Decent living gaps and energy needs around the world

Abstract

In recent years, there has been growing interest in defining what exactly constitutes “decent living standards” (DLS)—the material underpinnings of human well-being. We assess the gaps in providing decent health, shelter, nutrition, socialization, and mobility within countries, across the world. Our results show that more people are deprived of DLS than are income-poor, even when numbers are measured against medium income poverty thresholds. We estimate the cumulative energy needs for building out new infrastructure to support DLS provision for all by 2040 to be about 290 EJ, which amounts to less than three-quarters of current annual global energy demand, at the final energy level. The annual energy requirements to support decent living for the global population after 2040 is estimated to be 156 EJ yr−1. Present average energy demand levels in most countries exceed hypothetical DLS energy needs. Transport energy dominates energy for decent living worldwide, while housing requirements dominate upfront energy investment needs.