China to surpass US in buildings' power consumption by 2030: EIA

The US Energy Information Administration said on Monday that the use of electricity by buildings in China will surpass that of the United States by 2030.

In the latest International Energy Outlook 2019, the EIA expected that by 2050, China's buildings will account for more than one-fifth of the electricity consumption in buildings worldwide.

In EIA's IEO2019 Reference case, electricity use by buildings in China is projected to increase more than that in any other country in absolute terms, but India will experience the fastest growth rate in buildings' electricity use from 2018 to 2050.

The EIA projected that global energy consumption in the buildings sector, which includes residential and commercial structures, will grow by 1.3 percent per year on average from 2018 to 2050.

In countries that are outside of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the EIA expected that energy consumed in buildings will grow by more than 2 percent per year, or about five times the rate of OECD countries.

Electricity -- the main energy source for lighting, space cooling, appliances, and equipment -- is the fastest-growing energy source in residential and commercial buildings, said the report.

As the quality of life in emerging economies improves with urbanization, rising income, and access to electricity, the EIA projected that electricity's share of the total use of energy in buildings will nearly double in non-OECD countries from 21 percent in 2018 to 38 percent in 2050.

By contrast, electricity's share of delivered energy consumption in OECD countries' buildings will decrease from 24 percent to 21 percent.