Energy Problems

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 557.

Shifting Populations

One major concern for researchers is the rapidly growing world population. In developed nations, the average birthrate is between 1 and 2 children per woman. That means countries like Spain and the Czech Republic are experiencing a shrinking population. In under-developed nations, the birthrate is about 4 children per female. In some Africa nations, women are bearing 7 children, on average. The birthrate in the United States is below the rate of replacement, meaning more people are dying than being born to replace them.

China and India already account for over 20% of the world population. In other words, 1 person out of every 5 in the world is either Chinese or Indian. In less than 20 years, 1 out of every 4 people will be from India or China, with Africa contributing to the largest percentage (est. 35%) of global population increase.

As worldwide populations grow, demand for energy will surely increase. Even in the most developed nations, energy demand sometimes outpaces the supply available, leading to blackouts (total loss of power to everyone) or brownouts (partial loss of power to homes and businesses). Such happenings are expensive for both companies, who lose money during the down time, and citizens, who may lose food they cannot afford to replace.

In the U.S., plans have been made to make sure the energy demand never exceeds the energy supply. New (nuclear, steam, and hydro) power generation plants are being built. New alternative forms of energy such as solar and wind power are being explored.

New mining and drilling is taking place to restock supplies of crude oil, natural gas, and coal, but fossil fuels, as they are known, also produce great amounts of pollution when burned. So, unfortunately, there is a trade-off for having cheap fuel around to use.