Most of the population of Southern African lacks access to electricity and modern energy for cooking (FAO, 2012c; IEA, 2014a). Their heavy dependence on the traditional biomass for cooking direct affect the living conditions in this region. For example, charcoal and firewood supply more than 95% of the cooking energy consumption in Mozambique and Malawi. By contrast, in South Africa, only 13% of the population relies on the traditional use of biomass (IEA, 2014b). The use of charcoal and firewood has been related to approximately 600,000 premature death per year in Africa (WHO, 2013). The stoves are typically inefficient and placed in poorly ventilated spaces, causing indoor air pollution (IEA, 2014a). Also, the use of these traditional biomass leads to household energy accidents, such as burns, scalds, fires, and poisonings (Kimemia et al., 2014).

Electricity access is lacking for 60% of the Southern African population. In Malawi, less than 10% of the population is supplied with electricity (IEA, 2014b). In some cases, countries are highly dependent on imported electricity. For example, 70% of the electricity in Swaziland is imported. Also, all of the Southern African countries are net importers of gasoline and distillate fuel oil (EIA, 2012) (Table 1), with all except South Africa and Zambia wholly dependent on imports. This scenario reduces their energy security and harms the national trade balance.

Autores: SOUZA, SIMONE P. ; HORTA NOGUEIRA, LUIZ A. ; WATSON, HELEN K. ; LYND, LEE RYBECK ; ELMISSIRY, MOSAD ; CORTEZ, LUÍS A. B..
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