According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China is now the world’s largest energy consumer. With annual growth levels surpassing 10 percent – even after the government has implemented measures to ease expansion – demand for energy in China is expected to continue to grow while usage in western countries is waning.
“As China overtakes the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer, it is not only a domestic issue for China, but has repercussions for the rest of the world not only in supply terms, but also in how the energy is consumed,†IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said yesterday in an interview in Paris. “If China uses electric cars, hybrids and so on, they will impose the manufacturing line on most of the rest of the world.â€
Source: Bloomberg
