Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr. March, and I'm here today to teach you all about global patterns of energy use and causes of variations.

So grab everything that you need for today's lesson, and let's get going.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe the global pattern of energy use and explain reasons for the variations in energy use per person.

There are three key terms for today's lesson, and those are variation, economic development, and economic sectors.

Variation refers to differences or changes in something; for example, variations in energy use between countries means differences in the amounts and types of energy that different countries use.

Economic development refers to the growth of a country's wealth, leading to better jobs, higher incomes, and improved living standards.

And, finally, economic sectors refers to the different types of jobs, industry, in an economy divided into primary, for example, farming, secondary for example, manufacturing, and tertiary, for example, services, and quaternary, for example, research.

There are three learning cycles for today's lesson.

We're gonna start with learning cycle one, which is all about energy use and economic development.

This map then is showing energy use per person.

And what we can see then is that the darker the shade of red or orange that you can see there, the higher the energy use per person in 2023.

And, once again, it is showing us the vast variety or variation in energy use.

Why do you think then some countries are using more energy per person than others? You may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question, or perhaps, even better, have a discussion with someone near you.

So why is it then that you think some countries use more energy per person than others? Well, Jun has an answer.

He says, "Well, is it because some countries have more people than others, so they use more energy?" No, this is not the case.

We are looking at energy per person.

So it's nothing to do with the total amount of people per country.

We are looking specifically at an average of energy use per person.

So why is it that you think some countries use more energy per person than others? Now Laura also has a really good suggestion, and answer to this question.

She says, "Is it because people in colder countries need to use more energy to stay warm in winter?" And we've got a map there, haven't we, in front of you showing us those different climate zones.

And we can see that the warmer areas are located near the equator, whilst the colder areas are located much further north or south of those.

Well, when we zoom in on energy use per person, we can see high figures even for some hot countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, and Oman, so that's clearly not the answer either.

So a quick learning check, it says "True or False?" Hot countries use less energy because it's warm all year, so they don't need to heat their houses.

So what I'd like you to do then is pause the video here whilst you consider, and then select your answer.

And the correct answer is False.

Now, once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst you consider as to why or how that statement then is False.

And the reason it's False is because while people in hot countries may need to use less energy on heating, some hot countries such as Saudi Arabia or Kuwait actually have high energy use per person.

So a hot climate does not really explain why countries have lower or higher energy use per person.

Economic development is a really good match now for understanding energy use per person.

Here on the left, we see human development index from 2022, and on the right-hand side we can see energy use per person.

And if we overlay them, we can begin to understand or recognise a bit of a match between the two.

Let's look at that in a little bit more detail.

So, again, we see this human development index which is showing us economic and social development in terms of country.

So we can see that the darker the shade of blue there, the more developed that country is in terms of its society and its economy.

So now we can see that those countries that we looked at before, countries such as UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, score really highly on the HDI, the human development index.

And also look at that, they also score really highly in terms of the energy use per person.

So clearly there's a relationship, clearly there's a correlation between how developed a country is, and also the amount of energy being used per person.

So why is it then that energy use increases with development? Well, the first thing is all to do with industrial growth.

Factories require a lot of energy in order to be able to function.

So industrialization greatly increases the amount of energy being used.

Also transportation.

People swap from bicycles to mopeds to cars as economic development increases, thereby increasing the use of fuel.

Technology, as people's incomes increase, as their country becomes more developed, and their people's incomes increase, they buy more electrical devices, for example, fridges, air conditioners, which all use energy.

And, finally, urbanisation; people moving to the cities from countryside or rural areas.

This is synonymous with economic development, and cities use more energy per person than rural areas, for example, on things such as lighting, heating, cooling, transportation services, et cetera.

Time once again for a learning check, and it says, "Which two of the following help explain why energy use increases with economic development?" So what I need you to do then right now is pause the video whilst you read through those four options, and select what you think are the two correct answers.

And the two correct answers we're looking for are, a, more people can afford to instal air conditioning, and, d, more people are able to buy their own car.

Really well done if you too were able to select those two correct answers.

We're on now to our two practise tasks for our first learning cycle.

And the first one says to describe the global pattern of energy use per person.

And I'm giving you a few tips to help you with this question.

I would like you to start with an overview, use compass directions, name specific countries or regions in your answer, identify the highest and the lowest, and always try to refer to the key that you can see on that map there in front of you.

The second question says to complete the gaps to explain how economic development can explain variations in the global pattern of energy use.

So what I need you to do right now then is pause the video here whilst you attempt these two practise tasks.

Best of luck.

And now for some feedback.

So your answer for the first question may have included the following.

I've said that, in general, energy use per person is higher in the Northern Hemisphere than in the South.

North America, western, and northern Europe, and northern Asia, together with Australia and New Zealand, have high energy use of between 30,000 and 100,000 kilowatts per hour.

In Central and South America, energy use per person is at a medium value between 10,000 and 30,000 kilowatts per hour per person, and so is much of southeast Asia and north Africa.

Central African countries have the lowest energy use per person of under 1000 kWh.

The highest values are found in the Middle East, for example, the UAE, and in northern Europe, Norway, and Iceland.

For the second question, these were the correct answers to complete those gaps that I asked you to fill.

"Developing countries have lower per person energy use than emerging and developed countries, because energy use increases with economic development.

For example, as people's incomes rise, they can afford to buy their own cars rather than use public transport.

This uses more fuel per person than public transport.

Another example is that economic development usually results from industrialization.

Factories require a lot of energy, and so, the more factories there are, the higher the energy use will be.

So really well done if you were able to get anything like that in your own answer.

We're on now to our second learning cycle, which is all about energy use and economic sectors.

So when it comes to economic sectors, we need to understand that different economic sectors have different levels of demand for energy.

For example, agriculture, which belongs to the primary sector, uses the least amount of energy, especially subsistence agriculture.

And that basically means farmers growing crops for themselves and their families, and perhaps selling some with market within developing countries, for example.

Industry which belongs to the secondary sector uses the most amount of energy, especially high energy, intensive, heavy industry, for example.

So the change from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy via industrialization also changes country's energy use.

This area graph that you can see in front of you shows a big decrease in the percentage of people employed in agriculture in China.

Look at that.

The graph starts in 1991 on the left-hand side and it goes up to 2022.

And the agricultural economy, in terms of the number of people that it employs, shrinks from 60% to 22%.

Meanwhile, the industrial sector grows from 22% to 32%.

And services makes the biggest increase from 18% to 46%.

Now, I have a question for you.

What do you think happened to China's energy use per person over this period? So, as its economy has changed through the years, how do you think that China's energy use per person has changed over the similar period? You may like to pause the video here whilst you think about your own answer to that question.

Now, perhaps, unsurprisingly, China's energy use per person increased sharply as the share of people employed in agriculture declined.

The white line on the graph now is showing us the energy use per person in China between 1990 and 2022.

And look at that, it beautifully matches the change in terms of economic sectors absolutely perfectly.

We can see that the energy use per person increases gradually through those different years as also the industry sector as well as the service sector of their economies also increase in a similar fashion.

So a quick learning check, it says "True or False?" China's energy use per person was highest when a high percentage of its workforce was employed in agriculture.

So what I need you to do right now then is pause the video here whilst you consider, and then select your answer.

And the correct answer was False.

Now, once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst you consider as to why that statement then is False.

And the reason it's false is because China's energy use per person was actually lowest when most of its population worked in agriculture.

That is because agriculture has low energy demands compared to industry and services.

As China's share of employment in industry and services increased, so did its energy use per person.

So really well done if you were able to identify those two correct answers.

So how about economic sectors in countries with really low energy use? So, for this, we're gonna go back to looking at Africa, which we saw earlier, had a really low energy use per person of under 1,000 kilowatt-hours per person.

And we can see that their economies are dominated by agriculture.

This will predominantly be subsistence farming when families farm to feed themselves.

Chad, for example, has 69% of its workforce employed in agriculture, with under 10% in industry.

The Central African Republic has 71% of its workforce working within agriculture, and around 6% in industry, whilst Madagascar has 71% in farming, and around 10% in industry.

In comparison, just 3% of Saudi Arabia's workforce is employed in agriculture.

And so, we can really begin to understand once again how economic sectors has a tremendous effect on energy use per person.

Time once again for a learning check, and it says, "From its economic sector data, what level of energy use per person would you expect Indonesia to have?" So what I need you to do right now is pause the video here, really study that graph that you can see in front of you, and then decide what you think is the correct answer, a, b, or c.

So pause the video here, and best of luck.

And the correct answer was c, lower than the UK, 1% employed in agriculture.

Really, really well done if you were able to select c as the correct answer.

So what about the tertiary economic sector, which includes services? In China, 46% of people now work in services.

And although China's energy per person has increased by over 24,000 kilowatt-hours between 1990 and 2022, the share of people working in industry has actually only increased by 10%.

At the same time, the share of people working in services in China has increased by 28% from 18% of the workforce to 46% of the workforce.

Does that mean that services use more energy than industry? Now the answer is no.

As Aisha says about her father possibly making a joke about how hard he works, let's hope not, office jobs and other service jobs require less energy than a lot of industrial processes, especially heavy industry like steel-making, paper production, and chemical production, but economies that are dominated by the service sector still use a lot of energy.

Why is that? So, as I just said, economies dominated by services still use a lot of energy, but why is that? Well, there's a high use of energy for lighting, heating, and air conditioning for those office spaces.

Data centres require huge amounts of electricity, and services rely on them.

Services are usually in cities, and cities use a lot of energy per person.

And transport is a bigger energy user, and services involve a lot of deliveries and travel.

And, finally, service-based economies often have higher incomes leading to higher energy use in homes, for example, washing machines, kettles, air conditioning, et cetera.

So time now for a learning check, and it says, "Which two of the following reasons are why service-based economies often have high energy use per person?" So what I need you to do once again is pause the video here whilst you read through those four options, and select the two answers that you think are correct.

And the two correct answers we're looking for are, b, offices require lighting, heating, and air conditioning, as do retail spaces, and, c, online shopping generates a high demand for transportation to actually go and deliver people's orders.

So really well done if you were able to select b and c as the correct answers.

We're on now to our one and only practise task for our second learning cycle, and it says to suggest two reasons why changes in China's economic sectors have led to increased energy use per person.

And I really want you to try to use data from the graph in your answer.

So please then, pause the video here whilst you attempt this practise task.

Best of luck.

In terms of feedback then, your two reasons might include some of these points.

In 1991, 60% of China's workforce were employed in farming, and energy use was low, down at around 6,880 kilowatts per hour per person.

The connection between these two is that the primary economic sector, and farming in particular, doesn't use much energy.

But, by 2022, only 22% of people worked in agriculture in China, everyone else was employed in two sectors that use a lot more energy; the secondary sector, which was 32%, and the tertiary sector, which was 46%.

These two economic sectors accounted for a large amount of people.

Industry in particular requires a great deal of energy, especially industries like steel-making.

It continues.

China's economy is becoming more of a service-based economy, but that does not necessarily mean that its energy use per person will decrease.

Services may not need as much energy as industry, but they still need a lot, especially, as more service jobs rely on data centres to support their systems. This is because data centres require a massive amount of electricity.

Service-based economies typically have higher wages too, and when people have more money, they tend to spend it on things that require more energy, such as cars, washing machines, fridges, tumble dryers, and air conditioners.

So really well done if you're able to include anything like that in your own answer.

We're on now to our third and final learning cycle, and this is all about implications of energy poverty.

Energy poverty simply means not having reliable access to modern energy for basic things like lighting, heating, cooking, and so on.

Modern energy means services like electricity and gas.

In many developing countries, people in energy poverty rely on fuelwood for energy.

So energy poverty has many negative impacts unfortunately, these include things such as indoor air pollution, once again relate that back to the fuel that they're using for their heating, or their cooking, et cetera, and that causes indoor air pollution.

A lack of refrigeration, which, again, may affect their nutrition.

A lack of lighting at night, which may compromise their safety at nighttime in the darkness.

No access to the internet, inequality for women and girls, the urban-rural divide, where people living in urban areas will typically have much better access to energy than people living in the countryside, in those rural areas.

And, finally, deforestation as well is an implication of energy poverty, once again, relate that back then to the fuelwood that people will typically use in these countries.

This very interesting map then is showing the percentage of all deaths caused by indoor air pollution in 2021, and it really is harrowing.

Indoor air pollution occurs when people burn fuelwood or charcoal inside for cooking and heating.

And, over time, smoke particles cause problems in people's lungs.

And you can see looking at the map then, there is generally those central African countries which are really affected by this deadly problem, as well as countries in south and southeast Asia, and even countries in Central Africa.

So I'm sure if we were to relate this perhaps to HDI, we would see that it's typically those LICs which are predominantly affected by this really, really awful situation.

Time now for a learning check, and it says to complete the two missing implications.

So what I would like you to do then is pause the video here whilst you try to recall the two pieces of information to complete that bubble that you can see in front of you.

And the two correct answers were indoor air pollution, and the other one was deforestation.

Really, really well done if you were able to recall those two pieces of information.

Let's now look at this map, which is showing us the numbers of people without access to electricity in 2022.

Access to electricity means basic lighting at night, and being able to charge a phone for four hours a day.

And we can clearly see once again that these regions of Central Africa as well as parts of the south and southeast Asia are clearly lacking access to electricity.

And my question to you is what would the implications be of not having access to electricity? You may like to pause the video here whilst you consider your own answer to that question, or, even better, have a discussion with someone near you.

So what would those implications be? Well, Alex says you wouldn't be able to do homework in the evenings without light to see by, and no internet for social media or gaming.

Aisha says it would be really hard to run a business without electricity, and no fridges to keep food and drinks or medicine cool.

Time now for a learning check, and it says, "Which of the following can only be powered by electricity?" So what I need you to do then is pause the video here, read through those four options, and select all the answers that you think are correct.

And the correct answers are, a, an X-ray machine, and, c, internet.

And lighting is not an answer here, it's not the correct answer, because lighting can come from candles or oil lamps, and cooking stoves can actually run on gas, oil, or fuelwood.

Therefore only the correct answers are a and c.

Really, really well done if you were able to get those two correct.

So I've got a really interesting question here.

Look at that image in front of you, it says, "What do you notice about the people selling fuelwood?" You may like to pause the video here whilst you really study that photograph, and try to think of your own answer for that question.

So what did you come up with? Well, as Izzy says, "They are all women." It's a really good spot.

Actually, collecting fuelwood is usually done by women and girls.

It takes up hours of their day leaving little time for paid jobs or education.

And this is a significant factor which is contributing towards inequality for women and girls in those countries.

So a quick learning check, it says "True or False?" One of the implications of energy poverty is that opportunities for women and girls are reduced causing inequality.

So please then, pause the video here whilst you consider, and then select your answer.

And the correct answer was True.

Now, once again, I'd like you to pause the video whilst you consider as to why or how this statement then is True.

And the reason it's True is because when communities have no access to modern sources of energy, fuelwood is often the main source of energy.

And it's usually women and girls who have the job of collecting that fuelwood, which takes up hours each and every single day.

This means there is less time for them to gain meaningful education, or paid work, than the boys and the men, which creates this gender divide, this gender inequality.

So really well done if you were able to identify those two correct answers.

The urban-rural divide is also very interesting when it comes to access to energy.

Energy poverty is much more common in those rural areas, those countryside areas.

Urban areas, as we can see in front of you, are much more likely to have an electricity supply and access to bottled gas.

This thereby creates that urban-rural divide in terms of energy poverty.

Deforestation as well.

Compared to other causes of deforestation, collecting fuelwood, we have to say, has a much smaller impact.

People pick up dead branches rather than cut down trees themselves, as dead wood burns much better.

A much more important cause of deforestation is clearing woodland for farming.

Farmers who clear trees from land often then sell the wood as fuelwood or for charcoal.

So, again, our learning check, it says "True or False?" Energy poverty has negative economic, social, and environmental implications.

So please then pause the video here whilst you consider, and then select your answer.

and the correct answer is True.

Now, once again, I'd like you to consider why this statement is True then.

So please pause the video here whilst you consider as to why this statement is True.

And the reason it's True is because people not being able to access electricity for businesses would have negative economic implications.

People dying from indoor air pollution because of burning fuelwood indoors is a negative social implication.

And, finally, deforestation is a negative environmental impact that is linked to fuelwood collection and sale.

So really well done if you were able to identify those two correct answers.

We're on now to our two final practise questions for our final learning cycle.

And the first one says, "Explain how the patterns shown by the map in front of you relates to energy poverty." The second question says, "Explain two social implications of energy poverty." And as Sofia says, "Social means things like health, education, housing and crime, doesn't it?" And she's absolutely correct.

So then please pause the video here whilst you attempt these two practise tasks.

Best of luck.

In terms of feedback for the first question then, you may have said the following; people in developing and emerging countries do not always have access to modern sources of energy, this is known as energy poverty.

In this situation, people often burn fuelwood for energy.

When people use fuelwood indoors for cooking or heating, it causes air pollution.

And, over time, smoke particles build up in people's lungs, and this causes health problems and even deaths.

The second question, and your answer may have included two of these points.

So not having access to a basic electricity supply for at least a few hours a day is a form of energy poverty.

One social implication would be education: school children can't do their homework at night, because they don't have light to work by, and there is no internet to learn from.

It continues.

A second social implication could be healthcare.

Energy poverty could mean there isn't a reliable electricity supply to power X-rays, or to run fridges needed to keep medicines cool.

This would mean that people in that area would struggle to access modern medical care.

So really well done if you were able to include anything like that in your own answer.

We're on now to our learning summary: what do you need to know from today's lesson? Well, let's start by looking at the two maps in front of you.

The left-hand side, we have the map showing the human development index as of 2022, and on the right-hand side then we have the energy use per person in 2023.

And when we look at these two maps together, there is an excellent match.

Economic development is an excellent match to energy use per person.

Moreover, as economic sectors change with development, energy use per person increases.

And, finally, energy poverty has a range of different negative implications, be it social, economic, or environmental.

So really well done during today's lesson, it was a pleasure teaching you, and I will see you again on the next lesson.

Goodbye.