ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

190
Role of Technology in International Affairs
Watts). Roughly 78 percent of this energy was consumed by the industrially
advanced countries and the balance 22 percent was consumed by 80 percent
of the population in developing countries. A quick look at the global energy
scenario shows that in terms of energy consumption, China with 20.25 percent
of world consumption has already overtaken the US (19.04 percent). Russia
is third at 5.75 percent while India is fourth at 4.36 percent, followed by
Japan (4.24 percent), Germany (2.65 percent), Canada (2.63 percent) and
France (2 percent). However, comparing the same eight nations in terms of
per-capita consumption, Canada is one of the highest with 8300 ‘Kg of oil
equivalent’ (koe) with the US right behind at 7795 koe. Next are France at
4615, Russia at 4423, Germany at 4203, Japan at 4040, China at 1652 and
India at 512. It is interesting to note that although India ranks as the fourth
largest energy consumer in the world, its per capita consumption is very low,
less than 1/10 th of the US or Canada and about 1/4 th of the world average. 8
Unfortunately, much of the energy needs of the industrialised world are
met from fossil fuel resources that have been most cost-competitive but also
heavy emitters of GHG. As global demand for energy threatens to overtake
the supply of these fuels, the increase in prices becomes inevitable in driving
economic competition to an even higher pitch. Thus, with no let-up in global
warming, the imminent consequences of a hotter earth will have more severe
impact in highly populated developing countries than advanced nations with
lower density of population and better infrastructures.
World energy consumption is expected to grow by 45 percent by year
2035 and with the ‘business as usual’ model the global emissions of GHG
are also expected to increase by about 42 percent by the year 2035. However,
if dependence on carbon fuel is reduced drastically and the share of clean
energy sources is improved to nearly 50 percent from the present 15 percent,
further global warming could be mitigated significantly. There is therefore a
need for technological innovations and investments in clean and renewable
technologies including techniques for carbon sequestration at affordable cost.
The penalty of not achieving the above could mean painful cuts in future
energy usage that could slow-down economic progress or accelerate
environmental disasters that could spiral out of control and threaten human
well-being and even survival.
As brought out by Thomas L. Friedman in his book, ‘Hot, Flat and
Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—and How It Can Renew America’
our world is indeed getting hotter than ever before due to our insatiable hunger
for energy, and comforts of mankind. An increasing number of people globally