Energy issues

 

World energy consumption is the total energy needed by the entire human race. It is measured yearly and involves energy harnessed from every energy source. By the year of 2013, total final consumption reached 9301 Mtoe (iea, 2015). Τhis energy demand will keep rising in the next few decades. There are various reasons supporting this idea. Firstly, United Nation’s assumptions for world’s population indicating that humanity will reach 10 billion by the end of 2050 (Diagramm 1) because of the birth explosion at developing countries like India and China (UN, 2015). All these people have to someway cover their need for energy. But from what source this energy will come from? According U.S. Energy Information Administration, energy production from liquid fuels, natural gas and coal will outnumber the renewable sources by the end of 2040. Furthermore, nuclear power will have a slight increase, which means in the future, the nuclear waste will be an even greater problem (US-IEA, 2016).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   Diagramm 1. Assumptions of world population (UN,2015)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              Diagramm 2. Average energy consumption per capita (US-IEA, 2016)

​

​

The problems from energy production and non-sustainable use of it, lead to air and water pollution, acid rain, pollution from complex chemical compounds and nuclear waste production. In addition, can lead to some serious social problems.  The dependence of industrial countries from smaller countries which have bigger oil reserves can lead to political and sometimes military interventions.

But we can all be part of the solution. Installing renewable energy sources (picture 1) at our house and improving our lifetime energy efficiency, all these problems can be greatly tackled, boosting the quality of life (WEC,2017).

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

                         

                          Picture 1. Renewable energy sources (AZURE, 2017)

Sources

 

AZURE (2017) Retrieved 11/08/2017 from http://www.azureeducation.org/renewableenergy/

​

Iea (2015) Key World Energy statistics, Retrieved 12/08/2017 from ftp://ftp.energia.bme.hu/pub/energetikai_alapismeretek/KeyWorld_Statistics_2015.pdf

​

UN-United Nations (2015). World Population Prospects The 2015 Revision . New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division 

​

US-IEA (2016). TODAY IN ENERGY. Retrieved 05/04/2017 from https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=26212

​

WEC-World Energy Council (2017). World Energy Issues Monitor 2017. Retrieved 11/08/2017 from https://www.worldenergy.org/data/issues/