Accessing Non-Renewable Resources

Accessing Non-Renewable Energy Resources

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Accessing Non-Renewable Energy Resources

Energy is the main concern of all the countries and economy of any country is mainly hinges upon its energy resources. The energy resources are categorized in two main resources i.e. renewable energy resources and non- renewable resources. This paper is concerned about non-renewable resources, which are running out at decent pace and it takes thousands of years to replenish them. The biggest constraint for most of the developing and under-developed countries in their economy is energy crisis. The reliance on non-renewable resources by rich economies hinders most of the developing or under developed countries to have a fair access to these resources.

Non-renewable energy resources mainly include petroleum, natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. Data reveals that most of the growing of developed economies is the top consumers of the products of non-renewable resources. United States, which is a developed economy, is a top consumer of the petroleum reserves. United States uses 21% of the total production of petroleum. Its share in total petroleum production is 13.7% and the population is only 4.4% of the total world’s population. China and India, the population of both of these is 36.7% of the global population and both are growing economies. The rapid growth of their economies has made them more reliant on non-renewable resources. The consumption of China and India, if commingled, is 14.1% of the total consumption of petroleum reserves. Same trend is followed in coal consumption by India and China. Even China consumes nearly half of the coal produce beneath the surface of this planet. United States has also a fair share in coal consumption. ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"U3aiKpw7","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ahuja & Tatsutani, 2009)","plainCitation":"(Ahuja & Tatsutani, 2009)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":103,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/IH6FLXTP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/jsvqEXt1/items/IH6FLXTP"],"itemData":{"id":103,"type":"article-journal","title":"Sustainable energy for developing countries","container-title":"S.A.P.I.EN.S. Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society","issue":"2.1","source":"journals.openedition.org","abstract":"Overall, at least 1.6 billion people—one-fourth of the world’s population—currently live without electricity and this number has hardly changed in absolute terms since 1970. And yet, the electricity required for people to read at night, pump a minimal amount of drinking water and listen to radio broadcasts would amount to less than 1 percent of overall global energy demand. Developing and emerging economies face thus a two-fold energy challenge in the 21st century: Meeting the needs of billions of people who still lack access to basic, modern energy services while simultaneously participating in a global transition to clean, low-carbon energy systems. And historic rates of progress toward increased efficiency, de-carbonization, greater fuel diversity and lower pollutant emissions need to be greatly accelerated in order to do so. To a significant extent, fortunately, the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions may be aligned with the pursuit of other energy-related objectives, such as developing indigenous renewable resources and reducing local forms of pollution. In the near term, however, there will be tensions. Sustainable energy policies are more likely to succeed if they also contribute toward other societal and economic development objectives. Governments should look across policies to maximize positive synergies where they exist and avoid creating cost-cutting incentives.","URL":"http://journals.openedition.org/sapiens/823","ISSN":"1993-3800","language":"fr","author":[{"family":"Ahuja","given":"Dilip"},{"family":"Tatsutani","given":"Marika"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2009",4,7]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",4,26]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ahuja & Tatsutani, 2009)

Above data exposes a glitch in the energy consumption policies of these countries. They produce less and consume more, they are densely populated and their industrial units are reliant on non-renewable resources. These countries must take measures to provide developing or under developed countries a fair access to these resources. These energy resources must be considered as common heritage of the mankind and share of all the countries must be proportional to their population. Shifting industrial units to renewable energy resources like hydro, solar, thermal would definitely cut their consumption of non-renewable energy resources. The big powers and United Nations must join hands to save these resources and provide a fair share to developing or poor countries. The top consumers must reduce their share and increase their reliance on renewable energy.

References

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Ahuja, D., & Tatsutani, M. (2009). Sustainable energy for developing countries. S.A.P.I.EN.S. Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society, (2.1). Retrieved from http://journals.openedition.org/sapiens/823