Play all audios:
A reliable power supply in developing countries can help socio-economic development efforts. Now research shows that it would also avoid significant environmental impacts. Access through
your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature
Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $29.99 / 30 days cancel any time Learn more Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 digital issues and online access to
articles $119.00 per year only $9.92 per issue Learn more Buy this article * Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which
are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES * Goldemberg, J.,
Johansson, T. B., Reddy, A. K. & Williams, R. H. _Ambio_ 14, 190–200 (1985). Google Scholar * Cabaal, R. A., Barnes, D. F. & Agarwal, S. G. _Ann. Rev. Environ. Resour._ 30, 117–144
(2005). Article Google Scholar * Karanfil, F. & Li, Y. _Energy Pol._ 82, 264–277 (2015). Article Google Scholar * Niu, S. et al. _Elec. Power Energy Syst._ 53, 338–347 (2013).
Article Google Scholar * Ferguson, R., Wilkinson, W. & Hill, R. _Energy Pol._ 28, 923–934 (2000). Article Google Scholar * _Perspectives for the Energy Transition: Investment Needs
for a Low-Carbon Energy System_ (OECD, IEA & IRENA, 2017). * _Annex to G20 Leaders Declaration: G20 Hamburg Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth_ (G20, 2017). * Nerini, F. F. et al.
_Nat. Energy_ 3, 10–15 (2018). Article Google Scholar * McCollum, D. L. et al. _Nat. Energy_ 3, 589–599 (2018). Article Google Scholar * Gertler, P. J., Lee, K. & Mobarak, A. M.
_Electricity Reliability and Economic Development in Cities: A Microeconomic Perspective_. EEG State-of-Knowledge Series (Center for Effective Global Action, 2017). * Amadi, H. N. _J. Energy
Technol. Pol._ 5, 27–38 (2015). Google Scholar * Oseni, M. O. & Pollitt, M. G. _Energy Econ._ 52, 277–286 (2015). * Taneja, J. _Measuring Electricity Reliability in Kenya_ (2017);
blogs.umass.edu/jtaneja/files/2017/05/outages.pdf * Farquharson, D., Jaramillo, P. & Samaras, C. _Nat. Sustain._ https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0151-8 (2018). * Marais, E. A. &
Wiedinmyer, C. _Environ. Sci. Technol._ 50, 10739–10745 (2016). Article CAS Google Scholar * Burnett, R. et al. _Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA_. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803222115
(2018). Article Google Scholar * Heft-Neal, S., Burney, J., Bendavid, E. & Burke, M. _Nature_ 559, 254–258 (2018). Article CAS Google Scholar * Correa, S., Klugman, N. & Taneja,
J. How many smartphones does it take to detect a power outage? _Proc. Ninth Int. Conf. Future Energy Syst_. 75–79 (Association for Computing Machinery, 2018). * Mann, M. L., Melaas, E. K.
& Malik, A. _Remote Sensing_ 8, 711 (2016). Article Google Scholar * Tong, D. et al. _Nat. Sustain._ 1, 59–68 (2018). Article Google Scholar * Zhao, H. Y. et al. _Atmos. Chem. Phys._
15, 5443–5456 (2015). Article CAS Google Scholar * Zhang, Q. et al. _Nature_ 543, 705–709 (2017). Article CAS Google Scholar * _World Development Indicators_ (World Bank, 2018).
Download references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine, California, 92697, USA Steven J. Davis * Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Irvine, California, 92697, USA Steven J. Davis * Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA Jay Taneja Authors * Steven J. Davis View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jay Taneja View author
publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHORS Correspondence to Steven J. Davis or Jay Taneja. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and
permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Davis, S.J., Taneja, J. Without a back-up plan. _Nat Sustain_ 1, 538–539 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0158-1 Download citation
* Published: 15 October 2018 * Issue Date: October 2018 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0158-1 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this
content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative