China Surpassing U.S. as Largest Energy Consumer Is the Story of the Past Decade

Gregor Macdonald submits: One detects a slow, ironic hooray welling up from the climate change community this week because after a year of intense weather that’s devastated food crops worldwide, now an epic flood in Australia threatens to cripple the production of coal. Accounting for 30% of global energy supply–and ready to go higher as oil supply declines–coal was thought to be permanently relegated to the 19th century only a decade ago.

Coal will nearly overtake oil as the dominant energy source by 2017, and only a drop in world gas prices could curb the use of the dirtier fossil fuel in the absence of high carbon prices, the International Energy Agency said. The IEA, the energy agency for developed countries, said earlier this year that without a major shift away from coal, average global temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius by 2050, leading to devastating climate change.

L.Desjardins submits: While volume remained low, the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets traded within a 3% range. The lower close on Friday is largely due to tension on the Korean Peninsula and the fact that many traders did not want to maintain large positions over the week end. Beijing will release its November PMI data on Tuesday and the markets will remain edgy and volatile, particularly the energy and materials sectors.

Despite what your mom said, you don’t matter that much. In fact, with each passing day, you, me and the rest of the developed-world-dwellers are losing our clout. Today I’ll prove it to you with a few newfound energy statistics – plus, we’ll discuss what you can do about it. As I type, the developing world is gobbling up market share for the world’s resources – oil, natural gas, coal, you name it. It’s the same story, really, but it’s coming true in front of our eyes.

The US boasts the world's largest reserves of steam coal and is a leading producer of this commodity, though the majority of this output is destined for domestic consumption. click to enlarge Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2011In 2011 US shipments of steam coal to international customers ranked sixth in the world, trailing Indonesia, Australia, Russia, South Africa and Colombia.

By Faisal Humayun: Coal, which is primarily used as a solid fuel to produce electricity and heat coupled with applications in some industrial processes, can be a relatively attractive long-term investment. This article discusses the demand – supply scenario for coal and some attractive investment opportunities in the fossil fuel.

ETF Database submits: Around the world, stock markets have been very rocky as of late with investors fearing a return to a recession in many developed countries. This fear has compounded with weak earnings out of many large banks and tempered growth predictions for mainland China to reduce expectations for one of the main drivers of growth in the emerging world.

By David Hunkar: The demand for electricity continues to grow in China as surging economic growth creates a rising middle-class. With the largest population in the world, naturally the growing number of middle-class Chinese consume more energy. This is especially true with electricity since higher sales of consumer electronics, household appliances increases power demand. In addition to demand from consumers, China’s industrial sector also drives the demand for electricity higher.