DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCE ISSUES YOU GOTTA HAVE MONEY TO MAKE MONEY.

DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCE ISSUES

YOU GOTTA HAVE

MONEY TO MAKE

MONEY

DEVELOPMENTAND ENERGY

For a country to develop, it needs an abundant, low-cost supply of energy to fuel its growth. And as a country develops, it requires more and more energy to maintain its level of development.

A country can either use its own energy resources, or if it has a small supply of resources, it will need to acquire (buy, trade or steal) them from someone.

Energy supplies come in two varieties:

RENEWABLE RESOURCES NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

In the world of energy, supply is the quantity of a good that suppliers have available, and demand is the quantity that consumers need.

At present, 5/6 of the world’s energy demand are met by three, non-renewable, fossil fuel sources:

COAL PETROLEUM NATURAL GAS

Geographers see two main problems in reference to global supplies and demands for energy:

DEMAND SUPPLY

The heaviest demand comes from MDCs, but the majority of the earth’s people and resources are in LDCs.

Some MDCs and many LDCs have very small supplies of natural resources.

DEMANDISSUES

GLOBAL ENERGY SOURCES

Combined, MDCs use account for about half of current energy comnsumption and LDCs account for the other half.

The US has long been the world’s leading energy consumer, but China has recently surpassed it. (remember that the US has ¼ the population of China)

As a whole, North America consumes more energy than any other region. It has 5% of the global population but 25% of global energy consumption.

NOW IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF EVERYONE CONSUMED ENERGY LIKE NORTH AMERICANS…

In 2007, energy demand in LDCs surpassed that in MDCs. As LDCs Develop (a good thing!), their energy consumption increases. Since the majority of the world’s population lives in LDCs, their energy demand will continue to grow (3% annually). Since the population in

MDCs is fairly stable, their energy demand will grow only slightly (1% annually).

SUPPLYISSUES

The major issue is that the earth’s supply of energy resources are not distributed

evenly. To develop, a country needs energy resources. It either needs to have them or

to acquire them.

COAL

PETROLEUM

NATURAL GAS

Coal formed in the tropics, but as the earth’s plates have shifted, the deposits are now in the mid-latitudes

China produces about ½ the world’s coal, LDCs ¼ and other MDCs ¼ (mostly the US)

Petroleum formed from the sediment on ancient seafloors and deposits are now either there or under land that used to be seafloor.

Russia and Saudi Arabia produce ¼ of the world’s petroleum, other LDCs ½, and other MDCs ¼ (mostly the US)

Natural gas also formed from seafloor deposits and deposits are also either under the seafloor or previous seafloors.

Russia and SW Asia produce 1/3 of the world’s natural gas, other LDC 1/3, and other MDCs 1/3 (mostly the US)

US NATURAL GAS FIELDS

ENERGYRESERVES

A reserve is the current supply of a given energy source. Since fossil fuels are non-renewable, the current reserve is all that is left.

Proven Reserves are energy deposits that have already been discovered.

Coal reserves will last 131 years.(all estimates current demand)

Petroleum reserves will last 43 years.

Natural Gas reserves will last 49 years.

A Potential Reserve is a deposit that is thought to exist but that has not yet been definitively discovered. There are three types…

UNDISCOVERED FIELDS ENHANCED RECOVERY UNCONVENTIONAL SOURCES

The best deposits are those that have already been discovered.

New deposits are smaller, more remote and more costly/dangerous to exploit (think: Deepwater Horizon)

These methods wring the difficult remains out of deposits.

They are thorough, but they are slow, difficult and expensive.

These are new sources and the methods for exploiting them are still being developed.

Oil Sands and Fracking are well known examples, and such sources can be difficult, costly and polluting.

OIL

Most MDCs rely on the oil-rich LDCs of Southwest Asia and Noorthern Africa to supply the majority of their oil.

The ethnic and political conflicts (think: unit 7!) in these regions makes depending on them problematic.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a supranational organization (unit 8!) formed in 1960 by oil-rich countries of Southwest Asia. It was designed to protect these countries from oil companies in MDCs that were exploiting them.

Under OPEC control, world oil prices have increased sharply on several occasions, HOWEVER, recently, global oil prices have plummeted because OPEC is intentionally overproducing (some say in the effort to run development of unconventional sources out of the market).

In the early 1900s, the US produced more oil than it consumed, but in the 1950s major oil companies decided it was cheaper to import oil from SW and Cnetral Asia than to produce it. In 1954, imports accounted for 14% of US consumption, but in 2009 it accounted for 58%.

In response to the instability of oil in SW Asia, the US has recently been attempting to cut back on foreign imports by increasing domestic production and developing unconventional sources.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES

The book will identify several alternative energy sources and discuss their pros and cons. Please read those summaries carefully.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES

Nuclear Energy Hydroelectric powerBiomass FuelWind Power

Geothermal EnergyNuclear Fusion