How energy needs in the future
If you want to know which way the wind is blowing global (or the sun shining or burning coal) look at China. The news about our energy future and the future of the world’s great powers come from there. Washington is already looking. In addition, it is doing with high anxiety.
Seldom has a newspaper interview said more about the global power shift is taking place in our world. On 20 July, the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Faith Biro, told the Wall Street Journal that China had surpassed U.S. to become the world’s biggest consumer of energy. One could read this story in different ways: as a test of China’s industrial superiority, as evidence of the continuing recession in the United States as evidence of the growing popularity of automobiles in the eastern country and even as evidence of greater U.S. comparative efficiency. All these observations would be valid. However, obviate the main issue: to become major global energy consumers, China will strengthen its dominant role in the international scene and set the course of our global future.
Taking into account the close linkage between energy and global economy and growing doubts about the future availability of oil and other fuels, China’s decisions on energy spend to have a far-reaching impact. As a major player in the global energy market, China decisively determine not only the prices paid for key fuels but also the energy systems that will dominate from here on out. What is more, the Chinese on energy decisions will determine whether China and the U.S. can avoid being dragged into a global battle for oil imports and whether the world will escape a catastrophic climate change.