Chapter 12 The EconomicGeography of Energy
• Introduction
• Energy in the International Arena: Trade
and Geopolitics
• The National Arena: Location and Spatial
Distribution
• Summary
Key Themes
• Location and spatial distribution: type of
energy, location of supply and demand
• Spatial allocation and movement: methods
of energy transfer & networks
• Futurism: what will be energy resources in
the future, and the Malthusian Dragon: how
will we adapt to depletion of nonrenewable
energy resources?
Energy in the International
Arena: Trade and Geopolitics
• The key role of energy in economic development
• Multiple sources, with varying geographies of
production
• PETROLEUM: Highly uneven geographic
distribution of resources AND a strong correlation
between consumption and level of economic
development
• Growth of global alliances in sectors with uneven
development and strong levels of trade: OPEC
Parallels Fig. 12.3
Parallels Fig 12.2, 12.3
Parallels Fig 12.1, 12.2
Historic U.S. Energy Consumption
Aggregate Energy Flows 2003
U.S. Energy Imports & Exports
Scale
U.S. Energy Consumption Trend
U.S. Energy Overview
Parallels Fig 12.6
Parallels Fig 12.8
Composite Energy Flow U.S.
Parallels Figure 12.7
Petroleum 2003
Coal 2003
Natural Gas 2003
Electricity 2003
Not Secondary Energy in the Pacific Northwest!
Electrical Power Energy Sources U.S.
U.S.
Electrical
Energy
Sources:
More
Detail
Electric Power Energy Sources
Electric Power Sales
The Falling
Real
Price of
Electricity
Wind?Could be huge in the PNW
Energy Consumption Indicators
Projected U.S. Energy Consumption
Totally Unpredictable
Malthusian Dragons?
• Can these extrapolations continue?
• The finite supply of petroleum, natural gas,
and even coal
• Shell’s recent revelations of exaggerated
reserves
• The hydrogen potential: who would supply?
Existing petro-dominant energy companies?
New players
• The shifting interest in R&D in alternative
energy sources with changing geopolitics
• Can R&D save us again? What do you think?
Energy Produced on Federal Lands
Upshot
• For most industries, energy costs are a small
proportion of production costs
• But, they are critical, and intimately related
to transportation costs, that do have a
significant influence on the global
distribution of production
• The geography of global economic activity
is clearly influenced by energy supplies,
costs, technologies, and trading systems