conducive to a dispersal of industry, the growth of 

 small-scale industry, and an emphasis on sustainable 

 agricultural improvements. All of these factors could 

 contribute significantly, in the long run, to a self- 

 sufficient but distributed population. Such an option 

 can be an attractive complement to urban growth with 

 its concomitant dependence on large-scale energy 

 generation. 



Unexploited resources exist in every country — 

 nonrenewable fossil fuels, such as petroleum, coal, 

 natural gas, and peat; nuclear and geothermal; or 

 renewable resources, based directly or indirectly on 

 solar energy. Most countries still do not know enough 

 about their nonrenewable energy resources. Although 

 the potential of such resources is restricted by their 

 limited nature and uneven distribution, much attention 

 is needed in developing and using them where they 

 exist. (See the second section of this initiative, 

 "Coal Conversion and Improved Combustion.") Over the 

 long term, however, identifying and using renewable 

 energy resources are the principal hopes of both 

 developed and developing countries. 



The chief barrier to greater use of renewable 

 resources in the developed countries has been their 

 high cost compared to fossil fuel alternatives based on 

 cheap domestic and imported supplies. However, this 

 barrier is diminishing as fuel prices rise and 

 technology advances. In many developing countries, the 

 cost barrier has ceased to exist because the cost of 

 fossil fuel-based power in those countries, 

 particularly in rural areas, is much higher than it is 

 in industrial countries. Furthermore, conventional 

 cost/benefit techniques tend to ignore "life-cycle" 

 costs and to obscure the hidden subsidies involved in 

 the entire system of central power generation and 

 distribution. 



Existing or prospective research and development in 

 or for developing countries could produce technology of 

 direct value to the United states: 



Brazil, for example, is engaged in a major national 

 program aimed at increasing alcohol production from 

 sugar cane and cassava with the goal of providing 

 50 percent of the nation's need for liquid fuel by 

 1990 (Miccolis 1978). 

 — Technology for using agricultural residues to 

 provide most of the chemicals now based on 

 petroleum was developed in the 1920s but was 

 shelved because low oil and gas costs made the 

 petrochemical source more attractive economically. 

 This technology should be reexamined and upgraded 

 through application of chemical engineering 

 advances made during the past 50 years. 



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