Browse by: "2007"

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico in 2005, the region’s oil production and refining infrastructure was devastated and world energy markets were disrupted. The International Energy Agency decided in a matter of days to bring 60 million barrels of additional oil to the market. The  emergency response system worked – the collective action helped to stabilise global markets. This book describes the oil emergency response systems of IEA countries and assesses how well prepared the IEA is to deal with an oil supply disruption.

This 2007 edition of the International Energy Agency's periodic review of Switzerland's energy policies and programmes takes an in-depth look at the energy challenges facing Switzerland and provides critiques and recommendations for policy improvements. It finds that Switzerland is entering decisive times in its energy policy. In 2008, the country should see remarkable advance in electricity market reform. Support for renewable electricity is set to increase massively. Decisions on post-Kyoto targets are getting closer, and a CO2 tax will be introduced for heating and process fuels. Plus, new measures to increase energy efficiency and the broader use of renewable energy are high on the political agenda. Since the last in-depth review in 2003, Switzerland has made progress in most areas of energy policy. Still, more work remains to be done. Maintaining sufficient electricity capacity implies even stronger policies to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources. Switzerland’s climate policy should focus more on reducing emissions from private car use, the largest and fastest-growing emitter. Switzerland’s world-class energy R&D is expected to more than halve energy needs per capita by the second half of this century. This ambitious goal needs to be supported by consistent policies on energy efficiency and climate change.

World leaders have pledged to act to change the energy future. Some new policies are in place. But the trends in energy demand, imports, coal use and greenhouse gas emissions to 2030 in this year’s World Energy Outlook are even worse than projected in WEO 2006.  China and India are the emerging giants of the world economy. Their unprecedented pace of economic development will require ever more energy, but it will transform living standards for billions. There can be no question of asking them selectively to curb growth so as to solve problems which are global. So how is the transition to be achieved to a more secure, lower-carbon energy system?  WEO 2007 provides the answers. With extensive statistics, projections in three scenarios, analysis and advice, it shows China, India and the rest of the world why we need to co-operate to change the energy future and how to do it.

The data in this book are designed to assist in understanding the evolution of the emissions of CO₂ from 1971 to 2005 for more than 140 countries and regions by sector and by fuel. Emissions were calculated using IEA energy databases and the default methods and emission factors from the Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.

To meet future energy demand growth and replace older or inefficient units, a large number of fossil fuel-fired plants will need to bebuilt worldwide in the next decade. Yet CO2 emissions from fossil-fired power generation are a major contributor to climate change. As a result, new plants must be designed and operated at highest efficiency. The case studies in this report respond to a request to the IEA from the G8 Summit in July 2005  to illustrate the degree of efficiency now achieved in modern plants in different parts of the world using various grades of fossil fuels. The plants were selected from different geographical areas, because local factors influence attainable efficiency.  The results of these analyses show that the technologies for high efficiency (low CO2 emissions) and very low conventional pollutant emissions (particulates, SO2, NOx) from fossil fuel-fired power generation are available now through PCC, IGCC or NGCC at a commercially acceptable cost.

Mind the Gap is an unprecedented attempt to quantify the size of one of the most pervasive barriers to energy efficiency – principal-agent problems, or in common parlance, variations on the ‘landlord-tenant’ problem. In doing so, the book provides energy analysts and economists with unique insights into the amount of energy affected by principal-agent problems. Using an innovative methodology applied to eight case studies (covering commercial and residential sectors, and end-use appliances) from five different IEA countries, the analysis identifies over 3 800 PJ/year of affected energy use – that is, around 85% of the annual energy use of a country the size of Spain. The book builds on these findings to suggest a range of possible policy solutions that can reduce the impact of principal-agent problems and help policy makers mind the energy efficiency gap.

This volume contains data on the supply and consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances, expressed in tonnes of oil equivalent for over 100 non-OECD countries. Historical tables summarise production, trade and final consumption data as well as key energy and economic indicators. This book includes definitions of products and flows, explanatory notes on the individual country data and conversion factors from original units to tonnes of oil equivalent. More detailed data in original units are published in Energy Statistics of Non-OECD Countries 2004-2005, the sister volume of this publication.

Coal Information brings together in one volume essential statistics on coal. It therefore provides a strong foundation for policy and market analysis. Part I of the publication provides a review of the world coal market in 2006, while Part II provides a statistical overview of developments, which covers world coal production and coal reserves, coal demand by type (hard, steam, coking), hard coal trade and hard coal prices. Part III provides, in tabular and graphic form, a more detailed and comprehensive statistical picture of historical and current coal developments in the 30 OECD member countries, by region and individually.  Part IV provides for selected non-OECD countries summary statistics on hard coal supply and end-use statistics for about 40 countries and regions worldwide. Complete coal balances and coal trade data for selected years are presented on 16 major non-OECD coal producing and consuming countries. 

A detailed reference work on gas supply and demand covering not only the OECD countries but also the rest of the world, this publication contains essential information on LNG and pipeline trade, gas reserves, storage capacity and prices.  The main part of the book, however, concentrates on OECD countries, showing a detailed supply and demand balance for each country and for the three OECD regions: North America, Europe and Pacific, as well as a breakdown of gas consumption by end-user. Import and export data are reported by source and destination.

This volume contains data on energy supply and consumption in original units for coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste for over 100 non-OECD countries. Historical tables summarise data on production, trade and final consumption. The book includes definition of products and flows and explanatory notes on the individual country data. In Energy Balances of Non-OECD Countries 2004-2005, the sister volume of this publication, the data are presented as comprehensive energy balances expressed in tonnes of oil equivalent.

Despite four years of high oil prices, this report sees increasing market tightness beyond 2010, with OPEC spare capacity declining to minimal levels by 2012. A stronger demand outlook, together with project slippage and geopolitical problems has led to downward revisions of OPEC spare capacity by 2 mb/d in 2009. Despite an increase in biofuels production and a bunching of supply projects over the next few years, OPEC spare capacity is expected to remain relatively constrained before 2009 when slowing upstream capacity growth and accelerating non-OECD demand once more pull it down to uncomfortably low levels...

Ireland’s remarkable economic growth over the last 15 years had strong effects on the energy sector. Due to rapidly increasing demand, Ireland has become much more dependent on international energy markets than it was in the past. This review analyses the energy challenges facing Ireland and suggests solutions, focusing on moving ahead with market reform and increasing the energy efficiency of the Irish economy. Establishing the “All-Island” electricity market will be of critical importance. Sharper focus on energy efficiency in all sectors of the economy, but in particular in transport and buildings, must be a priority. Finally, to achieve its ambitious goals for renewables in energy supply, Ireland will have to provide ample resources for research and development, to allow technologies such as ocean power to move from the laboratory to the market.

This volume contains data on the supply and consumption of coal, oil, gas, electricity, heat, renewables and waste presented as comprehensive energy balances expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent, to enable analysis across different types of energy.  Detailed tables cover2004 and 2005 for all OECD countries and related regions. Historical tables covering selected years from 1960 onwards summarise production, trade and final consumption data as well as key energy and economic indicators. The book also includes definitions of products and flows, explanatory notes on the individual country data and conversion factors from original units to tonnes of oil equivalent.  More detailed data in units related to each type of energy are published in Energy Statistics of OECD Countries 2004-2005, the sister volume of this publication.