Top 10 energy news of 2024

Here is my list of the most significant power and energy stories for 2024.

- Bienvenido S. Oplas Jr.

The first five are global and the next five are specific to the Philippines.

1. World coal consumption continues to rise. Despite the Paris Agreement in 2015 and prolonged global anti-coal campaigns, world coal consumption remains on an upward trend. According to the Statistical Review of World Energy released by the Energy Institute in June 2024, global coal consumption increased from 113.4 exajoules (EJ) in 2003 to 157.2 EJ in 2015 and further to 164 EJ in 2023. (Note: 1 EJ = 277.78 TWh of electricity)

2. Same trend of rising global consumption of oil and gas. Oil consumption grew from 160.5 EJ in 2003 to 183.5 EJ in 2015 to 196.4 EJ in 2023. In terms of million barrels per day, usage rose from 79.9 mbpd in 2003 to 92.8 mbpd in 2015, and to 100.2 mbpd in 2023. Natural gas consumption increased from 90.6 EJ in 2003 to 125.1 EJ in 2015 and to 144.4 EJ in 2023.

3. Nuclear energy consumption is flat; solar and wind are rising but insignificant. Global nuclear use is generally flat from 26.5 EJ in 2003, 23.4 EJ in 2013 and 24.6 EJ in 2023. Solar increased from 1.4 EJ in 2013 to 15.4 EJ in 2023; wind increased from 6.2 EJ in 2013 to 21.8 EJ in 2023. But such expansion in solar and wind is simply add-on, not substitution, to continued use of coal and hydrocarbons gas and oil.