On the basis of the expected increase in the world’s population and taking the estimated improvement in both technology and living standards into account, the paper forecasts energy demands. In 2000, actual energy consumption was 380-400 EJ.year-1, the forecast for the year 2050 is 600-1,050 EJ.year-1, while for the year 2100 it is 900-3,600 EJ.year-1. On the basis of the expected shares of the different fuels (coal, mineral oil, natural gas, nuclear energy, renewable energies), it can be assumed that in 2050 coal demand will be between 122-200 EJ.year-1 while the total coal demand for the 45 years ahead is estimated to be 5,500-6,900 EJ.year-1. This rate of demand basically involves an approximately 2 % increase every year.On the basis of data in relevant literature, the world’s coal reserves are: the industrial coal reserve is 800-1,000 · 109 tons, the geological stock is 5-15 1012 tons and the expected stock is 8-35 1012 tons. The world’s industrial coal reserve (which is economically exploitable at the present technological level) guarantees supply for 200 years while the detected geological stock guarantees supply for a round 1,000 years.
Uitgever:
Technical University of Kosice, the Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnologies (F BERG)
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