Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
energy. The same holds true for nuclear electricity, which began to develop from
the late 1950s and whose primary source is the change in the atomic structure of
uranium. Often, however, the expression
is used to single out
that part of electricity not produced through fossil fuels. Today it includes solar,
wind and geothermal electricity. Its share, in the form of hydroelectricity, has
developed since the last decades of the 19th century. Nuclear power has been a
remarkable addition since the 1970s. In 1971 it represented only 1 % of energy in
Europe. In 2005 it was 13.6 %, thanks especially to the nuclearisation of the French
energy system. Since the share of primary electricity in the continent was 17.2 % of
primary electricity, the other sources were then negligible.
On the world scale, we
“
primary electricity
”
nd the same transition from coal to oil, to natural gas
and to nuclear electricity, while photovoltaic, hydro and wind power progressed
remarkably in the 1990s and the
rst decade of the third millennium (Table
1.5
).
Table 1.5 World consumption of primary commercial energy (in Mtoe per year)
Coal
Oil
Natural gas
Primary electricity
Total
(MToe)
1700
3
3
1750
5
5
1800
11
11
1850
48
48
1900
506
20
7
1
534
1950
971
497
156
29
1,653
1973
1,563
2,688
989
131
5,371
1987
2,249
2,968
1,550
332
7,099
2010
3,532
4,032
2,843
1,405
11,812
(%)
1700
100
100
1750
100
100
1800
100
100
1850
100
100
1900
94.8
3.7
1.3
0.2
100
1950
58.7
30.1
9.4
1.8
100
1973
29.1
50.0
18.4
2.4
100
1987
31.7
41.8
21.8
4.7
100
2010
29.9
34.1
24.1
11.9
100
Sources Martin (
1990
) and BP (
2012
)
Note 1 Megatoe = 1 million Toe. Here consumption refers only to commercial sources of energy,
while in Table 1.4 total consumption includes the traditional carriers as well
