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The U.S. And The World Are Actually Making Big Strides In Energy Efficiency
The U.S. And The World Are Actually Making Big Strides In Energy Efficiency
BY JEFF SPROSS ON OCTOBER 17, 2013 AT 5:03 PM
Between 2005 and 2010, advances in energy efficiency saved eleven advanced western nations — including the U.S. — from burning $420 billion worth of oil. And without those advances, the total energy consumption of those countries would have been 65 percent higher in 2010.
That’s the takeaway from new work by the International Energy Agency (IEA). It’s the first installment of what will be a regular report on energy efficiency by the group, and covers the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Italy, and several Nordic countries.
Between them all, those countries burned through just over 1,000 Mtoe (million tonnes oil-equivalent) energy; a little over 20 Mtoe of both electricity and natural gas, and around 5 Mtoe of both coal and other sources. On the flip side, they avoided a little over 1,500 Mtoe thanks to energy efficiency. And those gains have been steadily growing since 1974, while actual energy consumption grew only modestly.
Another recent energy efficiency report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), focused on America specifically, found much the same story. Americans actually use less oil now than they did in 1973, our electricity use grew just six percent between 2000 and 2012, and we used less total energy in 2012 than in 1999 despite an economy that’s 25 percent bigger in real terms.
Economic growth actually decoupled from energy consumption back in the late 1970s. The former continued steadily upward...
BY JEFF SPROSS ON OCTOBER 17, 2013 AT 5:03 PM
Between 2005 and 2010, advances in energy efficiency saved eleven advanced western nations — including the U.S. — from burning $420 billion worth of oil. And without those advances, the total energy consumption of those countries would have been 65 percent higher in 2010.
That’s the takeaway from new work by the International Energy Agency (IEA). It’s the first installment of what will be a regular report on energy efficiency by the group, and covers the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Italy, and several Nordic countries.
Between them all, those countries burned through just over 1,000 Mtoe (million tonnes oil-equivalent) energy; a little over 20 Mtoe of both electricity and natural gas, and around 5 Mtoe of both coal and other sources. On the flip side, they avoided a little over 1,500 Mtoe thanks to energy efficiency. And those gains have been steadily growing since 1974, while actual energy consumption grew only modestly.
Notes: TFC = total final consumption. The 11 countries are Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
CREDIT: INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY
Another recent energy efficiency report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), focused on America specifically, found much the same story. Americans actually use less oil now than they did in 1973, our electricity use grew just six percent between 2000 and 2012, and we used less total energy in 2012 than in 1999 despite an economy that’s 25 percent bigger in real terms.
Economic growth actually decoupled from energy consumption back in the late 1970s. The former continued steadily upward...
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/10/17/2801231/world-energy-efficiency/
5 replies
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...is seen as the prime driver of the decoupling. The countries where "manufacturing and industrial activities are growing" are also showing a widening gap between a) where they are re energy consumption and where they would be without energy efficiency measures (chart 1) and b) energy consumption and GDP growth (chart 2).
There are still tremendous amounts of energy efficiency gains available should be the takeaway from the article.
