Global Energy Demand Shoots Up in 2018

Global energy demand, as well as global greenhouse gas emissions, have increased significantly for the second year in a row, according to the International Energy Agency’s Global Energy & CO₂ Status Report. While energy demand growth dropped below 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2015 and 2016, 2017 and 2018 saw substantial growth in global energy demand far exceeding the growth of previous years.

The countries most responsible for this increase in demand were China and the U.S., which also translated into those countries’ share of the increased greenhouse emissions. While the U.S. and China had similar increases in energy demand, China’s contribution to the greenhouse gas surplus was larger than that of the U.S. Both countries used more oil and gas to satisfy their energy demand growth, but China also grew its coal use while the U.S. decreased theirs.

The energy source with the largest growth in 2018 was gas, which saw a big usage increase in the U.S., followed by renewables and oil.