Worldwide energy supply
Worldwide energy supply refers to the global production and preparation of fuel, generation of electricity, and energy transport.
Mankind has used fuel since ancient time with the control of fire. Coal and oil extraction are very old. People have built thousands of years wind- and watermills and sailing ships. Roughly 200 year ago large scale mining of lignite and coal provided much more fuel, enabling the industrial revolution.
Here contemporary energy supply is outlined. It is a vast industry, powering the world economy, with many aspects and impacts. 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.
Energy development and World energy consumption present further division of fossil into coal, oil and gas, and deal with sustainability, environmental impact, resilience, accidents and many more aspects of energy supply. Electric energy consumption focuses on electricity and has also a section on scenarios about future development.
Energy 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.
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[1] 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.[2][3]
| 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 prepare for end-use.
- 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 natural-gas processing plants to remove contaminants such as water, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.
- Uranium is enriched for nuclear reactors, see Isotope separation.
- 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 tabel 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.[2]
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.[2]
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.
The amounts are based on lower heating value.
Electricity:
See Electric energy consumption (section 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 |
Notes and references
- ↑ 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.
- 1 2 3 IEA Statistics search, Balances
- ↑ 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.