Electricity for All

Organizations like the World Bank imply that equality is an important aspect of their goals for expanding electricity access in developing countries. Yet few studies have actually addressed how to ensure equality in developing areas like sub-Saharan Africa, and many have even used methods that further inequality. Destenie Nock , assistant professor of engineering and public policy in CMU's College of Engineering has led the first study to "explicitly integrate a stakeholder's preference towards equality into an electricity planning problem." Most research to date has taken a least-cost perspective when considering economic criteria, meaning they estimate future electricity demand and attempt to minimize the cost necessary to meet it. Since it is difficult to project the future electricity demands of those who currently have little or none, this estimation disproportionately favors urban areas - which creates the appearance of higher demand, which further perpetuates a cycle of unequal investment. Nock chose instead to use an opportunity-focused model that recognizes that people's demand for electricity often rises as supply grows and new opportunities emerge. This model also accounts for load shedding, often in the form of planned blackouts, that often occurs in developing countries. "I am interested in incorporating more voices and objectives into electricity planning," said Nock.