iEnergy Phase 1: Focus on electricity
In the initial phase of its development, iEnergy is focusing on aspects associated with electricity, i.e.:
- supply, transmission and distribution, storage and consumption of electricity, and on
- regulatory and market mechanisms that enable power system flexibility and stability.
Of course, the power industry only provides part of the energy supply in Europe and worldwide. Therefore in this chapter we address the energy statistics from a broader perspective that goes beyond the power industry.
iEnergy ambition: To consider other energy sources, commodities, and topics
Our future ambition is to look beyond the power industry to consider:
- other energy sources and energy vectors,
- the associated commodities (such as water) and challenges (such as carbon and other emissions).
Statistics for a deeper understanding of the energy industry
Here you can find, in one place, data on total energy supply globally. In addition to electricity, this includes information about the use of other primary energy sources (such as oil, natural gas, etc.).
Production of primary energy – globally
Global primary energy production in 2015 was 13,800 Mtoe, or 580,000 PJ. Oil and coal accounted for 60 % of this.
Production of primary energy, globally, 2015
Source: IEA
Electricity generation – globally
Global electricity generation in 2015 was just below 24,000 TWh. The two main sources of power were coal and natural gas, followed by nuclear energy, hydro, and oil.
Electricity generation by source, globally, 2015
Source: IEA
Energy units and prefixes
The basic unit of energy is the joule (J). Other energy units are also often used, such as watt-hour (Wh), where 1 Wh = 3600 J, or 1kWh = 3600 kJ.
Another energy unit often used in energy statistics is the tonne of oil equivalent (toe), where 1 toe = 41.868 GJ.
A useful large-scale unit is TWh, which is equal to one thousand million kWh or one billion kWh.
The units are used with the following prefixes:
k (kilo) = 1,000 = 103
M (mega) = 1,000,000 = 106
G (giga) = 1,000,000,000 = 109
T (tera) = 1,000,000,000,000 = 1012
P (peta) = 1,000,000,000,000,000 = 1015
Production of primary energy, globally, 2015
