Energy Needs of the Less Developed Countries (LDCs)

Abstract

The world has always used large quantities of energy in its production processes and its consumption of goods and services. In the early years, a plentiful supply of wood provided cheap fuel for home and commerce, and coal was sufficiently plentiful to be easily substituted for wood as wood supplies close to points of demand depleted. Kerosene quickly took over from whale oil for lighting, with petroleum becoming increasingly important as the automobile came upon the scene. If anyone has ever doubted that energy is the foundation of modern industrial economies, the “energy crisis” of the mid-1970s dramatically proved the point. The oil price increase demonstrated the vulnerability of the world economies to interruptions in the smooth flow of energy supply. Japan, for example, depends on imports for 99% of its oil needs, while Western Europe imports 96% and the USA about 45% (Todaro, 1977). The oil-importing developing countries, on the other hand, obtain about two-thirds of their energy from oil and, consequently, were hard hit too in the mid-1970s (ICIDI, 1979).