Urbanization and energy use in economic development
This paper identifies a number of developments which are prominent during the urbanization of a country and which have particularly strong implications for energy use. Concomitant with urbanization, the industrial composition of the economy's production shifts, with reductions in agriculture and increases in the importance of primary metals, chemicals, and cement, all of which are relatively energy-intensive sectors. Evidence from India indicates that the movement of a worker from agriculture to the least energy-intensive urban activity other than services will quadruple per worker production energy requirements. Next, population concentration associated with urbanization facilitates increases in the scale of production which in turn encourages the substitution of modern energy for traditional fuels and requires energy for longer deliveries. Also, concentrated, off-farm populations require processing and delivery of food, which are not required for largely agricultural countries. Domestic activity changes send activities which were formerly conducted in the household with little or no energy use, outside, usually into firms, where fuels are used. Urban households also use considerably more transportation than do rural households. Evidence from Hong Kong indicates that pure urban density increases encourage substitutions of modern energy for traditional fuels. Finally, increased real incomes associated with urbanization increase energy consumption, with an elasticity of roughly unity. Aggregate cross-sectional data evidence from sixty developing countries was used to examine the overall magnitude of the effects of urbanization and associated developmental changes on per capita energy use. Controlling for industrial structure, per capita income (per capita gross domestic product), and several other variables, a one-percent increase in urbanization will cause a one-half percent increase in per capita energy use. 81 refs., 5 figs., 63 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 6167435
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL-6432; ON: DE89010190
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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