Renewable energy will overtake gas to become the second-largest source of electricity “soon after 2010”, authors of the International Energy Agency’s 2008 World Energy Outlook said Wednesday.

Despite the advance of renewables, however, the demand for oil outside the West is rising and will soar some 21 million barrels a day to 106 MM bpd by 2030. World energy demand is seen growing 1.6 percent per year, however, and will by up 45 percent by then.

“Current trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable — environmentally, economically and socially — (and) they can and must be altered”, said Nobuo Tanaka, the IEA executive director.

World oil demand growth is slightly down from last year, just as installed renewables capacity is up 200 percent.

The trends, according to the IEA, still call for oil industry investments of 26.3 trillion over 22 years. But while E&P investment “has been rising rapidly in the last few years, but much of the increase is due to surging costs”.

Tags: IEA