Energy Technology and Strategic Assessment of Environmental Impact for Developing Countries

this paper (see the structure of Model Formulation). This functional formula can trace the different potential impacts of a given energy technology users, (i.e. energy-end users) in a country (for details see, for example, Kahen & Sayers 4 1995b). Considering energy technology and its environmental impact, and assuming the per capita consumption of commercial energy as a suitable representative for affluence and technology, then "a baby born in the United States represents twice the destructive impact on Earth's ecosystems and the services they provide as one born in Sweden, three times one born in Italy, thirteen times one born in Brazil, 35 times one born in India, 140 times one in Bangladesh or Kenya, and 280 times one in Chad, Rwanda, Haiti or Nepal" (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1990). In order to reduce negative impacts, acting on the technology variable can influence environmental impact in the same way as acting on either of the two other variables (population and affluence). This is why the developing world with its increasing rate of population growth should be careful about the choice and the transfer of technology. Third World countries commonly lack knowledge, hard currencies, qualified human resource, technological capabilities, stable economy. As a result, in order to approach a given level of development, within a short-term economic strategy, the environmental and natural resources in developing countries have to be sacrificed much more than those in developed countries. The higher the level of environmental quality in non-industrialised countries, the lower the level of production that can be approached (Kahen 1995a; Kahen & Sayers 1995a). These points will lead us to consider the environmental impacts of the foreign technology within the "development-environ..