Transitions in Energy Use

Grubler, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7814-4990 (2004). Transitions in Energy Use. IIASA Research Report (Reprint). IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: RP-04-005. Reprinted from Encyclopedia of Energy, 6:163-177 [2004].

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Abstract

Patterns of energy use have changed dramatically since the onset of the industrial revolution in terms of both energy quantities and energy quality. These changing patterns of energy use, where energy quantities and quality interact in numerous important ways, are referred to in this article as energy transitions and are described from a historical perspective as well as through future scenarios. Far from being completed, many of these transitions are continuing to unfold in industrial and developing countries alike. Energy transitions are described here in terms of three major interdependent characteristics: quantities (growths in amounts of energy harnessed and used), structure (which types of energy forms are harnessed, processed, and delivered to the final consumers as well as where these activities take place), and quality (the energetic and environmental characteristics of the various forms of energy used).

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