Desarrollo energético en América Latina y la economía mundial

Professor Abbas Alnasmwi I ENERGY AND THE DEVELOPING COUNTRlES facing the developing countries are serious without having to resort to a reduetion in the leve! oI energy consumption. Third World coun. tries are eompelled to raise output and achieve higher level oI deve– lopment in order to meet their basie economic and social objectives. This does not mean, however, that there is no room for conservation. On the other hand, developed eountries, by allaccounts, have considerable room for conservation in all seetors oI the energy market. According to a recent study by the International Energy Agency the ratio of ellergy cOllsumptioll to GDP ls projected to fall by 6% between 1976 and 1985 or from 1.44 ton of oíl equivalent (TOE) per $ 1,000 of GDP to 1.36 TOE per $ 1,000 oI GDP17. The developed eountries posses a wide l"ange of policy instruments to implement their energy conservation policies -if they choose to do so. These inelude the providing of incentives through taxes and prices; mínimum thermal standards for residential and commercial buildings; fuel efficiency standards for automobiles; financial support for mass transit systems; and the development oI new energy saving technologies. The ability oI the developed countries to adopt conser– vation measures is related directly to the fact that there i5 considerable scope to become more energy efficient without having to reduce the Tate of economic growth. Although there has already been some change in the energy!GDP ratio between 1973 and 1976 (by 2%) there is general agreement that much more can be done in this field especial– Iy in the United States 18 • While the issues of conservation in the developed economics are capable of identificatíon and policy consideration, they are oI an entirely different order in the developing countries. It is important to say at the outset that a considerable part of the process of economic growth in these countries has been but does not necessarily need to remain, one of ímitation. DeveIopment strategíes have been or have tended to be capital and energy intensive in most Third World coun· tries. The continued adoption of such strategies will, as a result, inevita– bly increase the consumptíon oI commercial energy. The first íssue oí energy conservation, therefore, becomes one of reexamining the basic premise around which economic development strategies have been "lnternational Energy Agency. Energy Policies and PTogrammes of lEA Countries (París. 1978) • p. 30. u/bid. 43