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Bringing electricity to more Bangladeshis

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Meeting the electricity demand in Bangladesh with coal power would return 23 takas of social good for each taka spent.  The latest research highlights the smartest ways to meet the growing energy demand. 

Tens of millions of Bangladeshis have gained access to electricity over recent years. In 2000, just 32 percent of the population had electricity access; today that figure stands at nearly 60 percent, according to the World Bank.

Yet the national energy sector still lags behind many of its neighbors, and the power Bangladesh manages to generate is unreliable - blackouts and shortages cost an estimated 0.5 percent of GDP annually. What are the smartest ways to bring reliable energy to more Bangladeshis?

New research by David Roland-Holst, University of California, Berkeley, and Herath Gunatilake, Asian Development Bank, along with consultant Bjorn Larsen, analyses the smartest ways to power the country in coming years. 

Read more in Bjorn Lomborg’s article published by The Daily Star.