Significance Of Energy For National Economic Development

There exists, in common, for most of the countries, a direct correlation among the degree of industrialization, gross national product (GNP) or standard of living, and energy resource utilization.

The current, affluent manner of life in the US is attained by the per capita utilization of about 100 times the human body calorie intake that is the other way of saying that each person has the equivalent of 100 slaves working for him. India has one of the lowest per capita energy consumption that is also reflected in the very low standard of living of the majority of population.

Such statistic is to be observed in the context of the broad disparity in energy access between the population, and the nearly 50% share of non-commercial energy, specifically among the rural population.

The man’s dependence on energy stems from his requirement to generate materials for his use that are not found in nature (via manufacturing procedures), and to use energy forms stored in nature to do helpful work for him (via energy conversion procedures). Man’s use of energy has been rising steadily and quickly as the time of the Industrial revolution, and presently it has supposed exponential rates of growth. The ‘doubling period’ for energy consumption in the US is now only around 20 years; this is due to both population growth and technological advances.