Top 10 countries for energy consumption and CO2 emissions
We are in a time where the climate change and the energy crisis are central topics in the world. The main reason for this is that the main energy source in the world are fossil fuels. But why are fossil fuels the problem? First, combustion of fossil fuels produce big amounts of CO2 and CO2 is a green house gas that makes the earth to warm up. The concentration of CO2 has grown so quickly in the last century that it is causing rapidly that the average global temperature to increase, which produces the climate to change very fast. And this is going to provoque massive extinctions, many costal regions are going to disappear and food production could be terribly affected. Second, fossil fuels are limited and the world is consuming all of them quickly. If there is not an alternative energy source the world in some decades is not going to produce enough energy to satisfy its demand and it is going to face the biggest economical and political crisis in history. The crisis is going to be so bad that million could die and even a new world war could occur for the control of energy resources.
Therefore, the main problem today is to transition the world to a sustainable energy source and consumption. But to make the transition to sustainable energy effective and fast the countries with highest energy consumption and CO2 production need to have a relevant role in this. In the next, table you can observe the countries with highest CO2 emissions in 2013 based on World Bank data:
The next table shows the countries with highest primary energy consumption in 2013:
Definitions
Primary Energy: Energy commodities are either extracted or captured directly from natural resources (and are termed primary) such as crude oil, hard coal, natural gas, or are produced from primary commodities.
Secondary Energy: Secondary energy comes from the transformation of primary or secondary energy.
Energy unit Mtoe = Million tons of oil equivalent
1 Mtoe = 11,63 TWh
Data explanation
Table 1 World Bank
CO2 emissions: Carbon dioxide emissions are those stemming from the burning of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement. They include carbon dioxide produced during consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring.
Table 2 World Bank
Energy use or consumption: Energy use refers to use of primary energy before transformation to other end-use fuels (such as electricity and refined petroleum products), which is equal to indigenous production plus imports and stock changes, minus exports and fuels supplied to ships and aircraft engaged in international transport.
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