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Enabling access to energy is vital in addressing many of the present global development issues which affect people's economic, health and social well-being as well as the ability to meet the goal of reducing carbon emissions through clean energy use (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2016). Nonetheless, in spite of increased attention from multiple agencies and governments, energy poverty remains a severe development issue: particularly in developing countries, where access to modern energy systems is mostly embryonic. Yet, to date, most research have focused on general access to electricity and the generation of clean energy to replace fossil fuels, failing to address the lack of basic access to clean energy for cooking and heating (Saracini, 2014). In this paper, we address this gap by reviewing the issue of lack of access to clean cooking fuel as well as providing empirical evidence of the impact of use of solid fuel on economic development (using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as indicator).

In developing countries, due to the total lack of access to energy systems in some regions or its availability to only high income households in the society, amenities deemed basic in developed countries, such as reliable and resilient energy systems, can in fact be classed as luxurious attributes [1]. The impact of the lack of access to modern energy systems, not only attributes to the poor quality of life experienced in these countries but also plays a vital role in health and environmental issues, whilst causing severe hindrance to the social and economic developments in these countries. Consequently, the aim of this research is to develop optimised energy policies and business models to facilitate the alleviation of energy poverty whilst concurrently aiding large-scale urban developments in these countries.