Energy consumption

A. Japan B. China C. United States D. European Union

Since energy has always been used thriftily in Japan, energy efficiency has improved relatively little since 1975. Therefore, the country's energy use has risen broadly in line with economic growth by 68 percent between 1975 and 2003, while Japan's economy grew by 108 percent.

Energy efficiency is measured by the output of goods and services per kiloton of oil equivalent, which includes energy from all sources .

China's use of energy has increased by "only" 191 percent even though its gross domestic product has increased more than tenfold since 1975. Since its energy use was extremely inefficient, economic output per kiloton of energy rose in China from a little over a million dollars in 1975 to $4.5 million in 2003, an improvement of more than 300 percent.

In contrast, the much more efficient Japan managed to improve its energy efficiency by just 24 percent. Japan's economy now generates $6.6 million of real GDP per ton of oil equivalent.

Overall energy use rose only 31 percent in the United States from 1975 to 2003 and hence the lowest increase among the key regions. During the same period, US GDP rose by 140 percent.

The reason for this is that the United States has traditionally used energy much less efficiently than Japan and Europe, but the gap has been shrinking. In 1975, the United States produced about $2.6 million GDP per kiloton. In 2003, it was $4.5 million.

D. European Union is not correct.
Like Japan, Europe already was already using energy relatively efficiently back in 1975. As a result, energy use there rose by 39 percentage, while GDP grew by 93 percent from 1975 to 2003.

In 1975, Europe produced about $4.6 million GDP per kiloton 80 percent more than the United States.

By 2003, one kiloton of energy generated $6.5 million of GDP, so the advantage in energy efficiency over the United States had fallen to 44 percent .

Japan and Europe, the more efficient producers, have found it harder to increase energy efficiency. The difficulties in increasing energy efficiency in Europe and Japan underline the challenge posed by the Kyoto Protocol.

The Globalist Quiz is produced by The Globalist, a Washington- based research organization that promotes awareness of world affairs. © 2006 The Globalist, www.theglobalist.com.