Electric energy consumption

Electricity consumption by region. By 2025, Asia is projected to account for half of the world’s electricity consumption, with one-third of global electricity to be consumed in China.

Electric energy consumption is energy consumption in the form of electrical energy. ^[2] About a fifth of global energy is consumed as electricity: for residential, industrial, commercial, transportation and other purposes. ^[2] Quickly increasing this share by further electrification is extremely important to limit climate change, ^[3] because most other energy is consumed by burning fossil fuels thus emitting greenhouse gases which trap heat. ^[4]

The global electricity consumption in 2022 was 24,398 terawatt-hour (TWh), almost exactly three times the amount of consumption in 1981 (8,132 TWh). ^[5] China, the United States, India and Japan accounted for more than half of the global share of electricity consumption. ^[5]

Overview

Electric energy is most often measured either in joules (J), or in watt hours (W·h). ^[6]

1 W·s = 1 J

1 W·h = 3,600 W·s = 3,600 J

1 kWh = 3,600 kWs = 1,000 Wh = 3.6 million W·s = 3.6 million J

Electric and electronic devices consume electric energy to generate desired output (light, heat, motion, etc.). During operation, some part of the energy is lost depending on the electrical efficiency. ^[7]

Electricity has been generated in power stations since 1882. ^[8] The invention of the steam turbine in 1884 to drive the electric generator led to an increase in worldwide electricity consumption. ^[9]

In 2022, the total worldwide electricity production was nearly 29,000 TWh. ^[10] Total primary energy is converted into numerous forms, including, but not limited to, electricity, heat and motion. ^[11] Some primary energy is lost during the conversion to electricity, as seen in the United States, where a little more than 60% was lost in 2022. ^[11]

Electricity accounted for more than 20% of worldwide final energy consumption in 2022, with oil being less than 40%, coal being less than 9%, natural gas being less than 15%, biofuels and waste less than 10%, and other sources (such as heat, solar electricity, wind electricity and geothermal) being more than 5%. ^[12] The total final electricity consumption in 2022 was split unevenly between the following sectors: industry (42.2%), residential (26.8%), commercial and public services (21.1%), transport (1.8%), and other (8.1%; i.e., agriculture and fishing). ^[12] In 1981, the final electricity consumption continued to decrease in the industrial sector and increase in the residential, commercial and public services sectors. ^[12]

A sensitivity analysis on an adaptive neuro-fuzzy network model for electric demand estimation shows that employment is the most critical factor influencing electrical consumption. ^[13] The study used six parameters as input data, employment, GDP, dwelling, population, heating degree day and cooling degree day, with electricity demand as output variable. ^[13]

World electricity consumption

See also: List of countries by electricity consumption

The table lists 45 electricity-consuming countries, which used about 22,000 TWh. These countries comprise about 90% of the final consumption of 190+ countries. The final consumption to generate this electricity is provided for every country. The data is from 2022. ^{[10] [14]}

In 2022, OECD's final electricity consumption was over 10,000 TWh. ^[5] In that year, the industrial sector consumed about 42.2% of the electricity, with the residential sector consuming nearly 26.8%, the commercial and public services sectors consuming about 21.1%, the transport sector consuming nearly 1.8%, and the other sectors (such as agriculture and fishing) consuming nearly 8.1%. ^[12] In recent decades, the consumption in the residential and commercial and public services sectors has grown, while the industry consumption has declined. ^[5] More recently, the transport sector has witnessed an increase in consumption with the growth in the electric vehicle market. ^[5]

Rank Data 2022	Country	Final consumption (TWh)	Population (millions)	Per capita consumption (MWh)
—	WORLD	24,398	7,960	3.07
1	China	7,214	1,443	5
2	United States	4,272	336	12.71
3	India	1,403	1,401	1
4	Japan	1,132	126	8.98
5	Russia	934	146	6.4
6	Canada	595	38.1	15.62
7	South Korea	553	51.2	10.8
8	Brazil	550	215	2.56
9	Germany	539	82.2	6.55
10	France	463	67.7	6.84
11	Saudi Arabia	317	36	8.81
12	United Kingdom	312	68.4	4.56
13	Indonesia	308	276	1.17
14	Italy	300	60	5
15	Mexico	296	127	2.33
16	Iran	280	83.3	3.36
17	Turkey	264	84	3.14
18	Taiwan	257	23.8 [15]	10.8
19	Spain	246	46.8	5.26
20	South Africa	233	60	3.88
21	Australia	225	26	8.65
22	Vietnam	220	100	2.2
23	Thailand	203	70	2.9
24	Malaysia	170	33.2	5.12
25	Egypt	168	105	1.6
26	Poland	156	37.5	4.17
27	Ukraine	154	43.2	3.56
28	Sweden	147	10.2	14.4
29	Argentina	138	46	3
30	United Arab Emirates	136	10.2	13.33
31	Norway	128	5.5	23.27
32	Pakistan	124	226	0.55
33	Netherlands	120	17.5	6.86
34	Belgium	98	11.8	8.33
35	Finland	90	5.6	16.03
36	Chile	84	19.2	4.38
37	Kazakhstan	75	18.7	4
38	Austria	73	9.1	8.02
39	Venezuela	72	28.1	2.56
40	Algeria	66	44	1.5
41	Switzerland	62	9.3	6.67
42	Israel	59	9.4	6.27
43	New Zealand	43	5	8.6
44	Denmark	35	5.8	6.02
45	Ireland	28	5.5	5.1

Consumption per capita

The final consumption divided by the number of inhabitants provides a country's consumption per capita. In Western Europe, this is between 4 and 8 MWh/year. ^[10] (1 MWh = 1,000 kWh) In Scandinavia, the United States, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom, the per capita consumption is higher; however, in developing countries, it is much lower. ^[10] The world's average was about 3 MWh/year in 2022. ^[10] Very low consumption levels, such as those in Philippines, not included in the table, indicate that many inhabitants are not connected to the electricity grid, and that is the reason why some of the world's most populous countries, incl. Nigeria and Bangladesh, do not appear in the table. ^[14]

Electricity generation and GDP

The table lists 30 countries, which represent about 76% of the world population, 84% of the world GDP, and 85% of the world electricity generation. ^{[10] [14] [16] [17]} Productivity per electricity generation (concept similar to energy intensity) can be measured by dividing GDP over the electricity generated. The data is from 2019. ^{[10] [14] [16] [17]}

Electricity Generation (2019) and GDP (PPP) (2019)

Country	Population, millions	rank*	GDP (PPP), billions (USD)	rank*	GDP (PPP) per capita	rank*	Electricity generation (GWh/yr)	rank*	GDP (PPP) /kWh*
China	1,407	1	$14,280	2	$10,149	15	7,503,428	1	$1.9
India	1,366	2	$2,871	6	$2,102	26	1,603,675	3	$1.8
USA	328	3	$21,433	1	$65,345	1	4,411,159	2	$4.9
Indonesia	270.6	4	$1,119	16	$4,135	20	278,942	17	$4.0
Brazil	211	6	$1,878	9	$8,900	18	626,328	7	$3.0
Pakistan	216.6	5	$279	26	$1,288	28	138,626	24	$2.0
Bangladesh	163	8	$302	25	$1,853	27	89,672	27	$3.4
Nigeria	201	7	$448	22	$2,229	25	33,552 [18]	28	$13.4
Russia	144	9	$1,687	11	$11,715	14	1,118,143	4	$1.5
Japan	126	11	$5,149	3	$40,865	7	1,030,286	5	$5.0
Mexico	127.6	10	$1,269	15	$9,945	16	322,584	13	$3.9
Philippines	108	13	$377	23	$3,491	21	106,041	26	$3.6
Vietnam	96.5	15	$262	27	$2,715	24	227,461	21	$1.2
Ethiopia	112	12	$96	29	$857	29	14,553 [19]	29	$6.6
Egypt	100.4	14	$303	24	$3,018	23	200,563	22	$1.5
Germany	83	18	$3,888	4	$46,843	4	609,406	8	$6.4
Turkey	83.5	17	$761	19	$9,114	17	303,898	15	$2.5
DR Congo	86.8	16	$50	30	$576	30	9,990 [20]	30	$5.0
Iran	83	19	$258	28	$3,108	22	318,696	14	$0.8
Thailand	69.6	20	$544	21	$7,816	19	186,503	23	$2.9
France	67.3	21	$2,729	7	$40,550	8	562,842	10	$4.8
UK	66.8	22	$2,879	5	$43,099	6	324,761	12	$8.9
Italy	59.7	23	$2,009	8	$33,652	9	293,853	16	$6.8
South Korea	51.7	24	$1,651	12	$31,934	10	585,301	9	$2.8
Spain	47.1	25	$1,393	13	$29,575	11	267,501	19	$5.2
Canada	37.6	26	$1,742	10	$46,330	5	648,676	6	$2.7
Saudi Arabia	34.3	27	$793	18	$23,120	13	343,661	11	$2.3
Taiwan	23.6 [15]	28	$605 [21]	20	$25,636	12	274,059	18	$2.2
Australia	25.4	29	$1,392	14	$54,803	2	265,901	20	$5.2
Netherlands	17.3	30	$910	17	$52,601	3	121,062	25	$7.5
World	7,683	—	$87,555	—	$11,395	—	27,044,191	—	$3.5
Population data is from the World Bank [14] GDP data is from the World Bank [16] Electricity data is from BP Global [17] rank* of Population, GDP, and Electricity generation are rankings within this list GDP (PPP) / kWh is the amount of GDP (PPP) (USD) produced per kilowatt-hour

Electricity consumption by sector

The table below lists the 15 countries with the highest final electricity consumption, which comprised more than 70% of the global consumption in 2022. ^[10]

Electricity Final Consumption by Sector (2022)

Country/ Geographical Region	Total (TWh)	Industry	Transport	Commercial /Public Services	Residential	Agriculture /Forestry	other
China	7,214	59.9%	2.4%	7.3%	16.4%	2.2%	11.8%
United States	4,272	19.9%	0.6%	35.2%	37.4%	2.1%	4.8%
India	1,403	37.7%	11.2%	7.8%	21.7%	15.9%	5.7%
Japan	1,132	37%	1.8%	33.7%	27.1%	0.3%	0.1%
Russia	934	44.8%	11.1%	20.4%	21.1%	2.5%	0.1%
Canada	595	35.9%	1.5%	28.1%	32.5%	2.0%	0%
South Korea	553	52.3%	0.6%	31.4%	12.7%	2.5%	0.5%
Brazil	550	38.3%	0.7%	27.3%	27.7%	6%	0%
Germany	539	44.8%	2.3%	26.4%	25.4%	1.1%	0%
France	463	26.9%	2.4%	31.5%	37%	1.9%	0.3%
Saudi Arabia	317	33.7%	3.9%	28.3%	25%	4.1%	5%
United Kingdom	312	18.3%	2.2%	38.2%	39.1%	2%	0.2%
Italy	300	30%	5%	32%	30%	1%	2%
Mexico	296	29%	4%	33%	30%	3%	1%
Iran	280	24%	6%	37%	25%	5%	3%
World	24,398	42.2%	1.8%	21.1%	26.8%	3.1%	5%

Electricity outlook

Looking forward, increasing energy efficiency will result in less electricity needed for a given demand in power, but demand will increase strongly on the account of: ^[22]

• Economic growth in developing countries, ^[22] and
• Electrification of transport and heating. Combustion engines are replaced by electric drive and for heating less gas and oil, but more electricity is used, if possible with heat pumps. ^[22]

As transport and heating become more climate-friendly, the environmental effect of energy consumption will be more determined by electricity. ^[22]

The International Energy Agency expects revisions of subsidies for fossil fuels which amounted to $550 billion in 2013, more than four times renewable energy subsidies. In this scenario, ^[23] almost half of the increase in 2040 of electricity consumption is covered by more than 80% growth of renewable energy. Many new nuclear plants will be constructed, mainly to replace old ones. The nuclear part of electricity generation will increase from 11 to 12%. The renewable part goes up much more, from 21 to 33%. The IEA warns that in order to restrict global warming to 2 °C, carbon dioxide emissions ^[24] must not exceed 1000 gigaton (Gt) from 2014. This limit is reached in 2040 and emissions will not drop to zero ever.

The World Energy Council ^[25] sees world electricity consumption increasing to more than 40,000 TWh/a in 2040. The fossil part of generation depends on energy policy. It can stay around 70% in the so-called Jazz scenario where countries rather independently "improvise" but it can also decrease to around 40% in the Symphony scenario if countries work "orchestrated" for more climate friendly policy. Carbon dioxide emissions, 32 Gt/a in 2012, will increase to 46 Gt/a in Jazz but decrease to 26 Gt/a in Symphony. Accordingly, until 2040 the renewable part of generation will stay at about 20% in Jazz but increase to about 45% in Symphony.

Artificial intelligence power demands

In 2024 demand for electricity, stagnant since 2004, began to surge and electric utilities raised their power-needed forecasts for 2028 by a factor of 100%. This is based on the projected number of new data centers to support the artificial intelligence (AI) escalation, a resurgence in US manufacturing, and the prospect of more electric vehicles. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, who monitors the health of the US energy grid, has reported that, if more electrical energy generation is not available soon, significant sections of the US could face blackouts. ^[26] The Boston Consulting Group has predicted that, by 2030, electricity demand for US data centers, specifically for AI, could triple. ^[27] The International Energy Agency’s forecast that carbon emissions would continue to decline remains in effect, as low carbon emission energy sources – wind, solar, nuclear and hydro - are projected to account for almost 50% of global power sources by 2026, up from 40% in 2023. ^[28]

In 2024, it remained uncertain precisely how much increased electrical power the AI data center technology might require, but there is general agreement in technology companies that AI data centers will require so much power “…they could strain the power grid and stymie the transition to cleaner energy sources.” There is a new data center constructed globally every three days. Many US utilities are considering construction of natural gas-powered facilities which can provide the reliable power that the AI centers need. Wind and solar, because of the unpredictability of weather, cannot provide that reliability. Large enough nuclear electrical power production facilities (only one is under construction in the US in 2024) remain expensive and time-intensive to construct. ^[29]

Consumer reaction

An EU survey conducted on climate and energy consumption in 2022 found that 63% of people in the European Union want energy costs to be dependent on use, with the greatest consumers paying more. This is compared to 83% in China, 63% in the UK and 57% in the US. ^{[30] [31]} 24% of Americans surveyed believing that people and businesses should do more to cut their own usage (compared to 20% in the UK, 19% in the EU, and 17% in China). ^{[32] [33]}

Nearly half of those polled in the European Union (47%) and the United Kingdom (45%) want their government to focus on the development of renewable energies. This is compared to 37% in both the United States and China when asked to list their priorities on energy. ^{[32] [34] [35]}

See also

• Electricity generation
• Electricity retailing
• Energy intensity by country
• List of countries by carbon dioxide emissions
• List of countries by electricity consumption
• List of countries by electricity production
• List of countries by energy consumption per capita
• List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions
• List of countries by renewable electricity production
• List of countries by total primary energy consumption and production
• World energy supply and consumption

References

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External links

• World Electricity production 2012
• World Map and Chart of Energy Consumption by country by Lebanese-economy-forum, World Bank data
• Electricity Information 2019 - IEA