Asia set to use half of world’s electricity by 2025, new report says
BERLIN –
Asia will for the primary time use half of the world’s electrical energy by 2025, at the same time as Africa continues to devour far lower than its share of the worldwide inhabitants, in accordance with a brand new forecast launched Wednesday by the International Energy Agency.
Much of Asia’s electrical energy use can be in China, a nation of 1.4 billion individuals whose share of worldwide consumption will rise from 1 / 4 in 2015 to a 3rd by the center of this decade, the Paris-based physique mentioned.
“China will be consuming more electricity than the European Union, United States and India combined,” mentioned Keisuke Sadamori, the IEA’s director of vitality markets and safety.
By distinction, Africa — house to nearly a fifth of world’s practically 8 billion inhabitants — will account for simply 3% of worldwide electrical energy consumption in 2025.
“This and the rapidly growing population mean there is still a massive need for increased electrification in Africa,” mentioned Sadamori.
The IEA’s annual report predicts that nuclear energy and renewables reminiscent of wind and photo voltaic will account for a lot of the expansion in world electrical energy provide over the approaching three years. This will forestall a major rise in greenhouse fuel emissions from the facility sector, it mentioned.
Scientists say sharp cuts in all sources of emissions are wanted as quickly as attainable to maintain common world temperatures from rising 1.5 levels Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial ranges. That goal, laid down within the 2015 Paris local weather accord, seems more and more uncertain as temperatures have already elevated by greater than 1.1 C for the reason that reference interval.
One hope for assembly the objective is a wholesale shift away from fossil fuels reminiscent of coal, fuel and oil towards low-carbon sources of vitality. But whereas some areas are lowering their use of coal and fuel for electrical energy manufacturing, in others consumption is rising, the IEA mentioned.
The 134-page additionally report warned that electrical energy demand and provide have gotten more and more climate dependent, an issue it urged policymakers to handle.
“In addition to drought in Europe, there were heat waves in India (last year),” mentioned Sadamori. “Similarly, central and eastern China were hit by heat waves and drought. The United States also saw severe winter storms in December, and all those events put massive strain on the power systems of these regions.”
“As the clean energy transition gathers pace, the impact of weather events on electricity demand will intensify due to the increased electrification of heating, while the share of weather-dependent renewables will continue to grow in the generation mix,” the IEA mentioned. “In such a world, increasing the flexibility of power systems while ensuring security of supply and resilience of networks will be crucial.”
