Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010

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dc.contributor.authorLawrence, Scott
dc.contributor.authorLiu, Qin
dc.contributor.authorYakovenko, Victor M.
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-14T18:32:14Z
dc.date.available2014-10-14T18:32:14Z
dc.date.issued2013-12-16
dc.descriptionFunding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.
dc.description.abstractWe study the global probability distribution of energy consumption per capita around the world using data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for 1980–2010. We find that the Lorenz curves have moved up during this time period, and the Gini coefficient, G, has decreased from 0.66 in 1980 to 0.55 in 2010, indicating a decrease in inequality. The global probability distribution of energy consumption per capita in 2010 is close to the exponential distribution with G = 0.5. We attribute this result to the globalization of the world economy, which mixes the world and brings it closer to the state of maximal entropy. We argue that global energy production is a limited resource that is partitioned among the world population. The most probable partition is the one that maximizes entropy, thus resulting in the exponential distribution function. A consequence of the latter is the law of 1/3: the top 1/3 of the world population consumes 2/3 of produced energy. We also find similar results for the global probability distribution of CO2 emissions per capita.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M2788M
dc.identifier.citationLawrence S, Liu Q, Yakovenko VM. Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010. Entropy. 2013; 15(12):5565-5579. doi: 10.3390/e15125565en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/15855
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherMDPI Entropyen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtCollege of Computer, Mathematical & Natural Sciencesen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtPhysicsen_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_us
dc.relation.isAvailableAtUniversity of Maryland (College Park, MD)en_us
dc.subjectInequalityen_US
dc.subjectEnergy consumptionen_US
dc.subjectCarbon emissionen_US
dc.subjectMaximal entropyen_US
dc.subjectExponential distributionen_US
dc.subjectLorenz curveen_US
dc.subjectGini coefficienten_US
dc.subjectEconophysicsen_US
dc.subjectThe law of 1/3en_US
dc.subjectGlobalizationen_US
dc.titleGlobal Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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