Global news: IEA report forecasts the future of energy

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The International Energy Agency (IEA) published the World Energy Outlook last week which outlined future energy trends.

The report highlighted that by 2035, global energy efficiency measures can save up to one fifth of global demand in 2010.

Global demand is set to skyrocket by more than a third to 2035. The growth mainly stems from development in China, India and the Middle East and demand in the OECD is barely set to rise. The report suggests that fossil fuels will retain a prominent position in the energy field, thanks to subsidies that are increasing in areas like the Middle East and North Africa.

The report also highlight the growth in oil and natural gas, with North America appearing as a oil exporter and an exporter of natural gas by 2020 bolstered by deep oil supplies and unconventional oil including shale gas and shale oil (from fracking). North America is set to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil exporter by 2017. The use of carbon-heavy fuels could spell trouble for global efforts to curb climate change.

Speaking to the Guardian, chief economist at the IEA, Fatih Birol, said climate change is barely featuring on the radar in the United States and will have little impact on energy investors.

Although the prospect of 'energy independence' will reduce North America's reliance on politically unstable regions in the Middle East, it may not lead to greater security, says Ed Matthew, from British thinktank Transform UK. "Energy independence will not increase national security in the US if it leads to runaway climate change. Ultimately the majority of fossil fuel reserves will need to be left in the ground. The US is a hotbed of technological innovation. It must use this creative muscle to develop a low-cost, clean energy revolution. It will only achieve this if the massive vested interests of the American oil industry are brought under democratic control," he said, speaking to the Guardian.

Asia will be a large consumer of oil, and will account for some 90% of oil exports from the Middle East by 2035. Iraq will overtake Russia as the second largest global oil exporter by 2035.

The future also sees renewable taking a more prominent place in the energy portfoilio as the second largest source of power generation by 2015, and nipping on the heels of coal usage by 2035. Global subsidies for renewable increased by 30% in 2011 to a total of $523 billion, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. Following the nuclear scare at Fukushima, nuclear has been scaled back globally, but seems set to roll out particularly in China, Korea, Russia and India. India and China will also be the major consumers of global coal and will increase demand by 21%.