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As appetite for electricity soars, the world keeps turning to coal

Despite growing attention to cleaner energy, two-thirds of the world’s electricity is still produced by burning fossil fuels, mostly coal — a proportion that hasn’t budged for 35 years. Emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants have more than doubled since 1980 as the world’s demand for electricity keeps rising. This graphic is based on detailed annual analysis of electric generation and emissions by the International Energy Agency. The most recent year for which there are complete figures is 2012, but the relatively small changes since then have had little effect on overall trends.

 The demands of a developing world require more electricity

In 1980, a little more than 8 million gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity were generated around the world. By 2012, the output

nearly tripled as the global population increased and developing countries had a greater demand for electricity.

 But the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity comes at a cost: CO2 emissions

Of all the fossil fuels, coal releases the largest amount of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of electricity and heat produced, and it remains by far the most widely used fuel. In 2012, coal was responsible for 72 percent of electric-sector emissions; in the past three years, the growth in coal consumption has slowed.

 China, U.S., India, Russia and Japan create the most power — and emissions

Electricity and heat generation is the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions globally — larger than transportation or any other sector. Since 1980, India’s electricity capacity has grown by a factor of eight, and it still hopes to extend electric power to 300 million people living without it. China’s capacity today is nearly 20 times as large as it was in 1980. In sub-Saharan Africa, where just 24 percent of the population has access to electric power, demand is likely to grow exponentially in the years ahead.

 Coal-burning power plants are the biggest polluters

72% of all fossil fuel emissions. Coal is cheap, in part because of China’s economic slowdown, combined with the newly tapped abundant reserves of natural gas in the United States. This is placing significant negative pressure on efforts to develop and expand renewable sources of electricity — solar, wind and hydropower, among them. They are less able to compete economically. Total CO2 emissions in 2012 from coal, in millions of tons.

source: https://www.washingtonpost.com