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India's lessons of high energy costs
The June 7-13 issue of The Economist had another of their three-page briefings: Melting Asia--China, India and climate change. Another very interesting piece and well worth reading. There was one point that hit me as very interesting about India. It says that India has electricity cost regulations that subsidize agricultural users and charge higher prices to industry. It notes, "This is one of many government-imposed hardships that have forced Indian firms to use power and other resources efficiently. As a result, India is one of the world's lowest-cost producers of aluminum and steel."
India also has lower energy consumption per unit of GDP than the U.S. China is just a sliver above ours. Brazil is far lower. I'm not sure what to make of that exactly. I suppose if you have an ox pulling a plow, it represents less energy consumption than a tractor doing the same job. However, Britain is down with Brazil at less than 70% of our level, and I don't think there are many ox-pulled plows there any more.
But I digress. My point is that something that many would have regarded as a financial hardship (high electricity costs) was turned into an advantage. India learned to cope and has developed a critical skill in the process. I think we can be just as inventive as we adjust to more realistic energy costs. More tomorrow.
India's lessons of high energy costs
June 23, 2008
The June 7-13 issue of The Economist had another of their three-page briefings: Melting Asia--China, India and climate change. Another very interesting piece and well worth reading. There was one point that hit me as very interesting about India. It says that India has electricity cost regulations that subsidize agricultural users and charge higher prices to industry. It notes, "This is one of many government-imposed hardships that have forced Indian firms to use power and other resources efficiently. As a result, India is one of the world's lowest-cost producers of aluminum and steel."India also has lower energy consumption per unit of GDP than the U.S. China is just a sliver above ours. Brazil is far lower. I'm not sure what to make of that exactly. I suppose if you have an ox pulling a plow, it represents less energy consumption than a tractor doing the same job. However, Britain is down with Brazil at less than 70% of our level, and I don't think there are many ox-pulled plows there any more.
But I digress. My point is that something that many would have regarded as a financial hardship (high electricity costs) was turned into an advantage. India learned to cope and has developed a critical skill in the process. I think we can be just as inventive as we adjust to more realistic energy costs. More tomorrow.
Posted by Peter Welander on June 23, 2008 | Comments (0)
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