Desarrollo energético en América Latina y la economía mundial

]oy Dunkerley / THE ENERGY SECTOR IN DEVELOPING AND INDUSTRIALlZED COUNTRIES some oí the energy we have counted as domestic consumption will in fact be used up in the manufacture of goods íor exporto The inclusion oí such embodied energy couId make a considerable difference to total energy consumption as measured here. If, íor exam– pIe, a country imported all requirements oí energy intensive goods -say iron and steel- and exported only less energy intensive goods -agricultural products- then its domestic energy consumption as measured by production plus imports minus exports oí energy would be lower than it would be if it imported agricultural goods and exported iron and steeI products. An analysis oí the embodied energy contained in tbe foreign trade of several industrialized countries S (including energy embodied not only in non-energy goods 'and services, but also taking into aceount that part of petroleum refinery consumption used to provide next exporters of refinery products) indicates that four countries (United States, Canada, Franee and the United Kingdom) had a net balance oí embodied energy which was relatively small -whether positive or negative- in relation to total energy consumption. The other countries aIl had large negative balances. That is, the industrialized countries were eitber in balance in their trade in embodied energy or they were net exporters- in some cases, Sweden and Japan, significant net exporters. Estimates of energy embodied in the foreign trade of developing countries following similar methods 4 show (the majar oil produeers excluded) that developing countries are significant net importers oí embodied energy. The size oí the neí import (measured as a percen– tage of total energy consumption) varíes considerably from country to country, but is rarely less than 10% and is more often around 30%. Those countríes with the Iowest pereentage (India, Korea, Me– xico, Argentina, Brazil) are the most industrialized of the developing countries. In general tberefore, the developing countries are net importen of embodied energy and the industrialized countries net exporters. In terms of the energy intensity of the two groups of countries the gap between the two narrows if embodied energy ís induded. "Joel Darmstadter et al. How Industrial Societies Use Energy, for Resources for the Future by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1979. The nine industrialized countries inc1uded in this study are the US., Canada, France, Ger– many, ltaIy, Netherlauds, U. K" Swedeu, ¡¡ud Japan. 'Alan Strout, "The Hidden World Trade in Energy" mimeo. 23