For long, environmentalists have argued that bringing electricity to poor peasants may accelerate greenhouse emissions. They’re right, but the environmental impact is substantially lower than most think. According to a new study, the addition of 650 million users to India’s power grid over the last 30 years has impacted greenhouse emissions minimally. Increasing electrical access by 45 percent in India only increased emissions about 3 or 4 percent, a small price to pay for providing so many people with all the joys that access to electricity brings.
India’s expanding power grid hardly impacts emissions
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