• Instructions on calculating Vector for Indicator 7

• General Discussion

• Examples

Enter the following data:
 

1. Your country's total energy consumption:

• in 1990 =                           

• in                 =                           

2. Your country's total GDP:

• in 1990 =                           

• in                 =                           

3. Energy productivity

= (#1 / #2)

• in 1990 = X =                           

• in                 =                           

Calculating the vector value:

The "1" circle equals the 1990 value = 10.64 MJ/$GDP .

The center, the "0" sustainability objective, equals one-tenth of 1990 = Y = 1.06 MJ/$GDP.

Hence the 0 to 1 segment, the unit vector, equals 10.64 minus 1.06 = Z = 9.58 MJ/$GDP. 

Formula: (X - Y) / Z.
 

• Actual calculation of the vector:

= (X - Y) / Z 

= (                            - 1.06 MJ/$GDP) ¸ 9.58 MJ/$GDP

=                                in 

• Optional vector calculation for 1990:

= (X - Y) / Z 

= (                            - 1.06 MJ/$GDP) ¸ 9.58 MJ/$GDP

=                                in 1990

Vector:

1 : 10.64 MJ primary energy consumed/$GDP (1990 global average) 

0 : One-tenth of the 1990 global average: 1.06MJ/$GDP)

Greatly reducing energy inputs-particularly of the most socially and environmentally damaging fuels and systems-without compromising appropriate economic growth is a sensible and profitable objective. While this can be accomplished by improving the efficiency of energy extraction and conversion, by choosing the right kinds of energy for the right purposes, and by transporting energy with minimal losses, the largest and cheapest savings are typically found at the point of use. This means more efficient motors for industry, energy-efficient buildings, more efficient transportation of people and materials, and better pumps, lights, and appliances. Experience in nearly every country shows that enormous amounts of energy can be saved at a fraction of the cost of increasing energy supplies. Building a factory to make super-windows costs less, by a factor of ten, than building a powerplant to supply the extra electricity inefficient buildings would require, for example. Manufacturing super-efficient refrigerators costs more to make and buy, but cost far less in the long run compared to the capital cost of the extra powerplants required for millions of needlessly wasteful refrigerators. Of course, the costs of air pollution, respiratory illness, higher import bills, fewer jobs, or climate change are not counted. 

This indicator measures each nation's progress in terms of obtaining more economic activity per unit of energy consumed. Many nations already track such progress (including by the OECD), and the World Bank, United Nations, and International Energy Agency publish periodic comparative reports. 

This simple task is complicated by a number of factors. The available data compare economies with widely different geography, economic development, climate, and level of industrialisation. Some sources compare indices of energy efficiency (fuel economy of personal vehicles, for example), others compare specific sectors (industrial energy use per dollar of industrial output), while others aggregate the nation's economy. Only consumption of commercial energy is typically counted, thus ignoring large quantities of "traditional" fuels such as wood, charcoal, bagasse, and other biomass fuels in many countries. Consistent definition of what is meant by economic output is not clear-cut either; the convention of counting GDP output at current exchange rates works better for comparing industrialised countries than developing nations. In the latter cases, purchase power parity accounts of GDP are more appropriate. 

Hence, the table below shows both approaches: in the first set (three left-hand columns) we adopt the standard methodology and divide each nation's total consumption of commercial energy by their gross national product. In the second set we add consumption of commercial and traditional energy and divide by each nation's GDP as measured in purchasing power parity. Energy consumed per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) varies greatly among nations, ranging from less than 4 to more than 120 MJ/$GDP. Most OECD nations have a higher yield of GDP per million joules of energy consumed than both the 1995 global average of 12.54 MJ/$ and most developing economies. The wasteful (i.e., opportunity-rich) United States, Canada, and Russia are in stark contrast to their more productive trading competitors. Counting biomass energy consumption and purchasing power parity rather than exchange rates reduces the range from 1:36 to 1:14 in terms of the most- to least-efficient economies.

¨ Gross National Product is the sum of gross domestic product and net income from abroad. World Resources Institute (1998), World Resources 1998-1999, Table 6.1, pp. 236-37. GNP estimates are based on the World Bank Atlas methodology in which GNP in local currencies is converted to U.S. dollars using three-year average exchange rates to smooth out exchange spikes. Energy consumption in this column includes commercial fuels and electricity only. World Resources 1998-1999, Table 15.1, p. 332.

(c) Using conventional GNP or GDP estimates based on exchange rates misses the greater relative purchasing power of many local currencies. In this calculation we use Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) based on World Bank and United Nations System of National Accounts. World Resources Institute (1998), World Resources 1998-1999, Table 6.1, p. 236. In order to account for the high relative use of traditional biomass fuels in many developing countries we add commercial and traditional fuels consumption in this column. World Resources 1998-1999, Table 15.1, p. 332.

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Examples:

Canada's energy productivity in 1995 was 16.39 MJ/$GNP, substantially lower than the 1990 global average of 10.64. Canada's vector value if therefore (16.39 minus 1.06) ¸ 9.58 = 1.600. To calculate how much more energy Canada consumed per dollar of economic output compared to the global average, divide 16.39 by 10.64 = 1.540, or 54% higher. 

Israel's energy productivity in 1995 was 6.12 MJ/$GNP, far better than the 1990 global average of 10.64. Israel's vector value is (6.12 minus 1.06) ¸ 9.58 = 0.528.