3.2 Global Energy Consumption

In 2024, the world wide energy consumption was about 186,000 TWhs (or 635 Quadrillion BTUs). The energy mix used by the whole world is shown below in the figure from Our World in Data. This figure is interactive, so you can slide the bar across and see how that information changes over time. The largest energy source for the whole world is Oil, followed by Natural Gas and Coal. This means most of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels. If you slide the bar around, you can see how renewable has begun to steadily increase in the past decade or more.

Energy consumption numbers are always reported a few years behind, so we are always looking into the past before we plan for the future. As of 2024, the world's total primary energy consumption was about 186,000 TWhs (635 Quadrillion Btus).

$${\text{TWh = Terrawatt-hour Terra means 10}}^{\text{12}}$$

$${\text{Quadrillion BTU = 10}}^{\text{15}}\text{ BTU}$$

What is interesting to see in this chart, which goes all the way back to 1800, is that for the first 100 years, the main energy source was only biomass and relatively consistent. In that time, nearly all energy was from biomass in the form of wood.  Do you know what happened in the late 1800’s to start the exponential growth of energy use? 

The Industrial Revolution played a key role in human development and energy use. Some inventions in that time period include:

• Steam Engine- allowed for travel and transportation of goods 
• Discovery of Oil- Titusville PA 1859
• Textile Machinery 
• Internal Combustion Engine 
• Electric Generator 
• Electric Lighting 

After the industrial revolution, we start to see an increase in coal use, followed by oil and finally natural gas.   Recall from lesson 1, those three energy sources are called our Fossil Fuels.  Those three energy sources also account for the majority (over 80%) of the world’s energy use. 

Please use the interactive features of this figure (using the arrow next to the year 1800) to adjust the time frame and investigate this chart further. 

The figure below shows how energy use is used per person (or per capita). You can see which countries have the highest energy use per person, in the dark red. The US is one of the highest consumers (but not the highest). Which country do you think is the highest user of energy per capita?

You can also explore this data, to see how it has changed over time. One major change over time is with China, which starts the time-laspe as about 1,000 kWh/ per person and ends the time-lapse at over 30,000kWh/per person.

• Do you expect this number to steadily increase?
• What do you expect to happen to India in the next 10 years?
• Do you think US energy use has increased, decreased or stayed the same over time?

Please click on the "Explore the data" for more analysis of each country over time.