1 - Development and Energy

Summary

INTRODUCTION

While energy is a physical entity well understood and quantitatively defined, the concept of development is less well defined and there are different perceptions about its meaning. The World Bank measures development by the gross national product (GNP) and nations are classified in categories according to their GNP per capita.

This monetization of the concept of development is not well understood, nor accepted by many, particularly in developing countries, where income per capita varies dramatically between the poor and the rich. This is not the case in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries where there is a large middle class and variations in income are not very large.

What the poor in the developing countries aspire to – and they represent seventy percent of the world's population – is a “better life,” meaning jobs, food, health services, housing (rural or urban), education, transportation, running water, sewage communication services, security of supply, and good environment. These things are usually measured in industrialized countries by monetary transactions, but not necessarily so in many others. Climate, abundant and easily available natural resources can lead to a better life without great monetary expenses. In some countries cultural values are such that some items are less desirable than in others. In others the political system privileges some solutions over others that cost much less. This is why to compare stages of development only by GDP per capita can be quite misleading.