Future of Alternative Energy in Thailand - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 92

Despite the rapid growth of energy demand, Thailand's per capita commercial en-
ergy consumption is still very low in comparison with other industrialized coun-
tries at an average of 1.27 tons of crude oil equivalent (toe). As a result, the green-
house gases emission per capita is estimated to be about 5.5 tons of CO 2
(Amranand 2008).
10.2 Thailand's Energy Status
In 2007, the total Energy Demand of Thailand was 64,686 kilotons of crude oil
equivalent (ktoe), a rise of 2.3% from the previous year, whilst Thailand's econ-
omy grew at an annual rate of 4.8%. Modern or Commercial Energy shared
53,110 ktoe or 82.1% of the total Energy Demand whereas the Renewable Energy
consumed was 11,576 ktoe or 17.9% (DEDE 2007). The total commercial primary
energy consumption amounted to 80,019 ktoe (Amranand 2008), of which oil con-
stituted 42%, natural gas 38%, coal 15%, hydro 2%, and others 3%. This con-
sumption came from 4 major sectors, i.e. industry (38.2%), transportation (36%),
residential and commercial (20.5%) and agriculture (5.3%) (see Figure 10.1 ).
Thailand's primary energy consumption expenditure accounted for 17.7% of the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the value of primary energy imported was
10.4% of GDP. This illustrates the high dependency on energy import, which
amounted to 59% of the primary energy consumption (EPPO 2008a). In 2004,
Thailand's energy intensity was 20,993 kilojoules commercial energy consumed
for each dollar of GDP, and ranked 48th out of 55 countries, whereby most devel-
oped countries such as USA, Japan, and Germany have lower energy intensity, be-
tween 4,000-7,000 kilojoules (IMD 2008).
Fig. 10.1. Thailand's Commercial Energy Production and Consumption in 2007 (adapted
from: DEDE 2008)
For electric power generation in 2007, the peak demand was 22,586 MW. The
electric power was generated from 5 major supply resources: natural gas (65%),
coal (19.8%), renewable energy (5.5%), hydro-electricity (5%), and purchase from