While it may not be obvious, developing countries are producing the amount of energy that should be sufficient for every inhabitant in abundance.
Scientists from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria have calculated whether the amount of energy produced on Earth meets the needs of mankind. Their calculations show that the energy generated on Earth is sufficient to cover global needs without going beyond the “carbon budget” that must be met to combat global warming. An article with the scientists' conclusions was published in the journal Nature Energy.
“People are always worried about the idea that economic development and climate mitigation are incompatible, that removing hundreds of millions of people from poverty will make it impossible to reduce harmful emissions - and this is a necessary measure to stabilize the climate,” - says one of the authors of the work, energy systems analyst Narasimha Rao … To confirm or allay these concerns, scientists decided to study specific indicators.
The researchers focused their attention on three emerging economies in the world - Brazil, South Africa and India. These three countries represent different cultural and climatic conditions, as well as their individual problems in the field of transport, sanitation and weather.
Having calculated how much resources each country needs to continue to develop sustainably, scientists have come to the conclusion that all three states generate enough energy to ensure a decent standard of living for every citizen. For example, India in 2015 produced 17.5 gigajoules of energy per capita, while seven gigajoules would be enough to meet the basic needs of every Indian, and from 12 to 15 to provide an acceptable standard of living. The situation is approximately the same with production and energy demand was observed for South Africa and Brazil.
According to scientists, they did not expect the basic human need for energy to be so modest. Research findings suggest that developing countries can optimize spending and limit energy production without harming ordinary people. One of the biggest obstacles to this is the uneven distribution of the population across many developing countries: people in overcrowded urban areas suffer most from resource and energy shortages.
Polina Gershberg