water pump is meant a device for lifting the water pressure; Considering the average income of households in both settlements, the penetration of air conditioning units is surprisingly high, almost 45% in Reta Velha and 20% in Jardim Bom Retiro; Among the electric appliances, that with the higher penetration is the fan (around 90% in both settlement, where in more than 50% of dwellings two or more fans are present) demonstrating that cooling is a critical issue. Even if all the households in Reta Velha and almost all in Jardim Bom Retiro an electric shower is available, the declared use of hot water is not much widespread: only in 26.7% of households in the former and in 36.8% in the latter. The electric shower can be a critical issue not only for the consumption but also because of its impact on the transmission lines, as its power is high (> 5 kW), especially if they are used all within a narrow time frame (back from work, in the afternoon, for example).
3.6. Electric domestic appliances To obtain a more detailed insight in the electricity use the two settlements households, an obliged step is the analysis of the amount and type of electric domestic appliances present and used (Fig. 5). It can be observed from the figures: There are more households using incandescent bulbs in Reta Velha than in Jardim Bom Retiro; this is quite surprising, as in the former, being the household somehow richer, the cost of fluorescent lamps is more affordable than in the latter. A possible explanation is given later; Consistently with the higher average income and electricity consumption in Reta Velha, the penetration of the more expensive and energy consuming devices is higher; Water pumping is, especially in Reta Velha, a cause of electricity consumption – even if it is difficult to evaluate its importance not 5
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Fig. 4. Expenditures for electricity per household income range.
Fig. 5. Penetration of electric domestic appliances in Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro.
3.7. Air conditioning and fans
In spite of the lower number of air conditioners in Jardim Bom Retiro, 68% of responses to the question “Is space cooling compatible with your needs?” was yes, compared with 57% in Reta Velha. This different perception is confirmed by the answers to the question: “Is your expenditure related to space cooling compatible with your level of thermal comfort?“. In Reta Velha the positive answers were 53% and in Jardim Bom Retiro 65%. Where more than 50% of respondents in Reta Velha was satisfied of the level of comfort they can achieve during the hot season, at the same time 94% of them finds that their expenditure related to cooling is not compatible with their income, probably because most of them relay mainly on air conditioning; in Jardim Bom Retiro the figure is 70%. An inconsistency with previous answers derives from the answers to the question “Do you have any problems with space cooling?“. In Jardim Bom Retiro we had 70% of positive answers: this should mean that they are not satisfied of the level of comfort that they achieve,
In Jardim Bom Retiro the majority of households rely mainly on fans, one or more, and much less on just an air conditioner; a significant part of households combine one air conditioner with one or more fans. In Reta Velha, households rely less on fans only, and a significant number combine one air conditioning unit with one or more fans. Air conditioning units are generally the smallest ones on the market (7000 btu/h, or 2 kW); a few slightly more powerful ones (9000 btu/h, or 2.6 kW) are declared in some Jardim Bom Retiro households. Too few answers to be statistically significant were given in Reta Velha about the duration of use of air conditioners. In Jardim Bom Retiro, instead, all the interviewed people declaring the ownership of an air conditioner gave an answer, and the average duration of use resulted to be more than 100 h/month, corresponding to over 60 kWh/ month consumption per air conditioner in the hottest period. 6
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where previously 68% answered that space cooling was compatible with their needs. Most likely there was some misinterpretation of the question. In general, however, we can say that the demand for thermal comfort is not, by large extent, satisfied and can be expected to grow. The growth could be less steep if some measure is taken for improving the building envelope.
The unsatisfied people in both settlements complain about outages number and length, and low tension. A minority of households (27%) in Jardim Bom Retiro is willing to change their primary source of electricity, and almost none in Reta Velha. Those willing a change would all switch to a PV system (certainly, their information is rather limited, as the PV system as alternative to the grid would be a rather expensive stand-by system). Also the access to cooking energy shows some problem. A minority of the interviewed persons complained about LPG (6.7% in Reta Velha and 14.4% in Jardim Bom Retiro), because of the quality of the bottle (probably sometimes the bottle is sold not completely filled with fuel). In Jardim Bom Retiro about one out of 5 interviewed people thinks that his cookstove does not meet all his cooking needs, as that they would like to have a stove capable to make cooking faster. The percentage of those willing to change their cookstove is slightly higher: 28%, as it includes also those willing to substitute their old device with a new one. No complain from Reta Velha, instead.
3.8. Energy services satisfaction In Reta Velha all the users declare that they are legally connected to the grid. A different picture is shown in Jardim Bom Retiro, where 13% of the interviewed declared that they get electricity via an illegal connection to the grid, 3% borrows it from a neighbour, and 1.6% does not have any access. The most critical issue, regarding the quality of electricity service as perceived by the users, is linked to the outages and the low and variable tension, especially in the hot season. The answers in the two settlements, however, were different: the situation seems better in Reta Velha, where only 18% on the interviewed answered yes to the question: “In the last 12 months, did the performance of your primary source of electricity vary across seasons?“, while in Jardim Bom Retiro the number of yes reached 50%. The fact that not all the interviewed answered yes could mean that there are areas better serviced than others are. The interviewed people answering yes where then asked about the worst season. As expected all agreed on the hot season, when fans, air conditioners, refrigerators and probably also an increased use of showers stress the grid, because of the higher temperatures. As consequence of the low and variable tension, in Reta Velha there is some complain (5%) about damages to the electric appliances; the complains in Jardim Bom Retiro are higher: 28%. Some contradiction arises from the declared cost of kWh, as read on the bill. The values range from an average 0.70 R$/kWh in Reta Velha to an average of 0.67 in Jardim Bom Retiro. The gap is narrow, and may derive from the structure of the tariff, according to which the unit cost of electricity depends on the consumption. Being higher the number of consumers in the low range in Jardim Bom Retiro, the average cost of electricity for the entire sample results lower.
3.9. Energy poverty and summary of results The results of the survey can be also used for evaluating the energy poverty of the settlements. In literature, many ways of defining energy poverty can be found (European Commission, 2015). Often it is defined in terms of ratio of the total energy expenditures (electricity and cooking, in our case) to the income of a household, i.e. a household is classified as being in the status of energy poverty when its energy expenditure is above 10% of its income, adopting the threshold used in UK for fuel poverty (DECC. National Statistics, 2016; Santamouris et al., 2007). Even if its use is controversial for evaluating the absolute value of energy poverty, this indicator can be used quite effectively for comparing the two settlements. The energy poverty analysis shows that in Jardim Bom Retiro 47% of households is below the energy poverty threshold; in Reta Velha consistently, as the average income of this settlement is higher than that of the other - the percentage is much lower: 20.6%. A detailed picture of energy poverty in both settlements is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Comparing these percentages with the percentages of households below the salario minimo, it can be said that the minimum salary is not sufficient for freeing from the energy poverty a household with only
Fig. 6. Energy poverty in Reta Velha. 7
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Fig. 7. Energy poverty in Jardim Bom Retiro. Table 2 Summary of the main results.
Number of interviews Availability of data Energy source used in the dwellings Summary questions about electricity Is there electricity connection in the dwellings? Is the electricity shared with neighbourhoods? Is there an electricity meter in the dwellings? Which is the average monthly electricity consumption per dwelling? Which is the average monthly electricity expenditure per dwelling? Which is the ratio between the number of families in energy poverty and the total number of families? Are there illegal or not official electricity connections? Are there frequent outages or voltage fluctuations? Which types of lamps are there in the dwellings? Incandescent Fluorescent Led Which types of appliances there are in at least the 75% of the dwellings? Is DHW adopted? Which system is adopted for DHW? Are there fans in the dwellings? Is air conditioning adopted? Are there known programs about energy efficiency?
Reta Velha
Jardim Bom Retiro
150 7.15% of N/A Electricity, LPG, wood/charcoal (occasionally)
250 7.46% of N/A Electricity, LPG, Wood/charcoal (occasionally)
98.7% 0.0% 98.0% 202 kWh/month
84.0% 10.4% 79.6% 158 kWh/month
132 R$/month
123 R$/month
20.6%
46.9%
0.0% YES (18%)
13.0% YES (50%)
21.0% 79.0% 0.0% Radio, mobile phone charger, colour TV, electric fan, washing machine, water pump, refrigerator, electric iron, electric shower 26.7% Electric shower YES (93.3%) YES (44.0%) YES (12.0%)
16.0% 83.0% 1.0% Mobile phone charger, electric fan, refrigerator electric iron, electric shower 36.8% Electric shower YES (88.8%) YES (20.0%) YES (30.4%)
Legend – R$ is the local currency.
• Electricity consumption is very high compared to the service pro-
one person earning the salario minimo. In spite of the clear evidence of a lack of balance between households income and energy expenditure above enlightened, energy efficiency is a poorly known concept. Table 2 reports the main results of the survey.
•
4. Discussion of results The most important, critical issues deriving from the survey can be summarised by the following list:
• 8
vided, and expenditures are generally disproportioned to the households' income. In spite of the low average income, electricity consumption is as high as in the far more wealthy Italian or German households; The electricity access (almost 100% in Reta Velha) is jeopardized by outages and low tension, as it creates problems to the functionality, reliability and durability of the electrical devices and builds up bad relationships between customers and the electricity distribution company; According to the interviews, there is a share (16%) of illegal
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• • •
•
connections in Jardim Bom Retiro, none in Reta Velha. Considering the obvious reluctance to confess the illegal connection, much likely these values underestimate the phenomenon. Average electricity consumption higher than the one declared is highly likely, as also derives from data analysis (possible combination of legal and illegal connection in the same household); therefore it should be compared with the data resulting to the electricity distribution company; Energy poverty is a status in which are one out of two households are in Jardim Bom Retiro and 1 out of five in Reta Velha. Energy poverty can be tackled in two ways: increasing the income and decreasing the energy consumption. Increasing the income is a broad political problem; more manageable locally is the latter; Almost every household in both settlements has a refrigerator and there is a very high penetration of the washing machine, especially in Reta Velha: the efficiency of such devices is of paramount importance for reducing electricity consumption, and consequent expenditure; Electric showers are, at present, not much used but, if their use increases, a significant increase of electricity consumption and an overload on the grid could result, given the high power required (each unit's power is > 5 kW) and the possible simultaneity of use. Diffusion of solar water heaters could be a way to cope with both problems; The roofs of houses, both in Reta Velha and in Jardim Bom Retiro, are lightweight, not insulated and often made of an asbestos-cement sheet. As a consequence of their warming up under the sun they
• • •
•
radiate downwards in the rooms below them, creating an uncomfortably hot environment, far hotter than outdoors. This explains both the high number of cooling devices (air conditioners and fans) and their use for long time, with the consequent high energy consumption. Modest investment on roof insulation could have a significant impact on energy consumption; It can be expected that air conditioners penetration, because of their lowering price and the growing demand for comfort, will raise – with consequent further increase of electricity consumption. The efficiency of such devices is of the greatest importance, especially considering that, usually, the cheaper, the less efficient they are; It is not easy to determine the amount of energy consumed for water pumping, but certainly is not negligible, and it is an issue that should be addressed; Energy consumption could be contained, without affecting the services provided by the appliances, by improving the energy awareness of the users (such as to be aware of the effect on electricity consumption of shadowing windows, painting white the roof, keeping the refrigerator door open the minimum possible time, switching off the fan when nobody is in the room, etc.). Awareness that, at present, seems to be very poor; Because of the very poor water, sewage and waste collection services available, people might perceive those as more critical and important than energy that, otherwise, is limited only by the individual spending capability and/or willingness. The energy-waterwaste nexus should be highlighted to change this perception.
Table 3 Guidelines as a list of 10 main actions. Action
Main aims
1. Fighting non-technical losses requires non-technical solutions
To develop a systemic and multidisciplinary approach, to contact community leaders, the municipality, other service providers, to inform and involve them in the regularisation project and to ensure the coordination of the on-going activities in the slum. A mediation by an NGO is suggested. To locate and to register the customers. Detailed maps must be created in order to layout the new distribution system and geo-referencing equipment and customers. To prepare consumers for regularisation by door-to-door visits, in order to explain the process and to assist them for resolving any problem occurred during the project. Community events are useful if proper arguments are mentioned (life quality, safety, consumers rights etc.). To make affordable becoming regularized, by several measures like: free meter, assistance to heads of household to prove eligibility to receive the low-income tariff, capping of billed consumption e.g. at about 150 kWh/month for a number of months or until all consumers in the slum had been regularized, mini-audits of households to identify energy efficiency opportunities, flexibility in payment options for connection fees, proactive actions for income generation and employment promotion etc. To make the electricity company known and respected within the community for effective service delivery. To make customers proud to be considered first class citizens as they get the same advanced services they would have in a developed country. Useful actions can be: to adopt prepaid meters, to maintain vigilance in disconnection of illegal connections, to monitor and reduce to minimum the outages and possible complaints for bad service etc. To follow-up the regularisation program in the medium-long term. This implies, inter alia: creation of an organizational unit in charge of coordination of all activities, periodic field inspections, improving customer service, to consider the opportunities offered by development of the smart grid + distributed energy generation concept as a possibility to leapfrog from the previous situation to a modern – renewable energy based - distribution system etc. To achieve that the low-income consumer can face the electricity bill by programs for helping to reduce power consumption like: rewiring internal installation; replacing lights and appliances by more efficient ones, reducing the need for mechanical cooling by envelopes interventions, energy awareness campaigns etc. To promote RE when already competitive and cost effective both for the distribution company and the customer. Options, repayable in the electricity bill, can be, e.g., replacement of electric showers with solar water heaters and sale of PV systems. To promote an innovative approacha able to promote a common action, with the company providing piped water, for improving both the electricity and the water service. To avoid the failure of the regularisation projects because of the lack of trust towards the distribution company from the customer side. A different approach should be considered, like, e.g., to offer a set of collateral services, obtainable with the regularisation, capable to make it more appealing than illegal connections, in a joint action with other trusted players.
2. Mapping, Registration, and Meter Setting 3. Community Campaigns 4. Affordability improvement
5. Fighting the energy theft culture
6. Company's organisation adaptation
7. Energy Efficiency Assistance 8. Renewable energy (RE) promotion 9. Exploiting the energy-water-waste nexus 10. Make the regularisation more appealing than illegal connections
a This approach is based on the evidence that water and sewerage services, together with energy are among the most important services in terms of their impact on quality of life of communities, and they are linked through the need of energy for lifting water and the potential energy value of waste and wastewater. Moreover, water service suffers many of the same problems of electricity service: outages, thefts, unaffordability for the poor and lack of trust towards the water distribution company (public or private).
9
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High losses in electricity distribution continue to be an issue jeopardizing sustainability of the power sector in several developing countries worldwide. Moreover, even when a grid connection has been established, power supply can be unreliable. Too often, they invest in small diesel generators for back up. These generators pollute, with greenhouse gas emissions, noxious exhaust and annoying noise (UN Environment, 2017). For decades, nongovernmental organizations have promoted decentralized solar photovoltaic systems in inaccessible rural areas, particularly to power public services, such as school and clinic lighting, information exchange and communications, community pumping and vaccine refrigeration. Now, they can be considered as an alternative solution to grid electricity anywhere in developing countries where governments and the private sector cannot meet expectations for the expansion and maintenance of a grid network, including informal urban settlements (UN Environment, 2017; Sovacool, 2018). Further energy efficiency can contribute significantly towards improving energy access (De la Rue du Can et al., 2018).
References
The authors thank ENEL Foundation for funding the research and for the assistance. Special thanks to Vincent Kitio (UN Habitat) and Elisa Portale (World Bank) for the important suggestions, Viva Rio NGO and Marja Edelman for the support in developing and administering the questionnaire.
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10 These recommendations take into account those proposed in: GNESD, Energy poverty in developing countries' urban poor communities: assessments and recommendations - Country Report 2013, Brazil - http://www.iee.usp.br/ sites/default/files/Brazil_final%20(3).pdf and in USAID, Innovative Approaches to Slum Electrification, 2004 (http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/ Pnadb219.pdf). Many of them were already followed for the AMPLA's
(footnote continued) Conexão Social project – whose effects on the medium long term, however, are not yet known.
5. Conclusions and policy implications The IPCC report (IPCC, 2018) warns: “Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050”. At the same time, the UN Sustainable Development Goals include the goal 7, “affordable and clean energy”, with the sub-goal 7.1: “By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services”. Fulfilling the goal 7.1 means, inter alia, to provide electricity to almost 1 billion people. However, this is only a part of the problem, because even if the connection to an electricity grid exist, this does not mean that electricity is reliably available, nor affordable. Moreover, if electricity is provided using fossil fuels to produce it, there would be an increase of the CO2 emissions, not the needed decrease. The present study highlights the three issues: access, affordability, renewable energy in a context, the slums, where unfortunately large part of urban population still lives and, much likely, will continue to live. As policy implications, based on the experience of Reta Velha and Jardim Bom Retiro, any actions aimed at regularising electricity use should take into account the following recommendations10, which were subdivided into 10 actions schematically reported in Table 3. As conclusion, the main innovation of the research here presented relies on the large amount of information managed, on the representativeness of the sample of interviewed, on the validation of results and on the replicability of the method. Indeed, both the settlements examined can be considered a sample that quite well represent the universe of favelas in Brazil, but not only. Many crucial characteristics are shared with that of the informal settlements in Latin America. Thus, the approach and measures here described are applicable, with minor adaptations, to any informal settlement of other developing contexts. Acknowledgment
10