This article is a guest contribution by Marin Katusa of Casey's Energy Opportunities.
China Is Winning the Energy Race
Stop the presses. The United States is no longer the worldâs biggest consumer of energy.
After topping the energy consumption charts for more than a century, the U.S. has been left behind as China leapfrogged past. According to the International Energy Associationâs (IEA) latest report, China burned its way through 2,252 million tonnes of oil equivalent last year â about 4% more than the U.S.
(The oil-equivalent measure is a bundle of all forms of energy consumed, including crude, coal, nuclear, natural gas, and renewable resources.)
Thatâs an astonishing turnaround, according to IEA chief economist Fatih Birol, who noted that as recently as 2000, the U.S. consumed twice as much energy as China.
Energy Consumption Trends of China and the United States 1965 â 2009
Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2010
Itâs no longer 1973, when President Nixon could declare that our status as top energy consumer was âgood. That means we are the richest, strongest people in the world.â Today, bragging about winning the energy-eating competition doesnât gain you any brownie points. Which is probably why Chinese authorities were quick to reject the IEA data as âunreliable,â choosing instead to focus on their intention to sink about 5 trillion RMB (about US$750 billion) into renewable energy projects.
Despite the denials, a new age in the history of energy has begun, and the implications are enormous. China may not want to accept the honors, but the reality is that itâs now the most important player on energyâs demand side.
According to the IEA report, China will be investing more than $4 trillion over the next 20 years to ensure there are no power or fuel shortages, and that there is enough energy to keep feeding its economy. Thus the ever-increasing number of ships steaming out from Canadian and Australian ports: all are bound for Beijing, all loaded with precious energy supplies.
