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World electricity consumption

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World electricity consumption is the total amount of electricity consumed by humanity per year. Electricity is generated in power stations since 1882 and consumption increases strongly since. The table lists the countries which consume most and how this electricity is generated. Finally scenarios for possible future development are described.

Generation

Coal plant

After the invention of the steam turbine in 1883 world electricity consumption could increase strongly.

An electric generator can be driven by

  • a steam or gas turbine in a thermal power plant
  • or a hydraulic turbine in a hydropower plant
  • or a windturbine, stand-alone or in a farm.

The invention of the silicium PV cell in 1954 started electricity generation with solar panels, connected to a DC/AC convertor.

Energy sources for electricity generation are usually classified as

Coal and lignite are the biggest energy source for electricity generation.

Renewable means from inexhaustible sources, with responsible management of nature.

On average, about 10% of the generated electricity is used internally by the power plants, 7% is lost in transmission and 83% is delivered to end users. The Total in the table includes the amount consumed by the power plants.

Consumption

Electricity consumption is measured in TWh/a (Terawatt-hours per year, 1 TWh = 109 kWh). The table lists the top 37 electricity consuming countries, which use 19,000 TWh/a. i.e. 90% of the consumption of all more than 190 countries. The data are of 2012.[1][2] The last column contains the number of millions of inhabitants.

Total
TWh/a
Fossil Nuclear Renewable Inhabitants
million
WOLRD 20,900 68% 11% 21% 7,040
United States 4,070 66% 19% 13% 314
Canada 543 24% 15% 59% 34.9
Mexico 246 75% 2% 23% 117
Brazil 498 17% 1% 82% 199
Argentina 124 54% 4% 41% 41.1
Venezuela 102 35% 0 65% 30.0
Germany 585 57% 15% 25% 81.9
France 482 9% 75% 16% 65.4
United Kingdom 347 68% 19% 13% 63.7
Italy 321 68% 0 32% 60.9
Spain 261 48% 21% 31% 46.2
Ukraine 166 45% 47% 8% 45.6
Poland 148 89% 0 10% 38.5
Sweden 136 2% 38% 60% 9.5
Norway 119 2% 0 98% 5.0
Netherlands 115 81% 4% 14% 16.8
Belgium 88.9 35% 48% 14% 11.1
Finland 84.9 26% 33% 41% 5.4
Russia 948 63% 16% 21% 144
South Africa 248 100% 0 0 28.3
Turkey 207 73% 0 27% 74.9
Arab Emirates 93.7 100% 0 0 9.2
China 4,830 78% 2% 20% 1,356
Japan 989 85% 1% [3] 12% 128
India 940 81% 3% 16% 1,237
South Korea 517 70% 28% 2% 50
Taiwan 241 79% 16% 5% 23.4
Iran 186 94% 1% 5% 80.8
Indonesia 181 89% 0 11% 247
Thailand 169 95% 0 5% 67.7
Malaysia 126 84% 0 16% 29.2
Vietnam 104 60% 0 40% 93.4
Kazakhstan 85.4 88% 0 12% 16.8
Pakistan 80.1 64% 6% 29% 179
Australia 236 89% 0 9% 23.1
South Africa 231 93% 5% 2% 52.3
Egypt 146 88% 0 12% 80.7

Consumption per head

Total consumption (2nd column) divided by number of inhabitants (last column) gives a country's consumption per head. In W-Europe this is between 5 and 8 MWh/a. (1 MWh equals 1000 kWh.) In Scandinavia, USA, Canada, Taiwan and S-Korea it is much more, in develloping countries much less. The worlds average is 3 MWh/a. A very low consumption per head, as in Indonesia, means that many inhabitants are not connected to the electricity grid. The same applies to countries with large populations like Bangladesh and Nigeria that are absent in the table.

2012-2014

From 2012 to 2014 worldwide electricity consumption increased 5%. Nuclear and fossil generated electricity rose 3%, renewable electricity 12%.

A small part of the renewables, solar and wind electricity, increased much more, 46%[4] in line with the strong growth since 1990.[5]

In China not only solar and wind increased fast, 81%, but also nuclear, 36%.

Scenarios

In all scenarios, increasing efficiency will result in less electricity needed for a given demand of power and light. But demand will increase strongly on account of

  • growing economy in developing countries and
  • electrification of transport and heating. Combustion engines are replaced by electric drive and for heating less gas and oil, and more electricity is used, if possible with heat pumps.

As transport and heating become more climate-friendly, the environmental effect of energy consumption will be more determined by electricity. This is mainly supplied by burning fossil fuel which disturbs the natural carbon dioxide cycle. The scenarios arrive at very different results for the environment.

The International Energy Agency expects revision of subsidy for fossil fuel which amounted to 550 billion dollar in 2013, more than four times renewable energy subsidy. In this scenario[6] almost half of the increase in 2040 of electricity consumption is covered by more than 80% growth of renewable energy. Many new nuclear plants will be constructed, mainly to replace old ones. The nuclear part of electricity generation will not increase much, from 11 to 12%. The renewable part goes up much, from 21 to 33%. That is not enough. The IEA warns that in order to restrict global warming to 2ºC, the carbon dioxide emission[7] must not exceed 1000 gigaton (Gt) from 2014. This limit is reached in 2040 and emission will not drop to zero then.

The World Energy Council[8] sees world electricity consumption increasing to more than 40,000 TWh/a in 2040. The fossil part of generation depends on energy policy. It can stay around 70% in the so-called Jazz scenario where countries rather independently "improvise" but it can also decrease to around 40% in the Symphony scenario if countries work "orchestrated" for more climate friendly policy. Carbon dioxide emission, 32 Gt/a in 2012, will increase to 46 Gt/a in Jazz but decrease to 26 Gt/a in Symphony. Accordingly, until 2040 the renewable part of generation will stay at about 20% in Jazz but increase to about 45% in Symphony.

Notes and references

  1. IEA World energy statistics
  2. IEA Statistics search
  3. 25% before the Fukushima nuclear_disaster
  4. Compare World: IEA Statistics search, World, Electricity and Heat, 2012 and 2014.
  5. IEA Key Renewables Trends
  6. IEA World energy outlook
  7. by fossil fuel
  8. World energy scenarios