Consumption
Energy is a commodity, and like any commodity, its level of consumption is largely a reflection of its price. However, unlike most other commodities, energy is not valued as a good unto itself, but as a means to achieve an end—the power behind the technology that makes it possible to do more and improve standards of living. For this reason, huge sums are spent by governments, utilities, and businesses to gather the statistics to forecast consumption patterns. They want to know not only how much energy can be found, extracted, transported, and converted to useful forms, but also how that energy powers today's technology and the emerging technologies of tomorrow.
Consumption in the United States
From 1967 to 1973, U.S. energy consumption dramatically increased, from 57.57 quadrillion Btus to 74.28 quadrillion Btus (see Figure 1). In these years leading up to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, energy was inexpensive and growth in consumption was closely linked to population and economic growth. Forecasters could look at population and economic growth trends and accurately project a similar growth in energy consumption. The oil price shock changed this dynamic by spurring energy-efficiency improvements. Overall energy consumption declined to 70.52 quadrillion Btus by 1983 thanks, in large part, to dramatic improvements in energy efficiency.
This page contains 201 words.
Consumption article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 2,617 words
(approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our Consumption Article
