Reframing Energy for the Age of Electricity

The authors argue that traditional 'primary energy' accounting is flawed because it ignores energy quality and conversion losses, creating a 'primary energy fallacy'. By reframing the system from the consumer's perspective and focusing on 'flows' (change) rather than 'stocks' (totals), the paper identifies four 'battles' of the energy transition. It concludes that 'electrotech' is winning the battles for electron supply, useful work, and useful heat due to superior thermodynamic efficiency, which significantly reduces the total primary energy required to meet human development needs.

• Traditional energy accounting suffers from a 'primary energy fallacy' by treating all energy sources as equal regardless of quality, which obscures the fact that in 2023, approximately two-thirds of all primary energy inputs (roughly 380 exajoules) were wasted and not converted into useful energy.
• The document simplifies all energy services into two fundamental categories: 'work' (moving things, such as transport and computing) and 'heat' (changing temperature). In 2023, useful energy demand consisted of 90 EJ of work (43%) and 119 EJ of heat (57%).
• There is a stark efficiency gap between 'electro sources' (solar, wind, hydro) and 'thermal sources' (fossil fuels, biomass, nuclear) in supplying electricity. Electro sources convert primary energy to final electrons at 92% efficiency, compared to only 29% for thermal sources.
• Electricity is significantly more efficient than molecules for delivering useful work, with a conversion efficiency of 68% compared to 29% for molecules. Consequently, electricity accounted for 80% of the change in useful work between 2019 and 2023.
• For useful heat, electrons are more efficient than molecules (91% average efficiency), with heat pumps specifically achieving 300-400% efficiency for low temperature heat. Electrons represented 25% of the growth in useful heat supply from 2019 to 2023.
• The production of molecules (such as green hydrogen or ammonia) via electro sources is thermodynamically expensive and less efficient (under 70%) than thermal sources (85%), though this 'battle' becomes less critical as end-demand is electrified.
• Focusing on 'flows' (change) rather than 'stocks' (totals) reveals a faster transition; for instance, while electro sources were 30% of total electricity generation in 2023, they represented 96% of the change in electricity generation in the first nine months of 2025.
• The adoption of electric technologies reduces the primary energy required for human development; while some argue 100 gigajoules per person is needed, the authors state that 26 gigajoules of primary energy can provide the same useful energy if electrotech is used.

APA

Walter, D., Bond, K., Butler-Sloss, S., Issac, A., & Liebreich, M. (2026). Reframing Energy for the Age of Electricity. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/02/Reframing-Energy-for-the-Age-of-Electricity-1.pdf

Chicago

Walter, Daan, Kingsmill Bond, Sam Butler-Sloss, Antoine Issac, and Michael Liebreich. Reframing Energy for the Age of Electricity. Ember, 2026. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/02/Reframing-Energy-for-the-Age-of-Electricity-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Walter |first1=Daan |last2=Bond |first2=Kingsmill |last3=Butler-Sloss |first3=Sam |last4=Issac |first4=Antoine |last5=Liebreich |first5=Michael |title=Reframing Energy for the Age of Electricity |publisher=Ember |date=17 February 2026 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/02/Reframing-Energy-for-the-Age-of-Electricity-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{walter2026reframing, author = {Walter, Daan and Bond, Kingsmill and Butler-Sloss, Sam and Issac, Antoine and Liebreich, Michael}, title = {{Reframing Energy for the Age of Electricity}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/02/Reframing-Energy-for-the-Age-of-Electricity-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }