This post was originally published by Empower Generation, which merged with Pollinate Energy to form Pollinate Group in 2018.
Written by Bennett Cohen.
This past summer, blackouts were making headlines in both the US and India.
In the US, storms left residents of the Washington D.C. area (including my grandmother) without power for days. Unable to keep food from spoiling in the summer heat, and unable to safely move about her apartment at nighttime without light, my grandmother abandoned her powerless apartment to stay with my uncle, who fortunately lives nearby in an area that retained power during the outage.
Weeks later, the “worst blackout in recent times” left 700 million people in India without power. While the cause of the D.C. blackout was a violent storm, in India the cause was more systemic—India’s poorly managed powergrid and shoddy infrastructure have not kept pace with the rising demand of a growing Indian economy. India’s Power Minister blamed certain Indian states for drawing more than their fair share of electricity, and threatened cuts to the offending states.
I recently received a letter from my grandma that contained an article by the Washington Post that offered a new perspective on the great Indian blackouts. While most commentators were debating the blackouts’ causes and implications, this article focused on the fact that for a full third of the Indian population, the powergrid is not even accessible. Indeed, this is the case for around 1 billion people around the world for whom lack of power is not an occasional catastrophe, but a constant crisis, dragging down the quality of life and future prosperity.
My grandmother, who had just experienced what energy wonks might call “energy insecurity”, was very moved by the Post article, which included Indian parents lamenting that the lack of power in their district made it impossible for their children to have a better future, and students describing the eye-strain and headaches they experience studying by kerosene light.
The blackouts my grandma experienced increased her empathy for those living in energy poverty. “I really understand what Empower Generation is trying to do in Nepal”, my grandmother said, “you’re trying to help those people have a chance.”
For many of us, to imagine life without power is difficult, because our entire way of life depends on it. The difference is as clear as night and day.