Soviet energy balances. [Comparison with U. S. and Western Europe]

Technical Report · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6239008

Campbell, R

The pattern of energy flows in the Soviet economy contrasts sharply with that in the U.S. and in Western Europe. Today, the flow of energy exports in the USSR amounts to about 12% of Soviet primary energy production in 1975, whereas the U.S. and Western Europe must relay heavily on imports to augment domestic production. The composition of primary energy production in the USSR has changed considerably since 1950, when 80% was accounted for by solid fuel and only 18.5% by hydrocarbons. By 1975, hydrocarbons accounted for 64%, and the share for solid fuels had fallen to 33%. Since most Soviet energy exports have consisted of oil, the emphasis on solid fuels in consumption in the USSR is still higher than in production: solid fuels now represent 37% of consumption compared with 21% in Western Europe and 19% in the U.S. Within solid fuels, there is heavy reliance on relatively low-grade fuels: lignite, peat, oil shale, and firewod constituted nearly a third of Soviet solid fuel production in 1975. The demand and supply sides of the balance in the Soviet Union differ appreciably from that in the U.S. and Western Europe. Soviet energy policy has always had a special commitment to electrification, and this is expressed both in the high share of total fossil fuel that is converted to electric power and in the extensive use of by-product heat from power generation. These findings have a number of implications for Soviet energy policy makers as they try to save energy (especially oil) in order to maintan a high level of exports, and as an alternative to increasing their supply from the expensive trans-Ural sources.

• Research Organization: RAND Corp., Santa Monica, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6239008
• Report Number(s): RAND/R-2257-DOE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
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293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
BROWN COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COAL
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DATA FORMS
DECISION MAKING
DIAGRAMS
ENERGY DEMAND
ENERGY POLICY
ENERGY SOURCES
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FLOWSHEETS
FOSSIL FUELS
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NUMERICAL DATA
OIL SHALES
PEAT
PETROLEUM
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
TABLES
USA
USSR