Why Oil & Gas Are Still an Important Part of Modern Energy Sources
Oil and gas are still very relevant energy sources, particularly in emerging nations, according to the IEA
Oil and gas, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), are still very relevant energy sources on a global scale.
The organization made this disclosure in its 2023 Energy Technology Perspectives (ETP) study, which was made public on January 12th.
Remember that the IEA predicted in December 2022 that from 2022 to 2027, renewable energy will expand by about 2400 gigawatts (GW), which is comparable to the current installed power capacity of China.
However, the research notes that despite the rapid expansion of renewable energy, the majority of the world’s energy still comes from fossil fuels.
In fact, particularly in rising and developing nations, the growth in the supply of clean energy since 2000 has been eclipsed by that of oil, gas, and coal. Fossil fuels now account for 80% of the primary energy supply in those nations, up from 77% in 2000, primarily as a result of a rise in coal use from 27% to 35%. According to the report, during the same time period, the percentage in advanced economies decreased from 82% to 77%.
According to the IEA, the overall proportion of fossil fuels in the world’s energy mix has stayed close to constant at around 80%.
More details: According to the study, oil is the single greatest source of primary energy, accounting for 29% of all energy supply in 2021 (down from 37% in 2000).
An increase from 23% to 26% is coal. In comparison to 21%, natural gas is now at 23%.
Even though more than one-third of primary energy consumption in 2021 will be made up of traditional biomass, which is frequently used in unsustainable and polluting ways, bioenergy will still be the largest source of non-fossil energy. It will make up about 10% of all primary energy use.
5% of the supply comes from nuclear power. 2% is made up of hydropower. 2% of all energy comes from solar and wind sources.
The IEA observes that, notwithstanding the acceleration of electrification over the past two decades, fossil fuels continue to dominate energy end use, making up approximately 35% of all energy used in buildings and 95% in transportation.
Additionally, fossil fuels continue to be a major component in the creation of cement for use in infrastructure and structures, steel for use in automobiles and manufacturing, as well as chemicals used to make fertilizers and consumer goods.
For the record, according to the IEA report, coal accounted for approximately 75% of the energy used to produce steel globally in 2021, with more than half of that energy going toward the production of cement. In contrast, approximately 70% of chemical production was based on oil or natural gas.
