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Renewable energy
More and more governments are recognising the importance of promoting sustainable development and combating climate change when setting out their energy policies. As energy use has increased, greenhouse gas emissions have spiraled up and their concentration in the atmosphere has increased. One way to reduce emissions is to replace energy from fossil fuels by energy from renewables.
Definition
The table refers to the contribution of renewables to total primary energy supply (TPES) in OECD countries. Renewables include the primary energy equivalent of hydro (excluding pumped storage), geothermal, solar, wind, tide and wave. It also includes solid biomass, liquid biomass, biogas, industrial waste and municipal waste. Biomass is defined as any plant matter used directly as fuel or converted into fuels (e.g. charcoal) or electricity and/or heat. Included here are wood, vegetal waste (including wood waste and crops used for energy production), ethanol, animal materials/wastes and sulphite lyes. Municipal waste comprises wastes produced by the residential, commercial and public service sectors that are collected by local authorities for disposal in a central location for the production of heat and/or power. The forecasts provided in the table refer to the Reference Scenario of the World Energy Outlook.
Comparability
Biomass and waste data are often based on small sample surveys or other incomplete information. Thus, the data give only a broad impression of developments and are not strictly comparable between countries. In some cases, complete categories of vegetal fuel are omitted due to lack of information.
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Long-term trends In OECD countries, total renewables supply grew by 2.2% per annum between 1971 and 2005 as compared to 1.5% per annum for total primary energy supply. Annual growth for hydro (1.1%) was lower than for other renewables such as geothermal (6.0%) and combustible renewables and waste (2.5%). Due to a very low base in 1971, solar and wind experienced the most rapid growth in OECD member countries, especially where government policies have stimulated expansion of these energy sources. For total OECD, the contribution of renewables to energy supply increased from 4.7% in 1971 to 6.1% in 2005. The contribution of renewables varied greatly by country. On the high end, renewables represented 74% in Iceland and 44% in Norway. On the low end, renewables contributed only 1% to 2% of supply for Ireland, Korea, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. In general, the contribution of renewables to the energy supply in non-OECD countries is higher than in OECD countries. In 2004, renewables contributed 40% to the supply of Brazil, 39% in India, 16% in China, 10% in South Africa and 3% in the Russian Federation. |
Sources
- IEA (2006), Energy Balances of OECD Countries, IEA, Paris.
- IEA (2006), Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries, IEA, Paris.
- IEA (2006), World Energy Outlook 2006, IEA, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- IEA (2004), Renewable Energy: Market and Policy Trends in IEA Countries, IEA, Paris.
- IEA (2005), Projected Costs of Generating Electricity, IEA, Paris.
- IEA (2006), Energy Technology Perspectives: Scenarios and Strategies to 2050, IEA, Paris.
- IEA (2006), Renewable Energy RD&D Priorities: Insights from IEA Technology Programme, IEA, Paris.
Statistical publications
- IEA (2006), Renewables Information: 2006 Edition, IEA, Paris.
Online databases
- IEA Global Renewable Energy Policies and Measures Database, http://renewables.iea.org.
- World Energy Statistics and Balances.
Websites
- IEA OPEN Energy Technology Bulletin, www.iea.org/impagr/cip/index.htm.
- International Energy Agency, www.iea.org.
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | Contribution of renewables to energy supply |
| Graphics | |
| • | OECD renewable energy supply |
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