Making the most of the world's energy resources

New research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) reveals that global energy demand is on a path to grow by 2.2 percent a year over the next 15 years.
MGI's analysis also highlights a number of substantial, economically viable, and technologically proven opportunities to boost energy productivity and to slow growth in demand.
To capture these opportunities, it will be necessary to remove existing policy distortions, to make the pricing and use of energy more transparent, and to deploy demand-side energy policies (such as building codes and efficiency standards) selectively.
Taking these steps will require political will. But the prize—less pressure on global energy supplies—will make the effort worthwhile.

Exhibit 1: Improvements in annual worldwide energy productivity should continue over the next decade and a half.
Exhibit 2: Developing countries—particularly China and those in the Arab Gulf—will drive energy demand growth through 2020.
Exhibit 3: Conventional technologies with an internal rate of return of 10 percent or more offer tremendous opportunities for improving productivity.
Sidebar 1, exhibit: Global energy demand may grow by 2.2 percent annually until 2020.
Sidebar 2, exhibit: Consumers (as opposed to industrial users) represented more than 50 percent of total energy demand.