This is to create a frame of reference for the GDP discussion ...
What drives the GDP of any modern economy?
The massive amount of energy derived from fossil fuels or other means.
Oil, Coal, Natural gas. In most the cases this energy use is largely
unavoidable. You have to heat your home in winter. You have to travel
by car. The public transportation is nonexistent outside certain areas.
The culture is more individualistic and fosters more consumption of
everything including energy.
India is a different ballgame. The energy usage of India would never
go as high as United states in per capita or in total. Most of the
country has warm/hot weather. No heating homes. Most of the homes
are well ventilated and door/windows always open. Air conditioning
is fairly rare outside the major cities. Even in major cities air
conditioning is relatively less used than in US. The country is 1/3
of US.. Transportation fuel requirements are never gonna be as high as US
Would India’s GDP be as big as US in USD numbers? probably never....
Would majority of people in India have a reasonably close standard of living
as that of average person in US?
That can happen even with a lower GDP number for India as a whole...
The folly of GDP statistics is that Consumption gets counted as wealth..
Any discussion of GDP and energy cannot exclude requirements of commercial, industrial consumption which is vastly larger than individual, private consumption.
A few million CFL lightbulbs or window air conditioners is nothing compared to the electricity used in one aluminum processing plant.
yitbos