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Page added on January 8, 2011
Energy use limits global economic growth
A new study has found that energy use has a direct impact on economic activity.
Buzz up!
Researchers have concluded that an “enormous” increase in energy supply will be required to meet the demands of projected world population growth and lift the developing world out of poverty without jeopardizing standards of living in most developed countries.
A team of ecologists led by James H. Brown of the University of New Mexico conducted the study based on data from the International Energy Agency and the World Resources Institute
The team found the same sort of relationship between energy consumption per person and gross domestic product per person as is found between metabolism and body weight in animals.
Brown’s group suggested the similarity is real: cities and countries, like animals, have metabolisms that must burn fuel to sustain themselves and grow.
The study has also suggested that variables relating to standard of living, such as the proportion of doctors in a population, the number of televisions per person, and infant mortality rate, are also correlated with both energy consumption per person and gross domestic product per person.
These correlations lead the authors to their conclusions about the increases in energy production necessary to sustain a still-growing world population without drops in living standards.
The findings were published in the journal BioScience
4 Comments on "Energy use limits global economic growth"
David on Sat, 8th Jan 2011 10:51 pm
“Brown’s group suggested the similarity is real: cities and countries, like animals, have metabolisms that must burn fuel to sustain themselves and grow.”
No shit sherlock! Economic growth needs energy growth?! What an amazing discovery, I´m impressed!
Lampert Scratch on Sun, 9th Jan 2011 3:30 am
And you really do feel the pinch when ‘the number of televisions per person’ falls below 2 or 3.
BillT on Sun, 9th Jan 2011 3:24 pm
Most people, especially the common man/woman, have not connected cheap oil with their lifestyle, but, they soon will!
Kenz300 on Tue, 11th Jan 2011 4:55 am
The rise in the price of energy will have a profound impact on everything we do.
Those hour long commutes from the suburbs will get awfully expensive when oil goes back to $147/barrel or higher.
Shipping fruits, vegetables and toys around the world may not make sense in a world of high energy prices.
The result will be that we will move toward more sustainable communities. We will produce goods and energy closer to the point of consumption and use local labor to do it.
Bring on the electric, flex-fuel and hybrid vehicles. Ramp up the wind, solar, geothermal and second generation ethanol energy production.
You may also want to keep that bicycle handy. It may be your cheapest form of transportation.