Energy outlook to 2010 : Asia-Pacific demand, supply, and climate change implications

Abstract

The demand for energy is growing faster in the Asia-Pacific region than anywhere else in the world, driven by the region's rapid economic growth and increasing population. Faced with booming electricity needs but fearful of environmental pollution from coal and oil, countries are looking to other energy sources such as natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy such as hydropower and geothermal. Government and industry projections for some of these are ambitious and may not be met. Meanwhile, the region's dependence upon imported oil, primarily from the Middle East, will grow. Coal, already used more in the Asia-Pacific region than elsewhere, may increasingly be used to generate electricity. Plans for shifting to less polluting fuels may not materialize, with serious implications for the world's climate. Indeed, projections for fossil and nonfossil fuel use through 2010 indicate that without a dramatic increase in the use of clean technologies, promises to stabilize or reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2 will be almost impossible to keep.