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U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Energy Use and Carbon Emissions Continue Worldwide Rise in 1996
Total world energy consumption grew about 3 percent in 1995 and again in 1996, suggesting upward pressures on world energy use at the end of a decade (1987-1996) that averaged 2 percent annual growth. Three countries -- the United States, Russia, and China -- produced 40 percent and consumed 42 percent of the world's energy in 1996. Regionally, between 1987 and 1996, Latin America had the highest annual rate of growth of energy production (5 percent) and Asia had the highest annual rate of growth of energy consumption (5 percent). According to the International Energy Annual 1996, released January 20, 1998, by the Energy Information Administration, world carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal) grew by about 2 percent during 1996 and at an average growth rate of 1 percent per year over the ten years, 1987-1996. Carbon dioxide emission growth rates lag overall energy consumption growth rates because of the increasing role of natural gas (a fuel that is less carbon-intensive than oil or coal), growth in demand for oil and gas uses that sequester part of their carbon (such as chemicals), and the growth of forms of energy that do not emit carbon dioxide, including hydroelectricity, nuclear power, geothermal power, solar, and wind electric power. The principal sources of carbon dioxide emissions in 1996 were petroleum (41 percent), followed by coal (39 percent) and natural gas (20 percent). Other international energy highlights for 1996 include:
The International Energy Annual 1996 is currently available in PDF format at the EIA FTP site (ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/pdf/international/021996.pdf) and will be available shortly in HTML format on EIA's World Wide Web Site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/iea/contents.html). Tables from the publication are also available as spreadsheets through the "energy data" categories at the top of EIA's International Energy Web Page (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/contents.html). The document will be made available on the EIA CD-ROM, Energy InfoDisc. Published copies will be available in February from the U.S. Government Printing Office, 202-512-1800, or through EIA's National Energy Information Center, 202-586-8800.
EIA Program Contact: Louis DeMouy, 202-586-8994, louis.demouy@eia.doe.gov EIA-98-05 Contact:
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