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World energy supply

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World energy supply consists of worldwide production and preparation of fuel (combustible and nuclear), generation of electricity, and energy transport.

Mankind has always used fuel to make fire. Coal and oil extraction are very old. People have built thousands of years wind- and water mills and sailing-boats. Roughly 200 year ago large scale mining of lignite and coal provided much more fuel, enabling industrial revolution.

Here contemporary energy supply is outlined. It is a vast industry, taking about 10% of all worldwide expenditures[1] and it is crucial for the economy and for quality of life:

  • for the economy, the cost of electricity and fuel is important for the competitiveness of producers and for comfort and welfare of consumers.
  • for quality of life, the impact of energy production on the environment is important (air and water quality, waste management, climate disruption).

These interests are often in conflict. The industry eg. benefits from cheap electricity from coal plants but these are not climate friendly. Energy policy weighs these interests, and the importance of good relations with countries with which fuel is traded.

Lists of countries are given where most energy is produced and consumed, distinguishing fossil, nuclear and renewable energy, and referring to many conversions and transport between production and consumption. The lists are kept short to make updates feasible. Lastly the outlook on energy use until 2040 and possible changes in energy policy are summarised.

Energy production

World primary energy production

World total primary energy production

██ World (1015 Btu)[2]

██  China

██  Russia

██  Africa

██  United States

██  Europe

██  Central and South America

Note the different y-axis for world (left) en regional (right) production

This is the world-wide production of primary energy from fossil, nuclear and renewable sources. Primary means: extracted or captured directly from natural sources. Note the strong production increase of China.

Energy sources are usually classified as

  • fossil, using coal, lignite, petroleum and natural gas,
  • nuclear, using uranium,
  • renewable, using hydro power, biomass, wind and solar energy, among others.

Primary energy assessment follows certain rules[3] to ease measurement and comparison of different kinds of energy.

The table lists the world-wide production and the countries/regions producing most (86%) of that. The Persian Gulf States are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq and Oman, in order of production. The amounts are given in million tonnes of oil equivalent per year (Mtoe/a, 1 Mtoe = 11.63 TWh). The data are of 2013.[4][5]


Total
Mtoe/a
Fossil Nuclear Renewable
WORLD 13600 81% 5% 14%
China 2570 86% 1% 13%
United States 1880 80% 11% 8%
Persian Gulf States 1742 0% 0% 0%
Russia 1316 95% 3% 2%
Africa 1129 65% 0% 33%
European Union 793 47% 29% 26%
India 523 59% 2% 39%
Indonesia 460 84% 0% 16%
Canada 435 83% 6% 11%
Brazil 253 51% 2% 47%
Mexico 217 92% 1% 7%
Venezuela 192 96% 0% 4%
Norway 192 93% 0% 7%

Fossil energy production in the world is 36% coal, 38% petroleum and 26% natural gas.

The top producers in Africa are Nigeria (256), S-Africa (166) and Algeria (138).

In the EU France (136, mainly nuclear), Germany (120), UK (110), Poland (71, mainly coal) and Netherlands (69, mainly natural gas) produce most.

Between production and final consumption

Primary energy is converted in many ways to energy carriers, also known as secondary energy.

  • Lignite and coal mainly go to thermal power stations. Coke is derived by destructive distillation of bituminous coal.
  • Petroleum goes mainly to oil refineries and is also used to generate electricity and to make coke.
  • Natural-gas goes to processing plants to remove contaminants such as water, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, and mixed to adjust the heating value.
  • Nuclear reaction heat is used to generate electricity.
  • Biomass is converted to biofuel.

Electricity generators are driven by

Export Import
Persian Gulf States 1167 21
Russia 620 27
Indonesia 301 56
Canada 263 78
Norway 166 8
European Union 539 1451
Japan 18 455
India 72 327
S-Korea 57 291
  • Steam or gas turbines in a thermal plant,
  • or water turbines in a hydropower station,
  • or wind turbines, stand-alone or in a wind farm.

The invention of the PV cell in 1954 started electricity generation by solar panels, connected to a power inverter. Around 2000 mass production of panels made this economical.

Primary and converted energy is much traded among countries. The table lists countries/regions that export most of their energy, followed by countries that must import much for their economies. The quantities are expressed in Mtoe/a and the data are of 2013.[4]

Big transport goes by tanker ship, tank truck, LNG carrier, rail freight transport, pipeline and by electric power transmission.

32% of primary production is used for conversion and transport, and 6% for non-energy products like lubricants, asphalt and petrochemicals. 62% remains for end-users.

Final consumption

This is the world-wide consumption of energy by end-users. This energy consists of fuel (80%) and electricity (20%). The tables lists amounts, expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent per year (1 Mtoe = 11.63 TWh), and how much of these is renewable energy. Non-energy products are not considered here. The data are of 2013.[4]

Fuel:

  • Fossil fuel: natural gas, fuel derived from petroleum (LPG, gasoline, kerosene, gas/diesel, fuel oil), from coal (anthracite, bituminous coal, coke, lignite, blast furnace gas)
  • Renewable fuel: biofuel and fuel derived from waste, so far as it is traded.
  • District heating.[6]

The amounts are based on lower heating value.

Electricity:

See World electricity consumption for details, but note that the table there includes also internal consumption of power plants, about 10% of the totals.

The first table lists world-wide final consumption and the countries/regions which use 3/4 of that. In developing countries fuel consumption is more renewable. Canada and Brazil generate most electricity with hydropower.

Fuel
Mtoe/a
of which renewable Electricity
Mtoe/a
of which renewable Inhabitants
million
WORLD 6800 17% 1680 21% 7120
China 1390 16% 387 20% 1360
United States 1050 7% 325 13% 316
European Union 801 10% 238 13% 508
Africa 485 62% 51 13% 1110
India 415 41% 77 16% 1250
Russia 300 1% 64 21% 143
Japan 191 2% 82 12% 127
Brazil 170 34% 42 82% 200
Indonesia 135 40% 16 11% 250
Canada 133 9% 42 59% 35
Iran 130 0% 18 5% 77
Mexico 91 9% 21 23% 118
s-Korea 82 4% 42 2% 50

The next table shows countries consuming most (80%) in the European Union, and Norway. The last three countries generate electricity largely renewable.

Fuel
Mtoe/a
of which renewable Electricity
Mtoe/a
of which renewable Inhabitants
million
Germany 158 9% 45 25% 82
France 106 12% 38 16% 66
United Kingdom 96 2% 27 13% 64
Italy 90 10% 25 32% 61
Spain 56 9% 20 31% 47
Poland 51 12% 11 11% 39
Netherland 38 3% 9 14% 17
Belgium 26 8% 7 14% 11
Portugal 11 20% 4 60% 10
Denmark 11 13% 3 48% 6
Norway 9 11% 9 98% 5

Outlook until 2040

In view of contemporary energy policy of countries the IEA expects[7] that the worldwide energy consumption in 2040 will have increased 30%, mainly by strong growth in India and China, while EU and Japan will use less and the US about the same.

Electricity use will increase 60% by

  • growing economies in developing countries where now about 1/6 of all people in the world have no electricity, and
  • electrification of transport and heating which now uses mainly fossil fuel.

More than half of this 60% increase will be generated using wind and sun. The share of coal for electricity generation will decrease from 40% to 30%.

With this policy the goal, set in the Paris agreement, will not be reached. More measures, including phase-out of subsidy on fossil fuel and increase of investment in renewable energy, can be taken at no net economic cost.

See also

"Providing all global energy with wind, water, and solar power" in Mark Jacobson.

Notes and references

  1. http://www.leonardo-energy.org/blog/world-energy-expenditures
  2. quad = 1015 Btu = 293 TWh, eia.gov–U.S. Energy Information Administration International Energy Statistics
  3. IEA Statistics manual, chapter 7
    • Fossil: based on lower heating value.
    • Nuclear: heat produced by nuclear reactions, 3 times the electric energy, based on 33% efficiency of nuclear plants.
    • Renewable: biomass based on lower heating value. Electric energy produced by hydropower, wind turbines and solar panels. Water and air flow energy that drives hydro and wind turbines, and sunlight that powers solar panels, are not taken as primary in energy statistics. Geothermal energy used in power plants is set at 10 times the electric energy, assuming 10% efficiency.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 IEA Statistics search, Balances
  5. The International Energy Agency uses the energy unit Mtoe. Practically the same data are presented by the US Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/ expressed in quads. 1 quad = 1015 BTU = 25.2 Mtoe.
  6. In energy statistics this is not part of fuel but a separate part of final consumption, next to electricity, see IEA Statistics search, Electricity and Heat.
  7. IEA Outlook