Worldwide energy supply
Worldwide energy supply is the global production and preparation of fuel, generation of electricity, and energy transport. Energy supply is a vast industry, powering the world economy. More than 10% of the world expenditures is used for energy purposes.
Of all produced energy 80% is fossil. Half of that is produced by China, the United States and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The Gulf States and Norway export most of their production, largely to the European Union and Japan where not sufficient energy is produced to satisfy their users. Energy production increases slowly, except for solar and wind energy which grows more than 20% per year.
Energy consumption per person in N-America is very high while in developing countries it is low and more renewable.
Worldwide carbon dioxide emission from fuel combustion was 32 gigaton in 2015. In view of contemporary energy policy of countries the IEA expects that the worldwide energy consumption in 2040 will have increased more than a quarter and that the goal, set in the Paris Agreement about Climate Change, will not nearly be reached. Several scenarios to achieve the goal are developed.
Primary energy assessment follows certain rules to ease measurement and comparison of different kinds of energy. Due to these rules uranium is not counted as PE but as the natural source of nuclear PE. Similarly water and air flow energy that drives hydro and wind turbines, and sunlight that powers solar panels, are not taken as PE but as PE sources.
From 2010 to 2015 worldwide production increased 8%, with big differences among regions. The EU produced 9% less, Africa 5% less, China 12% more, the USA 17% more. A small part of the renewables, solar and wind energy, increased fast: a factor 3. in line with the strong growth since 1990. In China not only solar and wind increased, 5 times, but also nuclear production, 130%.
Much of primary and converted energy is traded among countries, about 5350 Mtoe/a worldwide, mostly oil and gas. The table lists countries/regions with large difference of export and import. A negative value indicates that much energy import is needed for the economy. The quantities are expressed in Mtoe/a and the data are of 2015.
