Primary energy consumption in selected EU Countries compared to global trends

Abstract

Abstract The article shows the consumption of primary energy carriers in selected European Union (EU) countries, including Poland. The trend of consumption of primary energy carriers was compared with the global trend, which is different from that observed in the EU. The consumption of primary energy sources has been increasing steadily for many decades, due to the growth of the world population and the aspirations of developing countries to raise the standard of living of their citizens. In the EU, the opposite trend, i.e., a decrease in primary energy consumption, has been observed since 2007. This article presents tables and graphs showing these phenomena. The authors tried to answer the following questions: (a) What influences the decrease in demand for primary energy in highly developed countries? (b) Why the demand in less-developed countries is constantly growing? The trends in countries, such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Poland, i.e., countries with the most developed economies in the EU and the home country of the authors, were analyzed.