America ranks as developing nation in terms of power supply

9/20/2000 In a provocative new report to the Greening Earth Society, science advisor and Power Online columnist David Wojick contends the United States remains a developing nation when it comes to electric power supply.

When it comes to electric power, the U.S. resembles a developing country more than it does a member of the European Union, Wojick said. These facts are crucial when it comes to the feasibility of implementing the Kyoto Protocol.

According to Wojicks analysis, in the United States and other umbrella group nations such as Japan, Canada, and Australia, electric power demand growth has been very strong over the last decade. In the European Union (EU), demand growth has been quite small.

Wojick contends in his report for the society that national positions on the Kyoto Protocol, which would amend the Framework Convention on Climate Change (Rio Treaty) to curtail and roll-back greenhouse gas emissions in developed nations, remain directly proportional to feasibility as far as electric power goes.

He points out that support for Kyoto remains strongest where compliance will be relatively easy, especially by members of the EU such as Germany and the United Kingdom. Support remains weakest where it is impossible, Wojick claims in the report, citing the negotiating postures of the United States and Japan.

According to Fred Palmer, Greening Earth Society president, strong electricity demand in the United States should continue because of the explosive growth of the Internet and because of the broadband revolution. This growth, he said, basically ensures Americas position as a developing country and bolstering its stance against the stringent environmental regulations called for by Kyoto.

As this phenomenon penetrates Western Europe, electricity demand will accelerate there, too, Palmer said. The Internet revolution is enabled by electricity, and it is led by U.S. companies. Hopefully, policy makers here and abroad will recognize that a wired world requires growth in use of fossil fuels for electricity generation and will not try to block utilization of coal, natural gas, and oil under the misguided Kyoto Protocol and the ill-advised Rio Treaty.

Wojicks reportThe U.S. Is Still a Developing Nation: A Comparison of Electric Power Growth Trends Among Nations, and the Implications for the Kyoto Protocolcan be viewed or downloaded as a PDF file from the Greening Earth Society website.

To view that report, visit www.greeningearthsociety.org. For those without access to the Internet and in need of a print copy, contact Chris Paynter, Greening Earth Society executive director, 4301 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 805, Arlington, VA 22203-4193, 703-907-6168, 800-529-4503, fax 703-907-6161.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 20, 2000