Primary energy

For other uses, see PE.

World total primary energy consumption by type in 2020[1]

  Oil (31.2%)
  Coal (27.2%)
  Natural Gas (24.7%)
  Hydro (renewables) (6.9%)
  Nuclear (4.3%)
  Others (renewables) (5.7%)

World total primary energy supply of 162,494 TWh (or 13,792 Mtoe) by region in 2017 (IEA, 2019)[2]

  OECD (38%)
  Middle East (5.4%)
  Non-OECD Europe /Eurasia (8.0%)
  China (22%)
  Non-OECD Asia (w/o China) (13.4%)
  Non-OECD Americas (4.4%)
  Africa (5.8%)
  Bunkers (marine/air) (3%)

Primary energy (PE) is the energy found in nature that has not been subjected to any human engineered conversion process. It encompasses energy contained in raw fuels and other forms of energy, including waste, received as input to a system. Primary energy can be non-renewable or renewable.

Total primary energy supply (TPES) is the sum of production and imports, plus or minus stock changes, minus exports and international bunker storage.[3] The International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) prefers total energy supply (TES) to refer to this indicator.[4] These expressions are often used to describe the total energy supply of a national territory.

Secondary energy is a carrier of energy, such as electricity. These are produced by conversion from a primary energy source.

Primary energy is used as a measure in energy statistics in the compilation of energy balances,[5] as well as in the field of energetics. In energetics, a primary energy source (PES) refers to the energy forms required by the energy sector to generate the supply of energy carriers used by human society.[6] Primary energy only counts raw energy and not usable energy and fails to account well for energy losses, particularly the large losses in thermal sources. It therefore generally grossly undercounts non thermal renewable energy sources .

  1. ^ "Statistical Review of World Energy (2021)" (PDF). p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  2. ^ "2019 Key World Energy Statistics" (PDF). IEA. 2019.
  3. ^ OECD (2012). OECD Factbook 2013: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. OECD Factbook. OECD Publishing. p. 108. doi:10.1787/factbook-2013-en. ISBN 9789264177062. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  4. ^ Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2018). International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (PDF). New York: United Nations. p. 105,137.
  5. ^ "Primary energy". Glossary. Washington, DC: U.S. Energy Information Agency. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  6. ^ Giampietro, Mario; Mayumi, Kozo (2009). The Biofuel Delusion: The Fallacy of Large Scale Agro-Biofuels Production. Earthscan, Taylor & Francis group. p. 336. ISBN 978-1-84407-681-9.