An international comparison of polymers and their alternatives

Abstract Energy analysis is now developed to the point at which we can make useful comparisons among the patterns of energy use in different nations. The first aim of this article is to start making these comparisons. The authors' attention has been focussed on polymers, especially the packaging materials, both to help fill out the overall perspective being developed in this series on Energy Budgets and because the polymer industry, with all its technological diversity, displays a rich spectrum of patterns of energy use, from which one can draw some useful object lessons.