THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF ENERGY IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Energy is a foundation of economy. Energy provides an essential ingredient foralmost all human activities: it provides services for cooking and space/water heating,lighting, health, food production and storage, education, mineral extraction, industrialproduction and transportation. Energy services are a powerful engine of economic andsocial development, and no country has managed to develop much beyond a subsistenceeconomy without ensuring at least minimum access to energy services for a broadsection of its population. Throughout the world, the energy resources available to themand their ability to pay largely determine the way in which people live their lives.Nevertheless, it is critical to recognize that what people want are the services that energyprovides, not fuel or electricity per se.