Divergences in manufacturing energy consumption between the North and the South

During the past 20 years, there has been a growing delinking of industrial production from energy use, that is, an increase in industrial output accompanied by a substantial decline in total energy consumed. This delinking of energy and output, which has occurred mostly in the developed countries, has resulted from a shift in the industrial base away from highly energy intensive materials processing industries towards lower energy intensive high technology industries, the emergence of the service sector, and the adoption of energy conservation and energy efficiency measures.