Abundant Energy by Kenneth P. Green

Author:Kenneth P. Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780844772059
Publisher: AEI Press

THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE KUZNETS CURVE

Energy is clearly not environmentally benign—our use of energy causes air pollution, water pollution, land degradation, ocean degradation, and more. However, understanding the environmental transition curve suggests that as societies continue to develop, that environmental impact will reduce over time. Indeed, the environmental transition curve suggests that the single best thing we could do to minimize energy’s impact on the environment is to not only maximize our own economic growth but also help developing countries to increase theirs, letting them switch to ever cleaner, less polluting forms of energy.

Caveats apply, of course—some economists argue that the environmental transition curve does not apply to all pollutants and all societies and that while it might work for local-area pollutants and resource protection, it may not work for global pollutants, such as soot or other greenhouse gases. They think that some rich countries might bring pollution to other parts of the world, as various businesses are forced to relocate to remain competitive. That may well be true, but it does not negate the idea of an environmental transition; it simply lengthens the time it takes to turn things around for certain global pollutants, because remediation then becomes dependent on other countries passing through their own environmental transitions.

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