Desarrollo energético en América Latina y la economía mundial

DESARROLLO ENERGÉTICO EN AMÉRICA LATINA y LA ECONOMÍA MUNDIAL unemployed and lor underemployed. Associated wi th the emergence of a modern industrial sector in most developing countries was also the emergence of a transportatíon sector which by its very nature is energy (and particularly oil) intensive. The emergence of the trans– portation sector was basically a by-product of the modern industrial sector in that the latter required a system of marketing and distribu– tion for both the domestic economy and the world market. An impor– tant force in the rise oí the transportatÍon sector oí theeconomy was the migration of the population from the rural to the urban centers. The shift toward urbanization created with it several sources of de– mand for energy. These include public and private transportatíon as well as an increase in household demand for energy. The last point is significant since the new arrivals in the urban centers had to change theÍr pattern oI energy consumption by shífting from tradítional to commercial sources of energy. In other words, the increased urbaniza– tion has tended to reduce the contribution oI non-commercial sources of energy to total energy suppIy and to increase the demand for com– mercial energy. It should be noted that the orientation of Third World development strategies were encouraged by several forces, not the least important of which was the availability of oil at affordable and cheap prices. The situatíon in Third World countries now is entirely different in that these variables (príce and avaílability) have already become eco– nomic constraints on their development process. The confluence of these forces, industrializatíon, urbanizatíon, modern transportation systems, the question of suppIy and cost, has created a situation that has placed the developing countries in an extremely difficult position. It should also be noted that the decline in oíl prices in the period between 1960 and 1973 (in absolute then in reIative terms) had an adverse effect on the development and expansion of indigenous sources of energy supplies. This was partícuIarly true in those develo– ping countries that lost the incentive to expand their coal capacity as well as in those countries that were once self-sufficient in oH but found it cheaper to reIy on oíl importants than to invest in new explo– ratíon and development. Thís meant that the processes of industriali– zation and urbanizatíon which caused the high rate of growth in demand for energy intensified reliance on imported energy as the traditional non-commerciaI sources of energy failed to keep up with the acceIerated and changing demand pattern for energy. India is a case in point. In 1953-54 India consumed 171 million tons of coal equiva– lent of energy, both commercial and non-commercial. In that year 34