Without more efficient consumer electronics, the world will need to build hundreds of gigawatts worth of new power plants to run the exploding number of electronic gadgets, according to the International Energy Agency.
The Paris-based energy industry watchdog on Wednesday published its "Gadgets and Gigawatts" report, saying that consumer electronics already account for 15 percent of households' electricity bills and is rising rapidly.
Around the world, a growing number of people are acquiring electronics, from mobile phones to televisions, which means the total amount of electricity from electronics is poised to explode in the next two decades.
The IEA estimates that the yearly energy consumed from IT and consumer electronics is on pace to double by 2020 and triple by 2030 to 1,700 terawatt-hours. That would be the equivalent of the combined residential electricity consumption of Japan and the United States in a year.
It's clear that there is technology available to make devices more energy efficient, the IEA said. Because consumers want a long run-time, mobile devices are already more efficient than appliances that run from outlets.
"This example shows us what can be achieved. Where no such commercial drivers exist, governments must step in to ensure that we make the most of every energy efficiency opportunity," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said in a statement.
He said that governments should "urgently implement" energy-efficiency policies. The biggest opportunity for energy savings improvements from consumer electronics companies is "making hardware and software work together more effectively to ensure that energy is only used when, and to the extent needed," the IEA said.
See CNET's Green Tech Guide which rates PCs and TVs on energy efficiency.
The International Energy Agency raised the alarm Wednesday with the release of its annual report, emphasizing that a revolution in the energy business is required to maintain economic growth and stabilize greenhouse gas emissions.
The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2008 report, written for policymakers, paints a troubling picture in terms of energy costs and global warming due to burning fossil fuels. It calls for "radical action" from governments at all levels and for a coordinated international response.
"Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable--environmentally, economically and socially--they can and must be altered," Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA's executive director, said at the release of the report.
Although softening demand has pushed the price for oil down recently, the rising cost of extraction, combined with declining productivity rates at oil fields, means that the "era of cheap oil is over," according to the report.
The IEA's annual report forecasts that energy demand will spike in the next two decades, driven in large part by fast-growing India and China. OECD refers to the 30 developed nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
(Credit: IEA)The study also lays outs the changes needed to stabilize carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and concludes that massive amounts of capital will be required.
To limit the increase in temperatures to 3 degrees Celsius by 2030 would require a huge increase of low-carbon energy--nuclear, hydropower, biomass, renewables, and underground carbon storage. That scenario would require a $4.1 trillion investment, or 0.2 percent of the world's annual GDP.
From the report's executive summary:
"It is not an exaggeration to claim that the future of human prosperity depends on how successfully we tackle the two central energy challenges facing us today: securing the supply of reliable and affordable energy; and effecting a rapid transformation to a low-carbon, efficient, and environmentally benign system of energy supply. What is needed is nothing short of an energy revolution."
The IEA's call to action to policymakers reemphasizes the long-term trends that many clean-technology businesses are already betting on. Even with the credit crunch and falling prices for fossil fuels, clean-energy investors and entrepreneurs predict positive growth in their sector over the long term.
In the U.S., the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress bode well for policies that promote clean technologies to address economic development and climate change.
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