EIA Annual Energy Outlook 2022 Released
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Annual Energy Outlook 2022 in March 2022. The report, always a good read each and every year, forecasts how things will shake out in the energy sector from now through 2050. Although there is nothing groundbreaking in the report, it’s always a good opportunity to validate existing assumptions.
Details of the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2022
One of the main conclusions of the report is that natural gas and in particular renewable energy will represent the fastest-growing energy sources through 2050, but petroleum and liquid fuels will remain the most consumed source of energy. Not really a big surprise there!
The report also concludes that electricity will be the fastest-growing building-specific energy source in the foreseeable future. Natural gas-fired generation will be encroached by solar and wind incentives as well as declining technology costs in general.
In terms of demand, well, as you might expect this is predicted to increase over the next 30 years. While the report assumes there will be some decent progress and innovation when it comes to energy efficiency, overall economic and population growth is expected to overtake these improvements.
The report also mentions that 2023 will see the return to pre-pandemic levels of crude oil production in the U.S. In addition, the report predicts that gasoline will remain the dominant vehicle fuel source for the foreseeable future, despite the push for EVs. Finally, the report predicts that coal and nuclear power will continue to gradually decline over the years as a percentage of the total U.S. energy mix.
Overall, the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2022 pretty much predicts exactly what we’ve come to expect, but it’s good to validate these predictions every year. I know that I, for one, am definitely looking forward to checking out the 2023 edition when it comes out next year.
