Energy

WHAT'S NEXT?: By 2025 solar energy will be the cheapest energy option globally. In 2040, oil and natural gas are expected to make up nearly 60 percent of global supplies, while nuclear and renewables will be approaching 25 percent. Improvements in energy efficiency in lighting and home appliances are expected to continue to push residential electricity use lower. The burning of coal will fall out of favor. Transportation energy consumption will be rising in correlation to growth in automated vehicles in the coming years.

[New] Over the coming decades, at least $2 trillion each year will be invested around the world in the transition to low carbon power, transport, heat and localised, digitally connected energy systems.
[New] By scaling up energy efficiency efforts and deploying renewable energy generation capacity far more rapidly, the world could technically and economically transition to net-zero by 2050 for the cost of less than 1% of global GDP annually through to mid-century.
[New] Electricity in the energy mix increases from a little over 20% in 2018 to 45%, with 350 GW of new wind and solar growth alone by 2035.
[New] The average annual increase in wind and solar capacity over the next 15 years could reach as high as 350 GW or even 550 GW, and push the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix to almost 60% by 2050.
[New] Behavioural changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will permanently reduce global energy demand over pre-pandemic scenarios for every year to 2050 by between 6-8%.
[New] To take a global energy system that relies on fossil fuels for around 80% of primary energy down to net-zero by approximately 2050, a fundamental transformation at speed and scale will be required, including by China, the United States, Europe, and others.
[New] BP's outlook last year contained a scenario called More Energy, which had oil demand growing steadily to about 130 million barrels a day in 2040.
[New] The part played by renewables in the world's energy mix could increase from around 5% today to anything between 20% and 60% by 2050, although concerns still linger over the ability of renewables alone to fulfil energy demands.
[New] North America can expect high energy costs to drive strong market growth for energy service and performance contracting, which will more than double its size during the decade to be worth $19.14 billion in 2030.
[New] Of the investments in renewable energy during the next decade, $2.72 trillion will be targeted towards wind and solar projects.
[New] Wind power, both on and offshore, and solar energy will produce electricity far more cheaply than any fossil fuel or nuclear competitor by 2025.
[New] Estimates suggest that between $320 and $480 billion of additional investment will be needed each year up to 2030, to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, in addition to reallocating existing investment in energy systems to renewable and green sources 8.
[New] Global oil demand is expected to account for 30% of global energy demand by 2030, followed by coal and natural gas.
[New] Investment totaling some $3.4trn is foreseen flowing into the global renewable energy build-out over the next ten years - 80% of which will go into wind and solar power projects.
[New] In the short term, there could be a spike in demand for copper as projects are brought forward following the news from China's Energy Administration that subsidies for new offshore and onshore wind farm projects will end sometime later in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
Wind and solar energy sources are now cheapest across more than two-thirds of the world and will undercut commissioned coal and gas almost everywhere by 2030.
The share of gas in Japan's primary energy mix is expected to fall from 23% in the 2017 Japanese fiscal year to 18% in JFY 2030.
Russia's Ministry of Energy has announced plans to expand its total coal production from around 420 mtpa to 480 mtpa by 2030.
Energy demand in Japan is expected to decline slightly over the next five years, and Japan is planning to shift its power generation mix towards nuclear and renewable energy, and away from natural gas and coal.
The hydrogen industry - used to store and transport energy created by wind turbines and solar panels - will get 2 billion euros over two years, a sector that Germany is also betting heavily on with plans to invest 9 billion euros by 2030.
The UAE has laid out a target to divert 75% of the waste from its landfills by 2021 as a way of supporting the Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to increase the contribution of clean energy from 25% to 50% by 2050 and reduce carbon footprint of power generation by 70%.
The drive for harnessing solar energy and cut the carbon emission augmented with declining solar panel price per unit area is expected to be among driving factor for demand.

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Last updated: 18 September 2020