Solar Power Rapidly Expands, But So Does Oil Use, in New World Energy Outlook

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Solar power will surge globally in the coming decades, but oil demand will also continue to grow, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.

Solar power will surge globally in the coming decades, but oil demand will also continue to grow, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency.

The IEA’s 2017 World Energy Outlook finds that global energy markets will be shaped by four major trends over the next three decades: The United States will become the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas; renewable energy, led by a major expansion of solar power in China and India, will experience rapid growth; the share of electricity — and electric vehicles — in the energy mix will expand; and China’s continuing economic expansion will increasingly be fueled by clean energy.

“Solar is forging ahead in global power markets as it becomes the cheapest source of electricity generation in many places,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA. “Electric vehicles are in the fast lane as a result of government support and declining battery costs, but it is far too early to write the obituary of oil as growth for trucks, aviation, petrochemicals, shipping, and aviation keep pushing demand higher.”

Read more at Yale Environment 360