European Union - Electricity production from natural gas sources (% of total)

Electricity production from natural gas sources (% of total) in European Union was 13.83 as of 2015. Its highest value over the past 55 years was 20.67 in 2008, while its lowest value was 1.59 in 1965.

Definition: Sources of electricity refer to the inputs used to generate electricity. Gas refers to natural gas but excludes natural gas liquids.

Source: IEA Statistics © OECD/IEA 2014 (http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp), subject to https://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/

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Development Relevance: Natural gas is considered a good source of electricity supply for a number of economic, operational and environmental reasons, such as: 1) it is technically and financially of low-risk; 2) lower carbon relative to other fossil fuels; 3) gas plants can be built relatively quickly in around two years, unlike nuclear facilities, which can take much longer. Also, gas plants are flexible both in technical and economic terms, so they can react quickly to demand peaks, and are ideally twinned with intermittent renewable options such as wind power. Use of energy is important in improving people's standard of living. But electricity generation also can damage the environment. Whether such damage occurs depends largely on how electricity is generated. For example, burning coal releases twice as much carbon dioxide - a major contributor to global warming - as does burning an equivalent amount of natural gas. Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions result primarily from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacturing. In combustion different fossil fuels release different amounts of carbon dioxide for the same level of energy use: oil releases about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than natural gas, and coal releases about twice as much. Nuclear energy does not generate carbon dioxide emissions, but it produces other dangerous waste products.

Limitations and Exceptions: IEA occasionally revises its time series to reflect political changes. For example, the IEA has constructed historical energy statistics for countries of the former Soviet Union. In addition, energy statistics for other countries have undergone continuous changes in coverage or methodology in recent years as more detailed energy accounts have become available. Breaks in series are therefore unavoidable.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Electricity production from natural gas sources (% of total) is the share of natutal gas, which is natural gas but not natural gas liquids, in total electricity production which is the total number of GWh generated by power plants separated into electricity plants and CHP plants. The International Energy Agency (IEA) compiles data on energy inputs used to generate electricity. IEA data for countries that are not members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are based on national energy data adjusted to conform to annual questionnaires completed by OECD member governments. In addition, estimates are sometimes made to complete major aggregates from which key data are missing, and adjustments are made to compensate for differences in definitions. The IEA makes these estimates in consultation with national statistical offices, oil companies, electric utilities, and national energy experts.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Electricity production shares may not sum to 100 percent because other sources of generated electricity (such as geothermal, solar, and wind) are not shown. Restricted use: Please contact the International Energy Agency for third-party use of these data.

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Energy production & use