CHAPTER SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

The two centuries of British industrialisation from 1750 to 1960 provides a historic example of energy enabling development without causing it. Industrialisation was initiated by a range of economic, social and political factors and in the early stages of industrialisation, energy was not a major factor. However, there is evidence that had there not been access to affordable energy in the form of coal, industrialisation may have

faltered by late in the 18th _{century. The first phase of British industrialisation from 1750 to 1870 – the}

Industrial Revolution – provides an example of how economic development fuelled by ready access to energy supplies may not automatically result in social development. Undoubtedly the Industrial Revolution was a period of substantial economic development, but the social impacts in terms of people’s health and living conditions were negative for at least the first half of the period to the extent that two generations of workers would have seen no real improvement in their day to day lives other than possibly an increase in disposable income. It was the mid to late 1850s before the energy technologies and services developed initially to meet the demands of industry started to benefit the community at large. This gives rise to the question as to whether energy related technologies such as the steam engine, railways, towns gas supply and the electric telegraph would have been developed had not the demands of industry justified the investment needed? It also leads to another question relevant to this thesis: given that Niue and Tuvalu – and other small island nations in the South Pacific – have not industrialised, how have these countries gained access to the energy and energy technologies that support the current lifestyles?

During the period 1950 to 1980, economic development through industrialisation was the main objective of the development programmes implemented by the developed countries, led by the United States both in respect to funding and philosophy. Associated with this approach were major electricity generation and distribution projects aimed at facilitating this industrial development. These included both hydro-electric and fossil-fuelled thermal power stations, sometimes with significant environmental and social impacts. The

approach was modelled on western industrialisation during the 19th_{century and first half of the 20}th_century,

but it can be argued that not all the lessons learnt from this experience were taken into account, notably the fact that the benefits of economic development do not automatically improve people’s lives across the socio- economic spectrum, not to mention rapid, often uncontrolled, urbanisation bringing the risks associated with

poor housing and inadequate infrastructure as occurred in Britain in the early and mid-19th_{century. By the}

1980s, there was increasing realisation that this approach to development may not be working, the reasons for which were the subject of disagreement Furthermore, there was increasing concern at the impacts of economic development in general, and energy projects and processes in particular, in respect to environmental degradation.

A consequence of concerns over the link between economic development and environmental degradation was the rise of the concept of sustainable development which recognised the need to balance the demands of development and the need to protect the environment, best enunciated in the Brundtland Report of 1987. While this report recognised the need to address social and institutional issues as well as the environment and economic development, the positive role that energy plays in all these matters was still not explicitly recognised. It was not until the 1990s that the role of energy as a means to achieve both economic and social development began to be recognised (Goldemberg & Johansson, 1995)). Since 2000, there has been much increased recognition in the literature and by international development agencies of the role of energy and in particular, the part that access to energy can play in the alleviation of poverty – the “energy-poverty nexus”. A consequence has been increased funding by development agencies of energy projects, particularly where the energy sources are renewable.

The links between energy supply and the transformation of Niue and Tuvalu to societies with many of the characteristics of modernity are explored in detail in the following chapters. As a preliminary observation, the direct influence of “modern” energy – that is, energy sources other than woodfuel – was minimal until

well into the 20th_{century. However, the impact of the globalisation resulting from 19}th_{century industrialisation}

was significant and, given the part that energy played in that industrialisation process, this supports the view that energy had an indirect role in the transformation of Niue and Tuvalu.

To conclude, based on the experience from history, it is important to recognise that access to modern energy does not automatically lead to achievement of the economic and social development objectives as expressed in the MDGs for example (DFID, 2002, p. 6; Modi et al., 2006, p. 25). Access to energy may be an essential component but other socio-economic conditions must be favourable or appropriate parallel programmes be in place (Kapadia, 2004, p. 4). Nevertheless, while access to energy will not automatically result in economic and social development, if other favourable social-economic conditions are in place energy is an essential “enabler”.

CHAPTER 3: THE SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS APPROACH: LINKING CONCEPTUAL