Analysis of global energy consumption inequality by using Lorenz curve

Abstract

It has been proved that carbon emission is highly related to energy consumption. Since energy consumption contributes the most of carbon emission, studying of global energy consumption will help to figure out various positions of different countries du ring the history and corresponding responsibilities in reduction of carbon emission which is highly relying on the change of energy consumption amount and structure. Recent years, developing countries, such as China and India, are going to replace the developed countries to become the major energy importers and consumers. However, large parts of energy embodied in commodities are exported by them to developed countries. From consumer side, the terminal of embodied energy, energy consumption trends and energy consumption structures among the world are all not clear enough to help figure out the responsibilities of different countries. In our study, we apply multi-regional input output model (MRIO) to measure the embodied energy consumption among 121 countries in the world from consumer side. Meanwhile, Lorenz curve is also used to quantify and reveal the inequality among different countries. The results show that the global GINI coefficient is decreasing from 0.602 in 2000 to 0.501 in 2013, which implies total energy consumption condition in the world is going to be more and more equal from 2000 to 2013. From country side, he US locates at the top of the Lorenz curve all over the years, where the energy consumption per capita is extremely higher than all the other countries. As to global non-renewable energy consumption from 1990 to 2013, the GINI coefficient is decreasing among all three kinds of energy: coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Almost all the developed countries and developing countries are more and more relying on coal consumption. The GINI coefficient of renewable energy is obviously larger than non-renewable energy, which implies a great inequality among the world during 1990 in 2013. The potential reason is the huge technology gap between developed countries and developing countries.