Coal Continues to Set the Earth On Fire

Simply put - the growth in renewable power generation is being off-set by the continued growth in the use of fossil fuels for power generation in emerging economies.  

Spencer Dale, BP’s chief economist, says the world’s surging demand for energy – it rose by 2.9% last year – has cemented the defiant growth of coal. Consumption had climbed for a second consecutive year following three years of decline.

“The peak in global coal consumption, which many thought had occurred in 2013, now looks less certain,” Dale says. “Another couple of years of increases close to last year’s would take global consumption comfortably above 2013 levels.”

While mature economies in Europe and North America (and China and Japan) are making the transition to renewables, population growth and improved living standards are driving energy demands in much of the rest of the world.

The global power generation picture is “depressingly” unchanged from 20 years ago, he says. Three flat lines show an unwavering breakdown of the global electricity mix: last year coal made up 38%, non-fossil fuels reached 36% and the rest of the world’s power was generated by gas and oil. This is the same as in 1998.

Wind and solar renewable power is the world’s fastest-growing energy source: it grew by 14.5% last year, led by a surge of investment in China. But the strides do not go far enough, fast enough. “You have to run very fast just to stand still,” Dale says.

Is it any wonder that 2050 is being broadcast as the likely point where human civilization begins to collapse.