World's primary energy supply to increase 61% in 2050 (WEC)

World Energy Council

The energy landscape is expected in 2050 to be quite different from how it looks today, according to the WEC's world energy scenarios.

The WEC estimates that total primary energy supply (equal to consumption) will increase globally from 546 EJ (152 PWh) in 2010 to 879 EJ (144 PWh) in the economic (Jazz) scenario and 696 EJ (193 PWh) in the sustainable (Symphony) scenario in 2050. This corresponds to an increase of 61% in Jazz and 27% in Symphony.

Just to compare: from 1990 to 2010 ? which is roughly half the time span covered in this scenario study ? total global primary energy consumption rose by approximately 45%. It is expected that global primary energy consumption will continue to rise, but at a much lower rate than in previous decades.Meeting both global and regional energy demand will be a challenge.

There is no one global solution to the energy supply issue. Instead, each of the individual parts of the challenge must be worked out to reach the global goal of sustainable, affordable and secure energy supply for all.

(Download the WEC's World Energy Scenarios – Composing energy futures to 2050, an executive summary)