Asia To Lead 50% Rise In Global Energy Use By 2050

The world’s energy consumption is set to increase by almost 50 percent until 2050, driven by developing countries in Asia, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019) published on Tuesday.

All end-use sectors will see energy consumption growing through 2050, according to the IEO2019. The industrial sector—including refining, manufacturing, mining, construction, and agriculture—will account for more than half of the global end-use energy consumption with energy use rising by over 30 percent from 2018 to 2050, the EIA says.

Energy use in the transportation sector will also increase—by almost 40 percent, the EIA notes, with developing economies expected to see much stronger growth in personal travel and freight movement than many developed countries. In non-OECD countries, energy consumption in the transportation sector will surge by nearly 80 percent through 2050.

The global buildings sector—both commercial and residential—will see energy usage rise by 65 percent until 2050, while end-use consumption in electricity generation is set to soar by 79 percent, according to the EIA.

Electricity use will also grow in the transportation sector with increasing numbers of electric vehicles (EVs) entering the global car fleet and expanding electricity usage in rail travel.

“With the rapid growth of electricity generation, renewables—including solar, wind, and hydroelectric power—are the fastest-growing energy source between 2018 and 2050, surpassing petroleum and other liquids to become the most used energy source in the Reference case,” the EIA said.

Renewable energy consumption will grow by 3.1 percent annually through 2050, compared with 0.6-percent annual growth in petroleum and other liquids, 0.4-percent growth in coal, and 1.1-percent annual growth in natural gas consumption, according to the EIA.

In its latest global energy outlook to 2040, BP said earlier this year that growth in energy consumption will be broad-based across all key sectors, with industry and buildings accounting for three-quarters of the increase in energy demand. By region, all of the growth in energy demand would come from fast-growing developing economies, led by India and China, according to BP.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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