Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, 2021a

2 Economic Growth Limits 18
But resources are still paramount. The United States prospered largely
because it possessed a frontier rich in natural resources. Mining <strong>and</strong>
animal pelts dominated early on, as well as agriculture (tobacco, cotton,
corn, wheat). In the middle of the 20th century, the United States was
the dominant oil exporter worldwide (first developed in Pennsylvania,
then California <strong>and</strong> Texas). Escaping the World Wars largely unscathed
in terms of domestic infrastructure, the country had tooled-up a massive
manufacturing capability. Together with a can-do attitude, Americans
set out to rack up superlatives in virtually every category. As a manufacturing
powerhouse during the middle of the 20th century, American
raw materials joined a well-educated workforce to drive innovation <strong>and</strong>
production. It is no accident that many in the U.S. yearn to return to these
“glory days;” however we cannot possibly do so, having permanently
depleted some of the original stocks.
One might say that the U.S. was the Saudi
Arabia of the day.
It is important to recognize that the past
was not “glorious” for all people.
What was true in the past is largely still true today: resources like oil,
steel, metals, agricultural products, <strong>and</strong> heavy machinery continue to
fetch a significant price on the market. Resources fuel prosperity. It is not
the only source, but remains a reliable <strong>and</strong> bedrock component. Figure
2.1 shows the tight correlation between economic scale <strong>and</strong> energy use,
which is often expressed by saying that the two tend to be coupled.
Qatar
Singapore
<strong>Energy</strong> Usage Per Person (W)
10000
1000
100
10
Chad
Pakistan
Ethiopia
Venezuela
India
Nigeria
Brazil
Indonesia
Russia
China
USA
Canada
Switzerl<strong>and</strong>
Japan
Germany
Italy UK
Taiwan
1000 10000 100000
Per Capita GDP ($)
Figure 2.1: Per capita energy use as a function
of GDP on a logarithmic scale. Per
capita GDP is the sum total of a country’s
economy divided by population, effectively
indicating average annual income. The rate
at which an individual uses energy is expressed
as a power, in Watts. A strong correlation
exists here across many orders-ofmagnitude:
rich countries use more energy,
per person [6–8]. A few instructive cases
(red dots) are labeled. The dot areas are
scaled to population.
One way to capture the physical connection to economic activity is to
represent the energy expenditure associated with each dollar 3 spent.
This economic energy intensity (see Definition 2.1.1) of a country is just
the energy expenditure of society divided by the gross domestic product
(GDP). 4
3: Or converted monetary equivalent.
4: GDP is a measure of total monetary value
of goods <strong>and</strong> services produced in a country
within a year.
© 2021 T. W. Murphy, Jr.; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Lic.;
Freely available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions.