 Energy and quality of lifeCesar Pasten and Juan Carlos Santamarina Energy Policy, 2012, vol. 49, issue C, 468-476 Abstract: Energy is required to sustain life. A human-centered analysis of the worldwide energy situation is conducted in terms of quality of life-related variables that are affected, but not directly determined, by energy consumption. Data since 1980 show a continuous global increase in both energy consumption and quality of life, and lower population growth in countries with higher quality of life. Based on these trends, we advance non-linear energy consumption predictions and identify various plausible scenarios to optimally steer future energy demands, in order to maximize quality of life. The scenarios consider the coupling between energy consumption rate per capita, quality of life, population growth, social inequality, and governments’ energy-for-life efficiency. The results show the energy cost of increasing quality of life in the developing world, energy savings that can be realized by limiting overconsumption without impacting quality of life, and the role of governments on increasing energy-for-life efficiency and reducing social inequality. Keywords: Energy conservation; Quality of life; Energy consumption (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:49:y:2012:i:c:p:468-476 DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2012.06.051 Access Statistics for this article Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier |
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