ABSTRACT
Trade in fuels might be expected to be simply exports from those who have deposits of coal, gas or oil to those who do not. But this ignores the considerable difference in costs of working deposits, which means that prices to producers are important determinants of whether a country is an exporter or importer. It also ignores the great variation in levels of consumption. The US has one of the highest levels of per capita consumption of energy in the world at 7.91 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) per head in 1994 (UN 1997), and although the US is very well endowed with all the fossil fuels, it is a net importer of energy. Britain, with about half this per capita consumption at 3.99 toe per head—round about the European average—and well endowed with resources, has since 1950 fluctuated between being a net importer and exporter. Oil-exporting developing countries consume on average less than half this, and other developing countries a small fraction of the European levels. Their effective demand is limited by their very low per capita incomes. Furthermore, this divergence cannot all be ascribed to manufacturing usage; much of it is for personal consumption in the form of heating, and for air conditioning and transport. This inequality in the consumption of energy represents a social and ecological time bomb ticking away in the background which has been generally ignored by Western energy economists. They have concentrated on the demand for energy by industrial countries and their access to resources.
