Calculations of energy demand/supply and orders of magnitude - Climate Change: Biological and Human Aspects - page 543

Appendix3. Calculations of energy
demand/supply and orders of magnitude
Calculationsofenergydemand/supply
From Chapter 7 onwards there are a number of depictions of global energy supply
and demand. The following criteria have been applied in constructing these graphs
of energy statistics.
Where statistics are given in millions of tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe), quantities
of nuclear and renewable energy (such as hydroelectric power) are expressed in
terms of the oil equivalent as if the energy was generated by an oil-fired electricity-
generating plant with an efficiency of around 33% up to 2000 and then 38% thereafter.
Consequently, it is possible to make some comparison and to see how these non-fossil
energy sources (could) displace oil sources.
Historic proportional energy-supply estimates prior to 1950 are taken from Morgan
and Murray (1976) and early carbon emissions were assessed from a variety of
sources including from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC)
of the US Department of Energy and also the Woods Hole Research Center in
Massachusetts, USA. Carbon emissions from energy for Figure 7.10b came from the
International Energy Agency's CO 2 Emissions from Fossil Fuel Combustion 2011 .
Estimates for fossil fuel from the 1980s and 1990s were also cross-checked against
the US Government's Energy Information Administration in autumn 2004 and spring
2005 (for this topic's first edition), as well as the BP Statistical Review of World Energy
(1990, 2000, 2005, 2011) and adapted where necessary, as per previous power-station
efficiency assumptions. The Worldwatch Institute's Vital Signs series (2003), which in
turn draws on additional sources, was used as a further check on statistics post-1950.
The UK Department of Trade and Industry's Energy Trends (also known as Digest
of UK Energy Statistics or DUKES) was similarly used as a check for UK data. Any
misinterpretation of data sources is the author's responsibility. Data for this topic's
second edition were accessed online in the latter half of 2011.
Key websites that have energy and/or carbon data:
British Petroleum, www.bp.com
Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, http://cdiac.ornl.gov
International Energy Agency, www.iea.org
UK Department of Trade and Industry, www.dti.gov.uk
US Energy Information Administration (EIA), www.eia.gov
Data from 1950 onwards relates strictly to commercially traded fuels and does not
include locally gathered or produced domestic fuels in less-developed nations, such
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