US Energy Use Sources

Introduction: The Historic Role of Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency has long been a national public policy priority, and has made a substantial contribution to the nation’s energy supply, thereby "lightening the load" on our electricity generation, transmission, and distribution system. Analysis by the Alliance to Save Energy, illustrated in Figure 1 on the next page (Alliance, 1998) reveals that energy efficiency - the energy saved by improvements in energy efficiency implemented between 1973 and 1998 – made energy efficiency the nation’s second largest source of energy (and largest domestic resource) by 1998. This analysis accounted for changes in energy intensity due to structural changes in the economy, such as a decline in energy-intensive industries and the increasing share of GDP derived from services. While steep increases in energy prices were undoubtedly a strong driver for improvements in energy efficiency, much of the improvement was purposeful, policy-driven, and accomplished through targeted research and development and technology deployment programs.