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9/20/11 (AEIN) The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced on Monday that it foresees a fifty-three percent increase in global energy consumption by 2035. It also made predictions with regard to the energy usage of individual major countries, the methods of energy production and the consumption of specific fuels.
The EIA's report stated that approximately half of the rise in consumption will come from China and India. The predictions also call for China to consume an amount of energy almost seven-tenths greater than that of the United States during the year 2035. The Chinese per-capita level of consumption would still remain lower.
The report pointed to economic growth in the two large Asian countries, remarking that they were not harmed by the global recession to the same extent as other nations. The EIA predictions call for Chinese and Indian energy use to rise from twenty-one percent of global consumption in 2008 to thirty-one percent in 2035.
The administration also predicted that renewable sources (solar, hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, etc) will expand from eight percent of the global supply to fifteen percent in 2035. The report states that fossil fuels will only decrease to seventy-eight percent of the world energy supply during the same number of years.
In perhaps its most controversial prediction, the EIA report suggests that oil will cost $125 dollars/barrel in twenty-three years. It also noted that the increase in petroleum production would not keep up with the rise in demand. However, it forecast significant increases in the use of coal, oil sands, biofuels and natural gas.
While such predictions can take into account the current trends in demand, production and population growth, they cannot foresee events such as natural disasters and wars. Also, trends such as the widespread use of sport-utility vehicles or rechargeable handheld gadgets can unexpectedly reverse previous gains in efficiency.