To: Eric who wrote (8243 ) 5/25/2010 6:52:46 AM From: Glenn Petersen Read Replies (3) | Respond to Re: Efficiency and consumption. 2009: Most Energy-Efficient Economy in History EIA released new energy data last Friday showing that the U.S. had the most energy-efficient economy in history last year, based on the amount of energy consumed to produce each real dollar of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2009, it required only 7,290 BTUs of energy (petroleum, natural gas and other energy) to produce each real dollar of GDP, an all-time record low, and less than half the energy required in the mid-1970s to produce a dollar of output (see chart top above).the U.S. economy is twice as energy-efficient today compared to the 1970s due to technology, innovation and improvements that allow us to produce more output with less energy. We did save some energy in 2009 because output (GDP) fell by 2.44 percent due to the recession, but energy consumption fell by about twice as much (4.81 percent) last year , which lowered energy consumption per dollar of real GDP for the 18th consecutive year to an all-time historical record low. total U.S. energy consumption in 2009 (94.66 quadrillion BTUs) was less than the total energy consumed 12 years ago in 1997 (94.76 quadrillion BTUs), even though we produced almost 32 percent more output last year than in 1997, the U.S. population has increased by 34.5 million people in the last 12 years, and traffic volume (miles driven) was 17.5 percent higher last year than in 1997 (see bottom chart above)!mjperry.blogspot.com
