Just because we source more of our energy from sources other than fossil fuels, does not mean we bring down our consumption of them

A World Bank data set shows that the world has gone from 94 % of all energy being sourced from fossil fuels in 1960, to 80 % in 2015, in the world as a whole. 

While that is great, the world consumed 40,900 TerraWatt Hours (TWh) equivalent of fossil fuels in 1965. This shot up to 131,100 TWh in 2015, an increase of more than three times. So what we have to really look for is countries that reduced their consumption of fossil fuels.

• Sweden sourced just 27 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 75 % in 1960 (it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 20 % from 1965 to 2015).
• The Czech Republic sourced 76 % of its electricity from fossil fuels in 2015 (it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 19 % from 1965 to 2015).
• Denmark sourced 66 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 100 % in 1960 (what is commendable is that it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 11 % from 1965 to 2015). 
• Germany sourced 80 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015, compared with 99 % in 1960 (but it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 2 % from 1965 to 2015).
• France went from sourcing 96 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 1960 to 47 % in 2015 (but it also increased its fossil fuel consumption by 21 % from 1965 to 2015).
• Estonia sourced just 12 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015 !
• Belgium sourced 76 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 100 % in 1960 (but in another dataset from 1965 to 2015, it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 25 % in that period). 
• Switzerland sourced half its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared with 75 % in 1960 (but it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 44 % between 1965 and 2015).
• The US sourced 96 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 1960 compared to 83 % in 2015 (however it increased its use of fossil fuels by 60 % between 1965 and 2015).
• Finland sourced 40 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015 compared with 45 % in 1960 (however it nearly doubled its use of fossil fuels from 1965 to 2015).
• Austria sourced 66 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015, compared to 84 % in 1960 (however it nearly doubled its use of fossil fuels from 1965 to 2015).
• Even bad boy Canada (for its shale oil !) has gone to sourcing 74 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015, compared to 83 % in 1960 (sadly, it increased its use of fossil fuels by nearly 2.5 times from 1965 to 2015).
• Chile sourced 73 % of its electricity from fossil fuels in 2015 (but its use of fossil fuels went up nearly 4 times from 1965 to 2015).

Some countries went the other way though - they sourced more of their energy needs from fossil fuels in recent years than they did decades ago :

• India went from 35 % of its energy needs sourced from fossil fuels in 1971 to 74 % in 2014.
• China went from 56 % of its energy needs sourced from fossil fuels in 1971 to 88 % in 2014.

Fossil Fuel Production - and Consumption climbed dramatically - but some countries reduced their consumption !

The 20th century saw a large diversification of fossil energy consumption, with coal declining from 96 percent of total production in 1900 to less than 30 percent in 2000. Today, crude oil is the largest energy source, accounting for around 39 percent of fossil energy, followed by coal and natural gas at 33 and 28 percent, respectively.

The world's total production of fossil fuels grew from 54,000 Terrawatt Hours (TWh) in 1970 to 130,000 TWh in 2014 : 

• India's production of fossil fuels climbed in the same period from 600 to 3900 TWh. 
• Australia has a similar trajectory of 500 TWh in 1970 to 3900 TWh in 2014.
• Indonesia's production went up from 500 to 4700 TWh in 2014. 
• Iran's production went up from 2400 to 3900 TWh in 2014.
• And that of the US from 16000 TWh in 1970 to 21,000 TWh in 2014. 
• Russia moved from 9800 TWh in 1970 to 14800 in 2014. 
• China moved from 2400 TWh in 1970 to 22900 TWh in 2014. 
• Saudi Arabia was a real surprise - its production in 2014 was about double that of India at 8000 TWh, up from 2200 TWh in 1970.
• Canada from 1600 TWh in 1970 to 4600 TWh in 2014.  
• Qatar went from 200 TWh to 3000 TWh in 2014.
• UAE went from less than 500 TWh in 1970 to 2700 TWh in 2014.

Total consumption levels of fossil fuels in higher-income countries have typically peaked, and are now declining as they transition towards lower-carbon energy sources. For example, the United Kingdom's total fossil fuel consumption is at its lowest level in the last 50 years. In many lower-income countries, total consumption of fossil fuels continues to increase as a result of both population growth and rising incomes (resulting in higher per capita energy demands). Global fossil fuel consumption crossed 1.3 lakh TWh in 2014 :

• China's consumption of fossil fuels grew from 2900 TWh in 1970 to 30,900 TWh in 2014.
• India's fossil fuel consumption climbed from 670 TWh to 7120 in 2014.
• Iran's consumption grew from 161 to 3,000 TWh in 2014.
• USA's grew from 18,200 in 1970 to 23,000 TWh in 2014.
• Australia's consumption grew from 500 to 1500 TWh in 2014.
• Brazil increased its fossil fuel consumption from 320 to 2400 TWh in 2014.

European Countries that REDUCED their consumption from 1970 to 2014 (!) :

• Sweden reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 362 in 1970 to 202 TWh in 2014, thus down by 44 %.
• Denmark reduced its consumption from 240 to 154 TWh in 2014, a decline of 36 % !
• Romania reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 430 to 280 TW in 2014, a decline of 35 %. 
• The Czech Republic reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 521 to 364 TWh in 2014 (a reduction of 30 % !).
• Bulgaria reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 202 to 147 TWh in 2014 - thus down by 27 %.
• UK's fossil fuel consumption declined from 2400 to 1900 TWh in 2014, a decline of 21 %.
• Germany's fossil fuel consumption declined from 3500 to 2900 TWh in 2014, a reduction of 17 %.
• Hungary reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 213 in 1970 to 184 TWh in 2104, thus by 14 %.
• France's consumption declined from 1600 to 1400 TWh in 2014, thus lower by 13 %. 
• Belgium reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 534 TWh in 1970 to 529 TWh in 2014 (but in another dataset from 1965 to 2015, it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 25 % in that period).
• Slovakia reduced its consumption from 135 TWh to 123 TWh in 2014. 
• Switzerland reduced its dependence on fossil fuels from 154 to 153 TWh in 2014.

The former Soviet countries reduced even more in 28 years from 1988 to 2014 -  64 % for Ukraine, 39 % for Belarus and 24 % for Russia :

• Ukraine reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 64 % from 2590 TWh in 1988 to 920 TWh in 2014.
• Belarus reduced its consumption from 488 TWh in 1988 to 296 TWh in 2014, a decline of 39 %.
• Azerbaijan reduced their fossil fuel consumption from 248 in 1988 to 163 TWh in 2014, a decline of 34 %.
• Russia reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 9400 TWh in 1988 to 7100 TWh in 2014, a decline of 24 %.
• Kazakhastan reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 830 TWh in 1988 to 750 TWh in 2014, a decline of 10 %.

The European Union as a whole reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 14200 TWh in 1970 to 14000 TWh in 2014. 

The relative mix of coal, oil and gas in total consumption also varies by country. China, for example, sources more than 70 percent of fossil fuel consumption from coal. In contrast, Argentina sources less than two percent from coal, with gas accounting for nearly 60 percent.