Call it the law of unintended consequences, but some good may have come out of the sub-prime mess created by Wall Street.
The 2008-09 recession probably did more for the global environment than any climate change summit or agreement. The recession hit world economy saw its energy consumption, and hence greenhouse effect causing carbon dioxide emissions, shrink by 1.1 per cent during 2009.
This is the first time since 1982 that global energy consumption has dropped, says oil major BP in its latest Statistical Review of World Energy.
Energy consumption dropped around the world except for two regions — Asia Pacific and the Middle East. China saw its energy consumption increase by 8.7 per cent while the figure for India stood at 6.6 per cent, the second highest amongst the major economies.
Amongst the large energy users, the US saw its petroleum consumption fall 4.9 per cent while for Japan, the drop was a much sharper 10.9 per cent.
Oil and gas account for the bulk of energy consumption in developed countries such as US, EU and Japan. For developing world such as India and China, coal, which is a relatively dirtier fuel, accounts for a larger chunk of the pie.
Amongst the various fuels, petroleum production and consumption was down sharply during the year. The drop in oil consumption, and prices, was felt across the entire energy value chain.
Crude oil prices dropped almost two-thirds from the peak levels of 2008. Money made by other players in the oil business — including refiners, drilling contractors also dropped.
Encouragingly, from an environmental point of view, large investments in clean energy sources such as wind and solar power continue.
The total installed wind energy capacity globally stood at 1.6 lakh mw at the end of 2009 — a jump of over 30 per cent compared to the previous year.
Solar power saw an even sharper increase of 47 per cent, though from a much smaller base. However, fossil fuels — oil, natural gas and coal — still account for 87 per cent of the global energy consumption.