Energy in a Globalised World - Energy and Climate: How to Achieve a Successful Energy Transition - page 5

In industry, energy is consumed mainly as heat, often at high tempera-
tures, to convert raw materials (metallurgy, iron and steel, glass, cement,
etc.) and as mechanical energy to drive machinery.
Electricity holds a special place amongst the various types of energy.
It represents 16% of the final energy demand and about 37% of the
primary energy consumption, the difference between these two figures
being due to electricity production efficiency, which is taken into account
when calculating the primary energy consumption.
Electricity production is rising steadily at an average rate of 3% per
annum and its share in the total energy consumption is rising regularly
throughout the world [3]. By 2030, according to the IEA reference
scenario, this share is expected to change from 37% to 41% in the
primary energy balance and from16%to 21% in the final energy balance.
Electricity consumption is rising in particular in the residential
and tertiary sectors, due to the growing number of devices (household
appliances, media, etc.) and more intensive use of electricity for air-
conditioning and heating.
Special vigilance is required in the transport and electricity production
sectors, whose fossil energy consumption is rising at an alarming rate.
Restricted number of suppliers
The distribution of fossil fuel reserves throughout the world, expressed in
billions of toe, is represented on the map in Figure 1.3.
World reserves of hydrocarbons, oil and natural gas, which provide
more than half of the primary energy supply, are unequally distributed,
mostly located in regions far from the main consumption areas.
Consequently, more andmore of these hydrocarbons must be imported
by the consumer countries. The fact that some of the oil and gas reserves
are located in unstable regions of the world creates geopolitical risks.
In addition, the problem of security of supplies is aggravated by the
limited number of players controlling a major proportion of the reserves
(Saudi Arabia for oil, and Russia, Qatar and Iran for natural gas).
The ambition of the producing countries to control the market, which
resulted in particular in the creation of OPEC 2 , has only been partially
achieved. Nonetheless, the current situation is not especially favourable
for the consumer countries.
2 Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.