Energy Consumption | World Energy Consumption

Looking At The World Consumption Of Energy

Energy is used throughout the world in one form or another. Whether used for
heating, cooling, manufacturing, or thousands of other things, the world could
not survive without it. Natural energy originates from the sun which, through
nuclear energy, sends it out through its rays which are being put to good use
to assist in the World Consumption of Energy.

With the world becoming aware of the depletion of the usual supplier of energy,
fossil fuels, as well as the harmful emissions they put into the atmosphere. As
a result, other resources are being actively sought. In 2008, 80 to 90 percent
of energy use, throughout the world, was from fossil fuels. In 2009, this dropped
from 4% to 8% in North America and Europe alone, due to more use of solar energy.

This is due, in a large part, to the introduction of such things as solar panels,
wind farms, natural combustion of methane gas from landfills, hydro-power from dams
and other resources. People are becoming more accustomed to the idea of using the
sun's power and converting it to everyday use by all walks of life throughout the world.

Hydroelectricity, for example has been put to use in China, Brazil and India with
great success, China being the largest producer of hydro-power in the world. In
the Western world, Canada is the largest producer of hydroelectricity. A number
of problems have been encountered with hydro-power, due to the environmental impact
of large plants. This has resulted in many going to micro hydro units, which allows
for the development of more locations without the large plant problem.

Biomass and biofuels, at this point, has a small share of energy production, mainly
to the problems of conversion . However, the use of natural plants (biomass) into a
usable energy supply is being warmly embraced, especially in countries such as Spain,
Poland, German, Hungary and the Netherlands. Bioethanol usage has increased by leaps
and bounds in the United States and Brazil with Germany producing over 50% of the
production of biodiesel.

Wind power is now accepted world wide as an energy source and there is a World
Wind Energy Association that keeps records of installations and results. From 2007
to the end of 2008, its usage increased 29% in China, Spain and the United States.
As more wind farms are installed this is expected to increase greatly.

At the current time there is not enough solar energy being utilized to entirely
replace fossil fuels as an energy source. It is expected that conventional oil sources
will be pretty well depleted by 2045 and coal by 2159 with amounts stored to
follow shortly. This means that when all the reserves are gone there will have
to be a replacement to keep the world operating at its current capacity. Scientists,
well aware of this, are working very hard to find adequate and economical replacements
using natural resources to take care of the world consumption of energy.