Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010
Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010
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Date
2013-12-16
Authors
Lawrence, Scott
Liu, Qin
Yakovenko, Victor M.
Advisor
Citation
Lawrence S, Liu Q, Yakovenko VM. Global Inequality in Energy Consumption from 1980 to 2010. Entropy. 2013; 15(12):5565-5579. doi: 10.3390/e15125565
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Abstract
We 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.
Notes
Funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries Open Access Publishing Fund.