Global Demand Projections for Renewable Energy Resources

In this study a series of simulations were developed that aimed to predict future global energy usage by category, given parameters for the availability and exploitation rate of available individual energy sources. This system of simulations was used to predict the trend of global demand for renewable energy sources in multiple scenarios, including those where coal production increases without ecologically motivated constraint, in addition to scenarios where coal production is frozen at year 2000 levels in order to approximate universal Kyoto adherence. All simulations were based on energy availability and consumption data from organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Statistics Canada (StatsCan), and prove consistent to within two percent of US DOE total global consumption projections [1] to beyond 2030. The significance of the projections are that they show an immediate and growing need to rapidly add renewable energy resources to global generating capacity, even in the scenario where coal fuel is burned at ever increasing rates.