Nuclear power supports a very small fraction of the world energy needs
Answers
World Energy Needs and Nuclear Power(Updated November 2018)
The world will need significantly increased energy supply in the future, especially cleanly-generated electricity.
Electricity demand is increasing about twice as fast as overall energy use and is likely to rise by more than half to 2040.
Nuclear power provides over 10% of the world's electricity, and 18% of electricity in OECD countries.
Almost all reports on future energy supply from major organisations suggest an increasing role for nuclear power as an environmentally benign way of producing reliable electricity on a large scale.
Growth in the world's population and economy, coupled with rapid urbanisation, will result in a substantial increase in energy demand over the coming years. The United Nations (UN) estimates that the world's population will grow from 7.6 billion in 2017 to 9.8 billion by 2050. The process of urbanisation – which currently adds a city the size of Shanghai to the world's urban population every four months or so – will result in approximately two-thirds of the world's people living in urban areas by 2050 (up from 54% in 2014). The challenge of meeting rapidly growing energy demand, whilst reducing harmful emissions of greenhouse gases, is very significant and proving challenging. In 2017 global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide rose by 1.4%, the largest annual rise ever recorded.Electricity demand growth has outpaced growth in final energy demand for many years. Increased electrification of end-uses – such as transport, space cooling, large appliances, ICT, and others – are key contributors to rising electricity demand. The number of people without access to electricity has fallen substantially; in 2016, the EIA estimates 1.1 billion people were living without access, with nearly 1.2 billion having gained access since 2000. However, despite this significant progress, 14% of the world's population still lacks access, mostly in rural areas.Aside from the challenges of meeting increasing demand and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cleaner air is a vital need. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the world's largest environmental risk. WHO estimates that in 2012, about seven million people died prematurely as a result of air pollution, many of these either from industrial sources such as power generation or from indoor air pollution which could be averted by electricity use.Studies have repeatedly shown that nuclear energy is a low-emitting source of electricity production in general. It is also specifically low-carbon; emitting among the lowest amount of carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of energy produced when considering total life-cycle emissions. It is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity production globally (after hydropower), and provided over 30% of all low-carbon electricity generated in 2016. Almost all reports on future energy supply from major organisations suggest an expanded role for nuclear power is required, alongside growth in other forms of low-carbon power generation, to create a sustainable future energy system