Study Finds Energy Limits Global Economic Growth

Study Finds = Energy Limits Global Economic Growth
American Institute of Biological Sciences
January 7, 2011=

The = Obama Administration from day one has created polices towards cutting energy supplies, driving d= own the dollar, and giving free rain to speculators raising oil prices, so as to de= stroy US and World Wide economic growth. <= /span>Socialists and Muslims the world over strongly support this weakening of western gover= nments as this plays right into their hands. The Republican House will throw a mon= key wrench in all of these plans

A s= tudy that relates global energy use to economic growth, published in the January issue of BioScience, finds strong correlations between these two measures both among countries and within countries over t= ime. The research leads the study's authors to infer that energy use limits econ= omic activity directly. They conclude that an "enormous" increase in energy supply will be required to meet the demands of projected world population growth and lift the developing world out of poverty without jeopardizing standards of living in most developed countries.

The= study, which used a macroecological approach, was base= d on data from the International Energy Agency and the World Resources Institute= . It was conducted by a team of ecologists led by James H. Brown of the University of New Mexico. The team found the sam= e sort of relationship between energy consumption per person and gross domestic product per person as is found between metabolism and body weight in animal= s. Brown's group suggests the similarity is real: cities and countries, like animals, have metabolisms that must burn fuel to sustain themselves and gro= w. This analogy, together with the data and theory, persuades the BioScience authors that the linkage between energy us= e and economic activity is causal, although other factors must also be in play to explain the variability in the data.

The= study goes on to show that variables relating to standard of living, such as the proportion of doctors in a population, the number of televisions per person, and infant mortality rate, are also correlated with both energy consumption= per person and gross domestic product per person. These correlations lead the authors to their conclusions about the increases in energy production neces= sary to sustain a still-growing world population without drops in living standar= ds. To support the expected world population in 2050 in the current US life= style would require 16 times the current global energy use, for example. Noting that 85 percent of humankind's energy now comes from f= ossil fuels, the BioScience authors point out that ef= forts to develop alternative energy sources face economic problems of diminishing returns, and reject the view of many economists that technological innovati= on can circumvent resource shortages.

Aft= er noon EST on 7 January and for the remainder of the month, the full text of the article will be available for free download through the copy of this Press Release available at www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/.

BioScience, publish= ed monthly, is the journal of the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS). BioScience publishes com= mentary and peer-reviewed articles covering a wide range of biological fields, with= a focus on "Organisms from Molecules to the Environment." The journ= al has been published since 1964. AIBS is an umbrella organization for professional scientific societies and organizations that are involved with biology. It represents some 200 member societies and organizations with a combined membership of about 250,000.

The complete list of peer-reviewed articles = in the January 2011 issue of BioScience is as follows:=

Energetic Limits to Econ= omic Growth. James= H. Brown and colleagues.

Up in the Clouds: Is Sustainable Use of Trop= ical Montane Cloud Forests Possible in Malaysia? Kelvin S. H. Peh, Malcolm C. K. Soh, Navjot S. Sodhi, Wi= lliam F. Laurance, Dylan Jeffri Ong, and Reuben Clements

What Does It Mean to Successfully Conserve a (Vertebrate) Species? Kent H. Redford and colleagues

Biodiversity and Conserv= ation of Tropical Peat Swamp Forests. Mary= Rose C. Posa, Lahiru S. = Wijedasa , and Richard T. Corlett

Recovery Plan for the En= dangered Taxonomy Profession. David L. Pea= rson, Andrew L. Hamilton, and Terry L. Erwin

College Students' Understanding of the Carbon Cycle: Contrasting Principle-based and Informal Reasoning. Laurel M. Hartley, Brook J. Wilke, Jonathon W. Schramm, Charlene D'Avanzo, and Charles W. Anderson.