Geography of world energy
Energy is the complex of industries that extract and process fuel and generate electricity. Among the biggest oil producers are the USA, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada and Iraq; a large share of oil reserves lies in the dozen or so OPEC members (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Venezuela, Nigeria and others). Natural gas is convenient: it is cheap, gives high heat and is cleaner than oil and coal; leading producers are the USA, Russia, Iran, China and Qatar. Gas is liquefied (compressed about 600 times) and shipped between continents by tanker: the main exporters are Qatar, the USA and Australia; the main buyers are Japan, the Republic of Korea, China and Europe. Coal is the oldest branch; China mines more than half the world’s coal, followed by India, Indonesia, the USA and Australia, and most coal is used where it is mined. In electricity generation China is first, followed by the USA and India. About 60 % of electricity comes from thermal stations (TPS), about 15 % from hydro (HPS), 9–10 % from nuclear (NPS) and the rest from solar, wind and other alternative sources; the share of solar and wind is growing fast. Hydropower stations are built on mountain rivers (Norway, Brazil; the world’s largest is Three Gorges in China). Nuclear plants work in more than 30 countries, and France gets the largest share of its electricity from nuclear power.
“Energy map”: on a blank map mark the biggest oil, gas and coal producers and OPEC regions with different symbols.