Sustainable Energy Analysis 2022

Sustainability 1
Sustainable energy
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Executive summary
In comparison with pre-industrial levels, the famous climate accord established in 2015 aims
to lower the mean global temperature increase to less than 2 degrees Celsius. This is only
technically possible with the efficient and effective exploitation of the available renewable
energy sources with their promise of low greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, the
demand and consumption of fossil fuels must be kept as low as possible. Despite the urgent
need for this energy transformation, many governments worldwide still fail to engage the
necessary plans and policies to achieve the reduction in emissions. As a result, the demand
and consumption of fossil fuels have been growing and continues to grow even far into the
future over a projected period of up to 2050. Even though global governments and their
policies appear to have failed to successfully tackle the problem of fossil fuel consumption,
there is a notable increase in the exploitation of renewable energy resources ranging from
solar energy to biofuels such as ethanol-based aviation fuel.
Introduction
Energy is a basic input to a myriad of economic activities globally (Bhattacharyya,
2011). The industrial revolution was driven by the desire and need to harness energy sources
and resources with the aim of replacing manual labor and improving industrial output (Ghosh
& Prelas, 2011). This, in turn, led to rapid social and economic development (Ion, 1975). A
rapid increase in the global population, the consumption of fossil fuels and economic output
was witnessed in the 20th century (German Advisory Council on Global Change, 2014). The
increase in the consumption of fossil fuels has produced immense negative effects on the
environment. Huge quantities of carbon (iv) oxide have been released into the surroundings
which correspondingly has led to the rise in global warming (Larsson, 2012). Currently,
developing countries demand more energy to support their growing manufacturing and

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processing capabilities (Graaf, Westphal, & Lesage, 2013). It had been predicted that the
global consumption of fossil fuels would fall between 1950 and 2050 with a corresponding
increase in the use and development of renewable energy sources such as solar energy (Hill,
O'Keefe, & Snape, 1995).
Data analysis
i) Global energy consumption by region.
Figure 1: World's primary energy consumption by region
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/primary-energy-consumption-by-region
From this chart, it is evident that in 1965 the bulk of the global energy was consumed by
Eurasia and Europe and North America (IRENA, 2018). Their total energy consumption
accounted for over 80 % of the total global energy consumption. The chart shows that despite
the constant increase in energy consumption in these regions from 1965 up to 2015, their
share of the total energy has fallen considerably. Fuel consumption has increased constantly
across the rest of the globe with the consumption in Asia pacific increasing by over 12 times

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in this period. Consequently, in 2015 the largest regional consumer was Asia Pacific with
about 42 % (IRENA, 2018).
ii) Global energy consumption by source.
Figure 2: Global energy consumption by source projection
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-
energy.html
It was initially predicted that the consumption of fossil fuels such as coal and oil would
decrease with time. However, the graph clearly shows that this is not the case. The
consumption of fossil fuels has continued to increase generally over the years (Brown, 2012).
The graph shows a relatively steep rise in the total global consumption of all the fuels from
the year 2000 onwards. On the other hand, the prediction had been that the consumption of
renewable energy sources such as hydropower and solar would increase. It is evident from
the graph that this prediction holds true as the consumption of renewable energy shows a
constant increase. The consumption of renewable energy almost doubled in the period
between 2004 and 2015 (IRENA, 2018). The increase in the consumption of renewable