IEA World Energy Outlook 2006 - reports (updated)
by Staff
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In its just-released World Energy Outlook 2006, the agency says that over 70 per cent of the increased oil demand is attributable to developing countries. This growth in demand, however, is likely to exert pressure on pricing only in the next decade. Of course, fresh geopolitical tensions or, worse, a major supply disruption could drive prices higher, it says. ...Meanwhile, developing countries are slated to increase their share of carbon dioxide emissions from 39 per cent in 2004 to 50 per cent by 2030, when emissions will total 40 gigatonnes, with China and India leading the list. So what needs to be done? Acceding to the request of G8 leaders, the IEA has drawn up an alternative energy scenario to significantly reduce the rate of increase in demand for energy, and emissions around the world.
In its annual World Energy Outlook, a 596-page response to a G8 call for a sustainable energy blueprint, the agency said unless leaders took action world demand for fossil fuels would rise by more than 50 percent, along with carbon emissions. Energy conservation and investment in nuclear power could cut consumption by 10 percent by 2030, the IEA said, equivalent to China's energy use today. Carbon emissions would drop by 16 percent, what the United States and Canada emit between them.
Governments and companies need to spend $20 trillion in 25 years and there is ``no guarantee'' it will succeed, the IEA said today in its annual ``World Energy Outlook.'' More than half of the total will be needed in emerging countries, where both demand and supply are rising the fastest. China alone needs to spend $3.7 trillion on energy during 2005 to 2030. ``Under-investment in new energy supply is a real risk,'' said Claude Mandil, the executive director of the Paris-based agency, which is an adviser to 26 consuming nations, in an e- mailed statement. ``The energy future we are facing today is dirty, insecure and expensive.''
Current trends showed that demand for power was set to grow by 53% by 2030, the International Energy Agency said. But if governments delivered on their promises to push cleaner and more efficient supplies, demand could be cut by about 10%, the agency suggested. Greater use of nuclear power could be a "valuable option" to cut imports and curb CO2 emissions, the study added.
The International Energy Agency says world political leaders -- including those in the G8 -- must act decisively in the near future to move away from these twin threats and onto "a more sustainable energy path." "The threat to the world's energy security is real and growing," the report says. Fossil fuels such as oil will remain the world's dominant energy form until at least 2030 but the agency, for the first time in its 32-year history, also recommends widespread adoption of nuclear power as a clean and secure alternative for electricity generation. Global demand for oil, coal and natural gas and other primary fuels is forecast to rise 53 per cent by 2030 but the agency warns that to date, efforts to improve supplies are "to a large extent, illusory." Meanwhile, energy consumption trends could also obliterate targets established by the Kyoto protocol for greenhouse gas reductions. |
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