The International Energy Agency has released its World Energy Outlook 2013. Because I cannot afford the heftily priced full version, I am going to discuss the Executive Summary below. This would be an excellent student reading to provide a snapshot of the current state of global energy consumption and production and projections over the next few decades.
Among the findings in the report:
- China is poised to become the world’s leading oil importer by the early 2020s and India, the leading importer of coal. The U.S. may meet all of its energy needs from domestic sources by 2035;
- Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are still slated to rise by 20% through 2035 even under the study’s “Central Scenario,” which includes policy interventions in the United States, China and Japan. As a consequence, the world is on a trajectory for long-term temperatures to increase 3.6C above pre-industrial levels;
- Two-thirds of potential economically viable energy efficiency gains remain on the table despite substantive changes in policy recently to facilitate efficiency improvements;
- By 2035, oil consumption will be concentrated in two sectors, transport and petrochemicals;
- Brazil is an extremely dynamic actor in the energy sector in 2035, with oil production tripling, natural gas production increasing five-fold, and biofule production tripling. At the same time, the country is projected to see an 80% increase in energy use during this period.