Saturday, September 18, 2010

World's top 15 electricity producers... Rediff.com

The world is already in the grip of a major power crisis. With the developing nations' appetite and demand for more energy, the situation is likely to get even worse if steps are not taken to find alternate and clean/green sources of energy.

Almost all natural resources that are used to generate power -- oil, gas, even water -- seem to have limited availability. Thus alternative sources of energy -- wind, nuclear, solar -- might be the way out for the developing as also the rich countries.

After the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, many nations pledged to reduce their carbon emissions. Developing countries, including India and China, believe it is the responsibility of wealthy industrialised nations such as the United Kingdom and the United States to cut more carbon emissions as they have already achieved a certain standard of living.

As India and China, and indeed other nations, grow towards attaining better lifestyles and living conditions for their populations, their appetite for electricity will only rise further.

The total electricity production in the world in 2008 stood at 19,950,3917,395,212 kWh (kWh, or kilowatt hour, is a unit of energy equal to 1,000 watt hours), while the total power consumption was 17,109,665,000 gigawatt hours. The per capita power consumption in the world was 297 watts: almost six times the Indian average.

So which are the world's largest producers and consumers of electricity?

1. The United States of America
2. China
3. Japan
4. Russia
5. India
6. Canada
7. Germany
8. France
9. Brazil
10. South Korea
11. The United kingdom
12. Italy
13. Spain
14. Australia
15. Mexico

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