December 12, 2007
Professor discusses worldwide energy needs
Augusta, Ga. – Gas prices are on the rise, but it has little to do with wars in the Middle East, according to Jurgen Brauer, professor of economics in Augusta State University’s James M. Hull College of Business. The huge demand for oil in China and India has driven up the price around the world, he says. And after attending a conference on Eurasian and South Asian oil and gas pipelines, he has a little better understanding of the situation.
Dr. Brauer attended a series of conferences over the past few years titled Eurasian Pipelines – Road to Peace, Development and Interdependencies. The third of the annual conferences—The Pipeline Race to India and Pakistan—was held at Columbia University in New York, N.Y., on Nov. 13. Leaders in the fields of global politics and economics gathered to discuss issues facing that area of the world.
Dr. Brauer says this region has huge energy needs that will only continue to grow. China and India, combined, contain a third of the world’s population and are just getting started with modernized industrialization efforts. On the other hand, the United States consists of nearly 5 percent of the world’s population but uses almost one quarter of the available energy resources.
“Other people in the world want to be rich, and to be rich, you need energy,” Dr. Brauer says.
During last year’s conference, Dr. Brauer presented a paper on the vulnerability of pipelines to terrorist attacks. He says targets in the U.S. are less likely to be attacked than those overseas because of the high cost of travel. But with a world-wide dependence on oil, the effects of such an attack would be just as significant.
Also, the move toward fuel efficiency in the U.S. is a superficial one, according to Dr. Brauer. He says there is much in the news about hybrid, fuel cell, electric and solar-powered vehicles, but “scientists are not happy with the funding” for research on these and other types of fossil fuel reducing mechanisms.
If you would like to pursue this topic, call Kristopher Wells, information specialist, in ASU’s Office of Public Relations and Publications, at 706-667-4821.
January 2007 | February 2007 | March 2007 | April 2007 | May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | August 2007 | September 2007 | October 2007 | November 2007