3.2 How and why is the demand for energy changing?

• Economic

• Social

• Technological

• For all countries, no matter what their present stage of development, demands for energy are rising. Economic growth depends on energy, leisure and social activities very often require energy, and the number of appliances and gadgets owned in the world increases daily, all needing energy. Underlying all these are needs for transport, cooking, heating, air conditioning and lighting.

• All economies are increasing their demands for energy. This is especially true of newly emerging economies, especially the very large countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) where energy for manufacturing is the main growth. In order to be successful, all economies (including those already developed) need to grow each year. In one way or another, that growth needs energy. Countries that experience a low level of development need to grow so that large proportions of their populations can rise out of poverty.

• In developed economies, as well as getting to and from work, people want to travel to see friends, enjoy pastimes and go on holidays. Entertainment, even staying at home and watching TV, requires energy. To make life easier and free up time for leisure, labour saving devices are needed.

• For many of the social reasons above technology has produced equipment that requires energy. The list is enormous. There are several major areas. Car ownership grows continuously throughout the world. Growing international trade has led to the transport of goods by air, sea and all forms of land transport. Around the home, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, TVs, computers, games consoles, sound systems, mobile phones have developed. Electronic gadgets are found in almost all activities.

China’s rapid economic growth and increase in demand for energy is very well covered in http://www.iie.com/publications/papers/rosen0507.pdf
Extract figures on economic growth and increases in energy demand for China

The growth in demand for energy in London during the 21st century is given in great detail in http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/energy/docs/powering-london-21st-century.pdf
Graph the expected rise in energy demand for London from 2010 to 2025

A good deal of the growth comes from social and domestic sources http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/uploads/documents/aboutest/Riseofthemachines.pdf
Identify items which have increased home energy consumption in the last 40 years

Transport, particularly private vehicles, has increased over time. Growth of all types of transport in the UK can be found in
http://www.dft.gov.uk/162259/162469/221412/217792/2214291/TSGB2007Final_linksV12.pdf
Extract data to show the growth of one type of transport in the UK over the last 40 years.

Many new technologies have huge energy demands for example
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/top_garden_centre_to_ban_p_04042007.html
Identify arguments for and against new technologies