Homework #2 Energy Consumption

1.        

The first graph shows that the consumption of energy has increased across the board for all resources as well as more than doubled overall since 1971. It also shows that the primary sources for energy are coal, oil, and natural gas. This to me shows that overtime the amount of energy we consume is only going to go up. While it makes sense that as the world becomes more developed, the amount of energy consumed increases, this is not a sustainable pattern. The most used resources have a finite amount on this planet so in theory they will run out if we keep using them. Going forward, more should be invested in other forms of energy sources that are more sustainable such as wind, solar, and hydro to allow for an increase in energy throughout the world.

The second graph shows various countries population, % of the worlds GDP, and consumption of energy. What is interesting from this is that while the United States has about 25 percent of the population of china and India, it’s consumption of energy is more than double that of china and 6 times more than India.  That being said, the US also has the largest GDP out of all of the countries whereas China and India are among the lowest GDP’s. While there are many factors in energy consumption such as how developed a country is, the US clearly needs to focus efforts in energy consumption. To have the largest energy consumption stemming from such a small population of the world is slightly embarrassing and also a sign that the US should learn from other countries practices.

The third graph compares energy consumption per capita to the GNP per capita. There seems to be a positive linear relationship to the two factors, meaning the richer countries tend to consume the most energy. There are a few outliers however, the USA and Canada are not the riches countries and yet they consume the most energy. This graph supports the idea that the US needs to focus efforts on consuming less energy. The more energy we consume, the worse it is for the environment which will hurt everyone in the long run. Also, to be using up the most energy out of everywhere in the world is inefficient and unsustainable due to the source of that energy.

Looking at all of this information, while China and India have the largest populations, there energy consumptions are low. This makes some sense when you consider that those countries are less developed then the US and Japan who have smaller populations but larger energy consumption. Based off of this knowledge, as China and India do become more developed their will be a spike in energy consumption as well that could very well surpass that of the US and China. I think that as the amount of energy consumed does increase, it will be very important to note what the source of that energy is since the most popular sources currently are also the least sustainable. 

2.

     My estimated carbon footprint currently is less than the average US person (22 vs 27) whereas my estimated footprint 20 years from now is much higher than the average (32). I think this is interesting since I based my 20 year guess off of what I think the typical American family would be like. If I am right in my estimates that would mean that in the future, there will be an even larger increase in consumption of energy even though the US already has the highest percentage per capita. The amount of energy consumed will increase in the future based off of the patterns on this graph. To counter act this, the source of energy must change to be more sustainable for the economy and environment. What is also important to note is that while my carbon footprint is currently lower than the US average, it is probably much higher than those from other countries.