Thursday 27 January 2011

Will we cope with rising energy demands?

Will we cope with rising energy demands?

ExxonMobil Energy Outlook has outlined three key features of the next twenty years in energy. There will be:

-A rising global energy demand

-A shift toward natural gas

-Energy efficiency gains.

The futures study, which aims to help ExxonMobil guide global investment, has stated that global demand for energy will rise by 35% by 2030 compared to 2005, with demand in developing nations rising by more than 70%. This is mostly due to to the rapid economic growth of developing countries.

Natural gas is set to overtake coal as the second-largest global energy source behind oil, due to newly available supplies increasing. The move toward the less-carbon intensive natural gas will help mitigate the environmental impacts of increasing demand along with the bigger efficiency improvements.

Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Newly unlocked supplies of shale gas and other unconventional energy sources will be vital in meeting demand."

The Outlook claims that if efforts are made to ensure reliable energy through greener methods, more policies tackling emissions will be put in place by governments globally. This is set to make the price of abundant gas supplies more competitive as a source for generating electrical power. Burning gas can result in up to 60% fewer CO2 emissions than when burning coal.

The results of the study also determined that renewables will grow at nearly 10% every year until 2030, but their output will remain small at 2.5% of total energy. Fossil fuels will supply the majority of demand as nothing will match their availability, affordability or scale.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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