Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, 2021a

3 Population 51
<strong>and</strong> Figure 3.14 look so different, in terms of which countries are
shaded most darkly?
16. Table 3.4 indicates which countries place the highest populationdriven
new dem<strong>and</strong> on global resources using energy as a proxy.
Which countries can American citizens regard as contributing more
total resource dem<strong>and</strong>? At the individual citizen-contribution level,
what other citizens can Americans identify as being responsible
for a greater dem<strong>and</strong> on resources via population growth?
The point is that the U.S. is a major contributor
to increased resource dem<strong>and</strong> via
population growth.
17. The last two columns in Table 3.4 were computed for this book
from available information on population, birth <strong>and</strong> death rates,
<strong>and</strong> annual energy usage for each country (as represented in the
first four columns; references in the caption). Use logical reasoning
to replicate the calculation that produces the last two columns Careful about 10 6 factors <strong>and</strong> GW = 10 9 W.
from the others <strong>and</strong> report how the computation goes, using an
example from the table.
18. The bottom row of Table 3.4 is important enough to warrant
having students pull out <strong>and</strong> interpret its content. What is world
population, in billions? How many people are added to the world
each year? What is the typical power dem<strong>and</strong> for a global citizen
(<strong>and</strong> how does it compare to the U.S.)? If a typical coal or nuclear
plant puts out 1 GW of power, how many power-plant-equivalents
must we add each year to keep up with population increase? And
finally, how much power (in W) is added per global citizen each
year due to population growth (<strong>and</strong> it is worth reflecting on which
countries contribute more than this average)?
Some students may see this as free/easy
points, but consider the value in internalizing
the associated information.
19. If you were part of a global task force given the authority to make
binding recommendations to address pressures on resources due
to population growth, which three countries st<strong>and</strong> out as having
the largest impact at present? Would the recommendations be the
same for all three? If not, how might they differ?
20. Table 3.5 helps differentiate concerns over which region contributes
pressures in raw population versus population-driven resource
dem<strong>and</strong>. By taking the ratio of population growth (in %) to
population (as % of world population), we get a measure of whether
a region is “underperforming” or “overperforming” relative to
its population. Likewise, by taking the ratio of the added power
(in %) to population, we get a similar measure of performance in
resource dem<strong>and</strong>. In this context, which region has the highest
ratio for population pressure, <strong>and</strong> which region has the highest
ratio for population-induced pressure on energy resources?
For instance, Oceania has a ratio of 1.0
for population growth (0.5% of population
growth <strong>and</strong> 0.5% of global population),
meaning it is not over- or under-producing
relative to global norms. But in terms of
power, it is 3 times the global expectation
(1.5 divided by 0.5).
21. If a country starting out at 30 million people undergoes the
demographic transition, starting at birth/death rates of 35 per
1,000 per year <strong>and</strong> ending up at 10 per 1,000 per year, what will
the final population be if the delay, τ, is 40 years?
© 2021 T. W. Murphy, Jr.; Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Lic.;
Freely available at: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions.