It is astonishing just how energy-dependent the modern world is, and the power economy is a contemporary creation worth exploring. Global energy consumption and related parameters can be suitably depicted by heat maps, which visualize energy trends across the globe. As such, these heat maps allow you to gain insights on localized energy consumption, energy conservation practices, and industry climate. For starters, let’s take a look at a map of “primary energy” consumption around the world.
Diving deeper, let’s now explore this heat map of nation-specific “energy intensity levels of primary energy.” Scientifically, this is the ratio between energy supply and gross domestic product measured at purchasing power parity; in layman’s terms, this indicates how much energy is used to produce one unit of economic output within the country. [2]
The 2014 data above shows how energy-intensive a nation’s economic activity is, and is suggestive of the industrial nature as well as resource availability of that individual nation. For example, you have Japan at the lower end of the global energy intensity spectrum, being known for technological innovativeness and high capitalization on production development. On the other hand, you have low income countries like sub-Saharan Africa topping the same chart on by a mile, due to strong reliance on inefficient traditional biomass [2]. Numbers like these suggest that it is not just the availability of primary energy, but how you use it, that should be considered when addressing the problem of power maximization in the country.
It is largely misconceived that the solution to an energy shortage problem is the unbridled increase in power generation facilities, when in fact this could lead to a depletion and mismanagement of resources, including land area, which is scarce as is in the Philippines. Instead, energy management and efficiency optimization ensures that both power users and power generators make the most of the existing limited supply, reaching more effective, long-term results at lesser cost. One can hope for strong policy frameworks to incentivize sustainable energy at the national level, yet energy conservation can and should also be implemented at the embedded level; energy monitoring systems are an accessory fitting any and all kinds of facilities, be it residential, commercial or industrial. It is truly a nation-wide effort: a country poised for effective energy management includes citizens participating in energy monitoring within their own realms of influence.
References:
[1] “Map of Countries by Primary Energy Consumption, 2018.” Knoema, Knoema Corporation, knoema.com/atlas/maps/Primary-energy-consumption.
[2] “Energy Efficiency.” Sustainable Energy for All, World Bank Group, 25 June 2017, www.seforall.org/data-stories/energy-efficiency.
