researched text analysis

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Abstract

Electrical engineering is an evolutionary field; with new innovations being accelerated by advancement in technology. Many scholars have made correlations between economic growth and population increase to increased demand for electricity. How these actors correlate is the focus of this paper. This is looked at in three steps; a look at a Feb 2015 article in Forbes Magazine, presentation of sufficient literature that corroborates the arguments made by the author, and incorporation of the information gathered into the author’s observation.

"The Need and Value of More Electricity."

Source: Forbes. 2/21/2015

Author: Jude Clemente

Jude highlights the importance of electricity; for modern societies in particular. Electricity is the ‘driver’ of all sectors of the current economy. In industries, electrical power is essential for running of mills and other machinery; in homesteads, it is necessary for lighting, cooking, laundry, and functioning of home appliances. This is a narrow representation of the wide scope of use to which electricity has been put into. To the author, a society cannot develop in absence of electricity; if it does, then the scale is negligible. Presence of electricity increases, or rather facilitates, better provision of services and products; stimulants of economic growth. According to Jude therefore, there exists a positive correlation between electricity provision and the level of economic growth; he uses US statistics to validate this.

Jude indicates an average increase of 3.3 million in US population annually. In relation to electricity demand, a similar projection is shown. As population increases, the demand for electric power goes up. To him, there is a great likelihood that Americans making more money, whether in the business sector or other economic sects, require more electricity.

To clearly illustrate his arguments, Jude uses the figure shown below;

He depicts an upward trend in both electricity demand and GDP/capita; electricity demand and population alike. Statistics shown are four year interval releases from 1970 through 2014.

Research in support of author’s arguments

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is a measure of economic growth of a country. It represents the total value of goods produced in an economy (Clayton, pg. 79). A specific indicator is however GDP/capita, which measures the average wealth of an economy per head. A steady increase of this parameter over a long period of time reflects as economic growth. In the past couple of decades, the US has been stepping up electricity provision in all states, leading to increased production. On the other hand, the increase in production, high GDP, ensures the federal has surplus finances to financing developmental projects; the same applies to other countries as well. One of the key projects funded has been power generation and distribution. It is therefore crystal clear that electricity and economic growth are interlinked; an increase in one leads to increase in the other.

However, it is evident that economic growth is outpacing electricity demand growth, and the same trend may penetrate into the future. This observation is in line with the 2013 U.S. Energy Information Administration’s release ("U.S. Economy and Electricity Demand Growth Are Linked, but Relationship is Changing - Today in Energy"). An illustration of the same facts is presented below to strengthen this concept;

It is important to note that the change in trend is just a projection; from a close monitor of the current shift in other economic sectors. Technology for instance has witnessed invention of appliances that use reduced electricity. For example, in the same release above, it was noted that a refrigerator today consumes 20% less electricity than it did 40 years ago. However, the variation won’t be great since other factors like population increase come into play.

As population increases, electricity finds more use; the demand therefore goes high. Purchases of home appliances go high, employment in industries on the up-scale, so do use of electricity technologies in farming. In other words, population multiplies the demand for electric power; the exact multiplying factor remains a speculation.

Incorporating the research findings into the article’s arguments

From the research, the findings are in line with what Jude proposes in his article. It is quite obvious relating population increase with electricity demand increase; however, a slight variation exists in the case of economic growth. This may be due to the unpredictable nature of economic growth rate. Though Jude presented statistics from 1970 to 2014, he failed to demonstrate an intelligent projection of future trends. Outside research did point out that, from 2015 onwards, economic growth will outpace electricity demand growth. As was mentioned earlier, this trend prediction is due to the current inventions in the technological sector. Still changes in other sectors of the economy have been cited.

Conclusion

As discussed above, there is a clear correlation between demand for electricity to population and economic growth trends. The correlation is positive in both cases. One may easily point out one observable advantage; as demand for electricity goes high annually due to increase in economic growth and population, opportunities for electrical engineers remains on the upper end. This paper finds electrical engineering a lucrative major.

Works Cited

Clayton, Gary E. Glencoe Economics: Principles & Practices. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2005. Print.

"The Need and Value of More Electricity." Forbes. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

"U.S. Economy and Electricity Demand Growth Are Linked, but Relationship is Changing - Today in Energy." U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.