Main Features

Abstract

The main features of the Asia energy development approach may be summarized as below: (1) As an important part of the world, the development tendency should be almost identical to that of the whole world. Figure 3.1 presents the changes in the world primary energy structure during the 1850–2007 period and estimation for 2050. It is clear that the 20th century is a fossil energy century for the whole world. Recently, the world primary energy structure is 86.8% fossil energy (petroleum 36.6%, dry natural gas 23%, coal 27.2%), hydro electric power 6.33%, nuclear electric power 5.91%, others 1.01%(Figure 2.11). For Asia fossil energy is 91.5%(petroleum 31.7%, dry natural gas 22.3%, coal 37.5%), hydro electric power 4.93%, nuclear electric power 3.2%, others 0.4%(Figure 2.12). The Asia fossil energy percentage is 5% higher, coal percentage is 10% higher, while the hydro and nuclear power are 4% lower than those of the whole world. So the pollution and climate change problems caused by energy consumption alone are more serious in Asia, and such, the needs for energy structure change to establish a future energy sustainable system is more urgent in Asia.