
Roughly 32.4% of the world’s energy is used in the form of oil. About another 27% comes from coal sources, and another 21% from natural gas. Together, these three sources account for a total of over 80% of the energy sources used globally. The remaining 20% comes primarily from combustible renewables and waste (10%), nuclear energy (6%), and hydroelectric sources (2%). As you can see, some of the commonly discussed green energy sources, like solar energy or energy collected by wind turbines, do not yet make significant contributions to the breakdown of energy sources commonly used on a global scale.
Energy Source |
% of Total Used |
oil |
32.4 |
coal/peat |
27.3 |
natural gas |
21.4 |
biofuels and waste |
10.0 |
nuclear |
5.7 |
hydro |
2.3 |
other |
0.9 |