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PARIS, France, August 10, 2005 (Refocus
Weekly)
Five countries in the world obtain more than half
of their renewable energy from non-hydro and non-biomass
technologies.
Israel leads the world with 98.4% of its renewable energy coming
from solar, wind, geothermal or tidal energy, according to the
latest analysis from the International Energy Agency. The country’s
total primary energy supply (TPES) in 2003 was 21 million tonnes of
oil equivalent (Mtoe), of which renewables supplied 0.7 Mtoe for a
total share of 3.4%. While 0.4% of this renewable energy came from
hydro and 1.3% from combustible renewables and waste, the vast
majority came from emerging technologies.
Jordan was in second place, with 90.6% of its 0.1 Mtoe of renewables
coming from emerging technologies, while Cyprus was 80.6%, Iceland
75.1% and Costa Rica obtained 50.2% of its renewable energy from
emerging technologies.
When hydro and biomass are included in the ranking, the top five
countries are Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia and Nepal, all of
which derived more than 90% of their TPES from mainly conventional
biomass, but none of which had any emerging green technologies.
‘Renewables Information 2005' is the fourth edition of an annual IEA
publication to provide market information on renewable energy to
policy and market analysts. It covers production, trade,
transformation to electricity and heat, final consumption and
installed generating capacity from renewables, with a statistical
overview of developments in the markets for renewables in OECD
member countries and selected indicators for non-OECD countries.
The 13.3% share of renewables of global TPES compares with a share
of 34.4% for oil, 24.4% for coal, 21.2% for natural gas and 6.5% for
nuclear. IEA does not include industrial or municipal waste as a
renewable energy.
“Due to its widespread non-commercial use in developing countries,
solid biomass is by far the largest renewable energy source,
representing 10.3% of world TPES, or 77.5% of global renewables
supply,” it explains. Hydro power provides 2.2% of global TPES, or
16.2% of renewables, with geothermal in third spot with 0.4% of
world TPES, or 3.1% of renewable supply. The contribution of solar,
wind and tide is less than 0.1% of world TPES, or 0.7% of renewables
supply.
Since 1990, renewables have grown at an average annual rate of 1.8%,
slightly higher than the growth rate of world TPES of 1.6% per
annum. “Growth has been especially high for wind power, which grew
at an average annual rate of 23.9%” although the very low base in
1990 means that production remains small. OECD countries account for
most of the production and growth of solar and wind energy. Solid
biomass and hydro, the two largest contributors to renewable energy
in the world, have experienced the slowest growth among renewable
energy sources at 1.6% per annum.
Across Africa, renewables provided 50.1% of the continent’s TPES in
2003, with biomass contributing 97.1% of the 280 Mtoe of total
renewables. In Asia, 32.7% of the continent’s TPES comes from
renewables while the share is 29.2% in Latin America and 17.1% in
China. Among members of the OECD, the share of renewables is 5.6%
(305 Mtoe of total TPES of 5,295 Mtoe), of which biomass contributes
53.3%, hydro is 35.1% and emerging renewables contribute 11.7% of
the total for renewables.
Across the world, renewables provide 13.3% (1,404 of total TPES of
10,579 Mtoe), with biomass the major contributor to renewables at
80%, 16.2% from hydro and 3.8% from emerging renewable energy
technologies.
Among the 135 countries examined in the IEA report, the U.S.
obtained 4.2% of its TPES from all renewables in 2003, Britain was
1.3%, Japan 3.5%, Germany 3.2%, Spain 6.8%, France 6%, Italy 5.6%,
Netherlands 1.7%, Denmark 12.1%, Australia 5.7%, New Zealand 27.9%
and Canada 15.6%.
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