Simon Denyer and Rama Lakshmi

NEW DELHI — Like China two decades ago and the United States in 1950, India stands on the cusp of transformational economic and social change, a jumping-off point at which the demand for electricity is about to explode.

The efficiency of energy use in growing the U.S. economy has made dramatic improvements over the past 60 years.  Before the mid-1980s electrical energy usage grew faster than GDP growth but since then the relationship has reversed.  Projections by the U.S. EIA (U.S.

The Climate Group

theclimategroup.org

June 29 2012

This map shows the global electricity distribution, with obvious scarcity in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South America.

Rachel Cernansky

The UN estimates that 1.4 billion people have no access to electricity, hurting their ability to earn a living or educate their children. But connecting to an electric grid may not be the only solution.

Shahiduzzaman Khan

Energy demands in South Asia are growing at rate of over 6.0 per cent a year - a pace that is far in excess of the region's capacity to meet.

 Increase of 52% to $10.3bn in 2011 was based on strong solar performance

New Scientist

Iceland has lots of geothermal energy, Norway has hydropower. The wind blows hard in Scotland and the sun always shines in North Africa. Helen Knight explores plans to connect these diverse sources to a single network