Electric energy consumption

Electric energy is most often measured either in joules (J), or in watt hours (W·h) representing a constant power over a period of time.[5]

1 W·s = 1 J

1 W·h = 3600 W·s = 3600 J

Electric and electronic devices consume electric energy to generate desired output (i.e., light, heat, motion, etc.). During operation, some part of the energy is lost depending on the electrical efficiency.[6]

Electricity has been generated in power stations since 1882.[7] The invention of the steam turbine in 1884 to drive the electric generator led to an increase in worldwide electricity consumption.[8]

In 2019, total worldwide electricity production was nearly 27,044 TWh.[9] Total primary energy is converted into numerous forms, including, but not limited to, electricity, heat, and natural gas.[10] Some primary energy is lost during the conversion to electricity, as seen in the United States, where 61% was lost in 2019.[10]

Electricity accounted for 19.7% of worldwide final energy consumption in 2019, while oil was 40.4%, coal was 9.5%, natural gas was 16.4%, biofuels and waste were 10.4%, and other sources (i.e., heat, solar thermal, and geothermal) were 3.6%.[11] Total final electricity consumption in 2019 was split unevenly between the following sectors: industry (41.9%), residential (26.6%), commercial and public services (21.2%), transport (1.8%), and other (8.5%; i.e., agriculture and fishing).[11] Since 1973, final electricity consumption has decreased in the industrial and transport sectors and increased in the residential, commercial and public services sectors.[11]

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.[12] 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.[12]

The table lists 37 electricity consuming countries, which used 20,366 TWh. These countries comprised 89% of the final consumption of 190+ countries. Final consumption to generate this electricity is provided per country. The data is from 2019.[9][13]

Rank	Country	Final Consumption (TWh)	Population (millions)	Per Capita Consumption (MWh)
—	WORLD	22,848	7,683	2.97
1	China	6,523	1,407	4.64
2	United States	3,830	328	11.68
4	Japan	928	126	7.37
5	Russia	756	144	5.25
3	India	1,311	1,366	0.96
6	Canada	529	37.6	14.07
13	Mexico	280	127	2.20
8	Brazil	513	211	2.43
27	Argentina	126	44.9	2.81
36	Venezuela	56	28.5	1.96
9	Germany	499	83.1	6.00
10	France	432	67.2	6.43
11	United Kingdom	295	66.8	4.42
12	Italy	291	59.7	4.87
18	Spain	234	47.1	4.97
29	Ukraine	117	44.4	2.64
25	Poland	140	38.0	3.68
28	Sweden	125	10.3	12.14
30	Norway	116	5.3	21.89
32	Netherlands	110	17.3	6.36
33	Belgium	82	11.5	7.13
34	Finland	82	5.5	14.91
16	Turkey	253	83.4	3.03
26	United Arab Emirates	126	9.8	12.86
7	South Korea	524	51.7	10.13
17	Taiwan	246	23.6[14]	10.42
14	Iran	261	82.9	3.14
15	Indonesia	260	270.6	0.96
21	Thailand	193	69.6	2.77
23	Malaysia	159	31.9	4.98
20	Vietnam	209	96.5	2.17
35	Kazakhstan	72	18.5	3.89
31	Pakistan	114	216.6	0.53
19	Australia	215	25.4	8.46
22	South Africa	187	58.6	3.19
24	Egypt	156	100	1.56
37	Iceland	18	0.36	50.0

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.[9][13][15][16] Productivity per electricity generation (concept similar to energy intensity) can be measured by dividing GDP over the electricity generated. The data is from 2019.[9][13][15][16]

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[17]	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[18]	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[19]	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[14]	28	$605[20]	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[13] GDP data is from the World Bank[15] Electricity data is from BP Global[16] 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

The table lists the 10 countries with the highest final electricity consumption.[9] These 10 countries comprised 69% of the final consumption in the world.[9] The data is from 2019.[9]

Electricity Final Consumption by Sector (2019)

Country/ Geographical Region	Total (TWh)	Industry	Transport	Commercial /Public Services	Residential	Agriculture /Forestry	other
China	6,523	59.7%	2.50%	7.4%	16.4%	2.0%	11.9%
India	1,311	37.5%	11.40%	7.7%	21.8%	15.7%	5.9%
USA	3,830	19.6%	0.40%	35.6%	37.5%	2.0%	5.0%
Brazil	513	38.1%	0.61%	27.5%	27.8%	6.1%	0.00%
Russia	756	45.1%	10.80%	20.2%	21.3%	2.6%	0.04%
Japan	928	36.93%	1.89%	33.9%	27.0%	0.26%	0.04%
Germany	499	44.74%	2.32%	26.5%	25.3%	1.1%	0.00%
France	432	26.76%	2.34%	31.7%	37.0%	1.9%	0.27%
South Korea	524	52.04%	0.59%	31.2%	12.9%	2.7%	0.58%
Canada	529	35.7%	1.45%	28.3%	32.5%	2.0%	0.00%
World	22,848	41.9%	1.80%	21.2%	26.6%	3.3%	5.2%

In 2019, OECD's final electricity consumption was 9,672 TWh.[4] The industrial sector consumed 41.9% of the electricity, the residential sector consumed 26.6%, the commercial and public services sectors consumed 21.2%, the transport sector consumed 1.8%, and the other sectors (e.g., agriculture and fishing) consumed 8.5%.[11] In recent decades, consumption in the residential and commercial and public services sectors have grown, while industry consumption has declined.[4] More recently, the transport sector has witnessed an increase in consumption with the growth in the electric vehicle market.[4]

The IEA reported a total world final electricity consumption in 2017 of 21,539 TWh and 22,472 TWh in 2018.[9] The final electricity consumption of the OECD countries in 2017 was 9,612 TWh and 9,780 TWh in 2018.[9] This compares to electricity production in the OECD countries of 11,148 TWh in 2017 and 11,348 TWh in 2018.[9] The final electricity consumption of the non-OECD countries in 2017 was 11,927 TWh and 12,692 TWh in 2018.[9] The share of the gross electric production by source is summarized in the following table for the available assessment in the years 2017 or 2018.[9]

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:[21]

• Economic growth in developing countries,[21] 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.[21]

As transport and heating become more climate-friendly, the environmental effect of energy consumption will be more determined by electricity.[21]

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,[22] 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[23] 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[24] 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.

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