Outlook for Hydropower

Abstract

By the year 2050, the world population is expected to have increased by 50%, as compared to its level in the year 2000. The energy consumption per inhabitant per year is usually governed by the standard of living of the population. Today the less developed countries in the world, with 2.2 billion inhabitants, have an annual per capita consumption of primary energy which is 20 times lower than that of the industrialized countries with about 1.3 billion inhabitants. Per capita electricity consumption of less developed countries is about 35 times lower than the consumption in industrialized countries. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.