Europe ´80

In a world shrunken by intercontinental communications and jet travel, one can hardly talk of a national or regional electrotechnology. Yet, the needs of Western Europe in two key areas alone — communications and transportation — differ from those of other developed regions. There are several reasons for this. West European population density is among the highest in the world. Big cities are close together. Many languages are spoken in what is a relatively small region. And energy resources, aside from those in Norway and Britain, are limited. West Europe, as a whole, imports 60 to 70 percent of its primary energy, and in some of its smaller countries, that level is even higher. Yet, the region consumes energy intensively. One source with the European Economic Community estimates that West Europe, like Japan, consumes four to five times more energy per square kilometer than the United States does. This helps account for the region´s high standard of living, which is maintained largely through the export of manufactured goods.