ENERGY NEEDS, USES AND RESOURCES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

It identifies the energy needs, uses, and resources in these countries and explores the energy options available to them for their continued social and economic growth. Traditional patterns of development would increase the oil consumption in the non-OPEC LDC"s steadily, becoming comparable with current U.S. consumption between 2000 and 2020. Shortages of capital and technical manpower will limit attempts to exploit indigenous hydrocarbon resources, even in those LDC"s with untapped reserves. In the absence of major actions to replace noncommercial fuels or to increase the effectiveness with which they are used, a large fraction of the three-to-four billion LDC rural population will not be able to raise their energy usage above subsistence level in the year 2000. LDC"s have not explored and developed their own local resources adequately; in virtually all energy conversion and use processes, there are opportunities for improvements in every efficiency. The conversion to dependence on renewable energy sources and movement toward national strategies which can accomplish economic and social development with lower energy requirements are difficult to implement, but necessary in the long term. There are opportunities for effective assistance activities in virtually all of these areas.