Energy in Italy

Italy consumed about 185 Mtoe of primary energy in 2010.[1] This came mostly from fossil fuels. Among the most used resources are petroleum (mostly used for the transport sector), natural gas (used for electric energy production and heating), coal and renewables.

An important share of electricity comes from import, mainly from Switzerland and France. The share of primary energy dedicated to electricity production is above 35%,[2] and grew steadily since the 1970s.

Electricity is produced mainly from natural gas, which accounts for the source of more than half of the total final electric energy produced. Another important source is hydroelectric power, which was practically the only source of electricity until 1960. Wind and solar power are growing rapidly in recent years thanks to high incentives. PV solar alone grew more than 300% per year in the past 3 years.

Italy has few energy resources, and most of supplies are imported.[3]

Overview

Energy in Italy[4]
Capita Prim. energy Production Import Electricity CO2-emission
Million TWh TWh TWh TWh Mt
2004 58.1 2,145 351 1,837 328 462
2007 59.3 2,072 307 1,837 339 438
2008 59.9 2,047 313 1,810 339 430
2009 60.2 1,915 314 1,642 317 389
2012 60.7 1,947 367 1,641 327 393
Mtoe = 11.63 TWh, Prim. energy includes energy losses

Electricity

In 2008 Italy consumed 6,054 kWh/person in electricity. EU15 average was 7,409 kWh/person. In 2009 consumption was divided by power source: 13.5% import, 65.8% fossil electricity and 20.7% renewable electricity.[5] Import of electricity was high in 2008: 40 TWh.[6] Italy has no nuclear power. Geothermal energy is used. Italy has significantly higher solar and wind power potential than utilized in 2010.

Wind power

EU and Italy Wind Energy Capacity (MW)[7][8][9][10]
No Country 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998
- EU-27 105,696 93,957 84,074 74,767 64,712 56,517 48,069 40,511 34,383 28,599 23,159 17,315 12,887 9,678 6,453
4 Italy 8,144 6.747 5,797 4,850 3,736 2,726 2,123 1,718 1,266 905 788 682 427 277 180

Emissions

According to Energy Information Administration, the 2009 Italian CO2 emissions from energy consumption were 408 Mt, slightly below Indonesia 413 mt. worldwide, Italy was ranked 17th in 2009 according to this list. The Italian emissions decline of 9% in 2008–2009 was rather influenced by the European economic recession 2008–2009 than large sustainable changes in energy consumption. From 2008 to 2009 change was at a 6.9% decline in Europe and at a 7.5 increase in Asia & Oceania.[11]

Some people argue that the emissions of consumption rather than production is more relevant. Many European companies have moved production from Europe to Asia the last ten years, which does not necessarily change the overall emissions of the world or the company. According to the Guardian, the most widely cited international dataset for consumption emissions is from year 2001 including the consumption emissions per capita of all greenhouse gases.[12] Italy’s footprint in 2001 was 12 ton CO2 per person (rank no 21)[13] Italy’s domestic share of greenhouse gas emissions was 62%.[14]

See also

References