atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 04.2019
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<strong>atw</strong> Vol. 64 (2019) | Issue 4 ı April<br />
Feature | Major Trends in Energy Policy and <strong>Nuclear</strong> <strong>Power</strong><br />
The Role of Resources and Reserves<br />
<strong>for</strong> the Global Energy Supply<br />
Hans-Wilhelm Schiffer<br />
The assured availability and competitiveness of the various energy sources, as well as climate compatibility, determine<br />
their use. Conditions on the energy markets are also subject to continuous change. This article examines the extent to<br />
which the availability of energy resources and the orientation of energy policies influence the energy mix, particularly<br />
power generation. It also outlines strategies <strong>for</strong> achieving the energy policy goals – security of supply, value <strong>for</strong> money<br />
and environmental compatibility (including climate protection) – in the best possible way.<br />
Changes in the global energy mix since 1985<br />
Global energy consumption has almost doubled since the<br />
mid 1980s. Fossil fuels, i.e. oil, natural gas and coal, have<br />
covered 80 % of this growth. Thus, the share of fossil fuels<br />
in the coverage of total primary energy consumption has<br />
decreased only slightly, from 89 % in 1985 to 85 % in 2017.<br />
Although renewable energies have gained massively in<br />
importance, especially in the last ten years, the contribution<br />
of hydropower, wind and solar energy, biomass<br />
and geothermal energy was still limited to a total of<br />
11 % even in 2017. In 2017, nuclear power covered 4 %<br />
of primary energy consumption (Figure 1).<br />
The transport sector and the petrochemical industry<br />
are the main users of oil. Natural gas is used primarily in<br />
the heating market, by industry, private households and<br />
small consumers, and additionally in power generation.<br />
Coal is used predominantly and nuclear power exclusively<br />
<strong>for</strong> power generation. To date, the renewable energies<br />
have also been used preferably <strong>for</strong> power generation.<br />
This applies to hydropower but also to solar energy and<br />
wind power and, albeit to a lesser extent, to biomass and<br />
geothermal energy.<br />
Global power generation has almost tripled since 1985.<br />
Two thirds of the growth achieved since then has been covered<br />
by coal and natural gas. At 38 %, coal’s share of global<br />
power generation in 2017 was exactly the same as in 1985.<br />
It is true that oil’s contribution to power generation has<br />
dropped by eight percentage points, but this was more<br />
than offset by a nine percentage point increase in the share<br />
of natural gas. Accordingly, there was no significant<br />
change in fossil fuel’s share in power generation between<br />
1985 and 2017. It was 65 % in 2017 and also in 2000 compared<br />
to 64 % in 1985. From 1985 to 2017, the share of<br />
nuclear power decreased by five percentage points to 10 %,<br />
while the contribution of renewables increased by four<br />
percentage points to 25 %. The strongest growth was in<br />
solar and wind, particularly in the last ten years. Despite<br />
absolute growth, the share of hydropower has fallen by<br />
four percentage points since 1985. Nevertheless, hydropower<br />
continues to make the greatest contribution to<br />
power generation among the renewable energies in 2017<br />
(Figure 2).<br />
| | Fig. 1.<br />
Worldwide primary energy consumption 1985 to 2017 in million (10 6 ) tce.<br />
| | Fig. 2.<br />
Worldwide mix in electricity generation 1985 to 2017 in TWh (terawatt hours = 10 12 watt hours).<br />
FEATURE | MAJOR TRENDS IN ENERGY POLICY AND NUCLEAR POWER 191<br />
Determining factors <strong>for</strong> the energy mix<br />
in power generation by country<br />
The energy mix of power generation in the various<br />
countries and regions of the world is very different from<br />
the global structures described above. There are two<br />
crucial factors <strong>for</strong> this: the resource situation in each case<br />
and the orientation of the energy policy. This becomes<br />
clear in an exemplary examination of the situation in<br />
selected countries (Figure 3).<br />
| | Fig. 3.<br />
Mix in electricity generation of selected countries in 2017 in %.<br />
Feature<br />
The Role of Resources and Reserves <strong>for</strong> the Global Energy Supply ı Hans-Wilhelm Schiffer