Energy consumption composition: U.S. vs. China and India and climate debate part 1

On 1st June of 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord (PCA) portraying the deal to be an unfair one American people and American workers. There has been a furor among global media of the President’s decision as well as from global leaders many of whom like the newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron spoken publicly against the decision.

One of the key arguments of the United States has been that while the United States would have to put restrictions on the use of conventional fuels like coal, oil, etc., countries like India and China would have to abide by no commitments for many years to come. So, in this article, we try to see how big is the issue of United States’ use of coal and oil or other fossil fuels compared to India and China.

A simple analysis of the data from British Petroleum strongly suggests that the United States does have a point, especially in the case of China. Both China and India consume more coal fed energy compared to the United States. While the United States has not made any groundbreaking breakthrough in terms of use of renewables, more than 30 percent of its energy need comes from natural gas, which is considered as the cleanest of all conventional fossil fuels. Only 15 percent of the energy need of the United States comes from coal. Compared to that China’s more than 60 percent of energy need comes from coal, which is considered as the worst polluter among conventional fossil fuels. Moreover, China has surpassed the United States in terms of energy consumption.