Word: oils
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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While many industrialized nations have wobbly economies, the less developed countries (LDCs) are enjoying a period of good health that is likely to continue into the mid-1980s. That is the substance of an unexpectedly optimistic report last week by the World Bank. The economies of the non-oil producing developing countries expanded 4.9% last year, vs. 3.5% for developed nations. One reason is that bountiful harvests have substantially eased food shortages, especially in Southeast Asia. The effective use made of World Bank agricultural loans, which have increased 40% since 1973, was especially praised. The LDCs also benefited from...
World Bank President Robert McNamara announced that starting in 1981, the bank will make loans totaling $500 million annually to enable Third World countries to begin oil exploration projects. That, too, should provide a continuing stimulus for growth. A major threat to further gains is the possibility that the developed countries will put up trade barriers against Third World exports. That would be self-defeating, warns the report, because only if the LDCs remain on the upswing can they continue to buy 28% of the manufactured goods exported by the industrial states...
Certainly not from oil or natural gas. Despite the current oil glut, the world's known reserves of both petroleum and natural gas are expected to be declining by the end of the century, and it would be folly to burn what remains to generate electricity. They are far too valuable as essential ingredients for plastics, fertilizers and other chemicals and as fuel for cars, trucks and planes...
...coal the answer. Although the U.S. has an abundant supply, coal, like oil, is an exhaustible resource that would be better used in the chemical industry than for power. Deep mining is expensive, and some 100 miners are killed in accidents each year. Strip mining requires expensive reclamation if the land is not to be left looking like a lunar landscape. Coal-fired plants pump thousands of tons of pollutants into the environment annually, despite the installation of expensive scrubbers, which are often ineffective. Also, coal plants may heat up the earth's atmosphere, a phenomenon that could produce...
...help the U.S. get through the storms and coal strike that crippled fossil-fuel plants last winter, providing much of the electricity for hard-hit New England and the battered Midwest. Similarly, nuclear power could save the country from the specter of industrial shutdowns and power blackouts as the oil runs out. Even conservative estimates are that the U.S. will need 390 nukes to provide at least 27% of its electric power by 2000. The time to start building these plants is now. Otherwise, they will not be ready when the nation really needs them. - Peter Stoler