Explorer Emphasis Article
By Barry Friedman
Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, will grant no quarter about either the history and benefits of energy in our lives or its potential to improve our future. “Access to affordable, reliable energy is the foundation of modern economies,” he said. This subject has been on his mind of late, for he has spent the last two years studying those who are, as he puts it, suffering from “energy poverty.” Some 2.5 billion people worldwide live in some form of energy poverty today. “Access to secure energy,” Tinker said, “impacts all other major humanitarian issues, including hunger, shelter, clean water, education, healthcare, human migration, empowerment of women, and more. Those who do not have energy access suffer from energy poverty.”