Global Energy Use By Source - Coal Wins Again

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.

Gregor Macdonald submits: The latest BP Statistical Review was published in London this morning, and following a theme presented for years at our blog, global growth in coal consumption continues to soar. Now that global oil production is flat, and is no longer able to fund new industrial expansion, coal remains the cheap BTU and of course the preferred energy source of the Developing World (non-OECD). For another year, the world has turned to coal.

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 consumption in China grew over 9 percent in 2011, rising for the 12th straight year, according to the EIA. " China now accounts for 47% of global coal consumption—almost as much as the entire rest of the world combined," according to the report. Chinese coal consumption increased by 325 million tons, accounting for 87 percent of the 374 million ton global increase in coal use in 2011. 

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog.According to a report by U.S. Global Investors – Investor Alert, BP published its June 2011 Statistical Review of World Energy last week. Global primary energy consumption recorded a 5.6% increase in 2010 – the largest since 1973.

Gregor Macdonald submits: At the recent ASPO conference in Washington, DC I found myself in a lunchtime conversation discussing the contributions Nuclear and Hydro were making to world energy supply. It’s worth noting that Hydropower did experience an uptick in global use in the past five years. Nuclear meanwhile, which has seen a slowing rate of consumption since the 1980′s, leveled off and fell during the same period.

By Gregor Macdonald: There are many unfortunate outcomes to Peak Oil. One of the more serious is the world’s transition back to coal. Expensive BTU from crude oil has influenced the energy adoption pathway of the Developing World for ten years now, pushing the five billion people in the non-OECD toward coal.

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.