Wanted: all economic energy sources

February 5, 2009

To grow our economy and create jobs, we need access to reliable and affordable sources of energy.

That’s why one of the most important jobs is this: meeting global energy demand, which is expected to increase by 35 percent between 2005 and 2030, despite the current economic downturn.

To do this, we need to develop all economic energy sources, as the chart below shows. No single source is enough.

We need more oil, natural gas and coal. Together, these fuels will continue to meet close to 80 percent of global needs to 2030.

We need more energy from other alternatives. Although they start from a relatively small base, these alternatives — including nuclear, wind, solar energy and biofuels — will grow at a relatively fast rate, and make an important contribution.

We need to tap the most powerful “fuel” of all — energy efficiency. Through 2030, the amount of energy saved through efficiency gains worldwide will be equivalent to 170 million barrels of oil a day — or about twice the amount of new energy from all other sources combined.

ExxonMobil is committed to helping meet the world’s energy needs. We invested more than $25 billion last year alone in projects to make more energy available, and technologies to advance energy efficiency.

Developing the energy needed to sustain economic progress through 2030 — while also minimizing our impact on the environment — will not be easy or automatic. We need to employ an integrated set of solutions that includes all economic energy sources to get the job done.