Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
100.000
10.000
y = 1,336x
0,776
R
2
= 0,80
1.000
100
10
100
1.000
10.000
100.000
GDP
Fig. 1.6 Per capita energy consumption per country in 2009 (kg oil equivalent: koe) as a function
of per capita GDP ($2005 PPP). Source World Bank (
2011
). Note the interpolation is drawn
through a power regression, whose formula is represented in the graph. Ordinates and abscissae in
log. 1 koe = 10,000 kcal
economies consumed on average 9 times more commercial energy than an inhab-
itant of the poorest countries
only 0.54 toe. So strong differences did not exist
before modern growth. Only differences in climate and not in wealth could then
imply remarkable disparities in consumption.
—
1.4.5 The Price of Energy
The spread of fossil fuels was fostered by their relatively low price in comparison
with organic vegetable sources. During the second half of the 18th century and the
rst decades of the 19th, the initial progress of coal coincided with a period of rising
prices of all organic vegetable sources of energy. For the same energetic content,
fossil carriers were 2
3 times cheaper than the vegetable ones. If we take the curve
of oil prices on the international markets, we notice that, after a couple of decades
of high prices at the start of the use of oil, there was a downward curve until the
1973 crisis (Fig.
1.7
).
In the 1950s and 1960s oil prices reached their lowest level. Although different
sources have different prices, the trend in oil prices well represents the trend of
energy prices on the whole. Data for the periods both before and after the intro-
duction of the new fossil carriers, suggests that the fastest rate of the modern
growth, occurring in the 1950s and 1960s, coincided with the lowest level of energy
prices ever experienced, at least from when written information exists. On the other
hand, the slower rate of growth of the world economy after 1973 depended, at least
in part, on the higher price of energy and particularly oil.
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