Every year, I look at the US annual energy budget chart and figure out a rough percentage of how energy efficient our economy is, the percentages of "useful" and "rejected" energy (the terms Lawrence Livermore National Labs uses). Recently, I went back and looked at each year from 1991 to 2013 to see what the trends have been.
Three things stand out: we "reject" or waste over half the energy we produce; we haven't improved that efficiency over the last 22 or 23 years; and we have spent the last 15 years or so at an energy plateau between 95 and 100 quadrillion btu's.
At some point, I might take a look at the growth rates of the economy since 1999 till now to get an idea at how US economic production fares under a relatively steady state energy regime.
1991 - 81 quads
30.3 useful [37.40%]
44.4 rejected [54.81%]
1992 - 82 quads
31.6 useful [39.01%]
44.4 rejected [54.81%]
1993 - 84 quads
31 useful [36.90%]
46.9 rejected [55.83%]
1994 - 86.25 quads
31.37 useful [36.37%]
47.67 rejected [55.269%]
1995 - 90.99 quads
34.4057 useful [37.81%]
49.47 rejected [54.37%]
1996 - 93.83 quads
35.44 useful [37.77%]
50.99 rejected [54.34%]
1997 - 93.83 quads
35.7327 useful [38.08%]
51.8455 rejected [55.25%]
1998 - 94.78 quads
34.3109 useful [35.14%]
52.0351 rejected [54.90%]
1999 - 97 quads
36.8 useful [37.93%]
53.2 rejected [54.84%]
2000 - 98.5 quads
34.3 useful [34.82%]
57.8 rejected [58.68%]
2001 - 97 quads
35 useful [36.08%]
55.9 rejected [57.62%]
2002 - 97.8 quads
42.40 useful [43.35%]
55.36 rejected [56.60%]
2003 - 98.1 quads
42.65 useful [43.47%]
55.48 rejected [56.55%]
2004 - 100.2 quads
43.43 useful [43.34%]
56.75 rejected [56.63%]
2005 - 100.4 quads
42.93 useful [42.75%]
57.47 rejected [57.24%]
2006 - 99.8 quads
42.32 useful [42.40%]
57.43 rejected [57.54%]
2007 - 101.5 quads
43.04 useful [42.40%]
58.47 rejected [57.60%]
2008 - 99.2 quads
42.15 useful [42.48%]
57.07 rejected [57.53%]
2009 - 94.6 quads
39.97 useful [42.25%]
54.64 rejected [57.75%]
2010 - 98 quads
41.88 useful [42.73%]
56.13 rejected [57.27%]
2011 - 97.3 quads
41.7 useful [42.85%]
55.6 rejected [57.14%]
2012 - 95.1 quads
37 useful [38.90%]
58.1 rejected [61.09%]
2013 - 97.4 quads
38.4 useful [39.42%]
59.0 rejected [60.57%]
Data from https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/archive.html#energy_archive
More data at the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Review page here:
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm
Three things stand out: we "reject" or waste over half the energy we produce; we haven't improved that efficiency over the last 22 or 23 years; and we have spent the last 15 years or so at an energy plateau between 95 and 100 quadrillion btu's.
At some point, I might take a look at the growth rates of the economy since 1999 till now to get an idea at how US economic production fares under a relatively steady state energy regime.
1991 - 81 quads
30.3 useful [37.40%]
44.4 rejected [54.81%]
1992 - 82 quads
31.6 useful [39.01%]
44.4 rejected [54.81%]
1993 - 84 quads
31 useful [36.90%]
46.9 rejected [55.83%]
1994 - 86.25 quads
31.37 useful [36.37%]
47.67 rejected [55.269%]
1995 - 90.99 quads
34.4057 useful [37.81%]
49.47 rejected [54.37%]
1996 - 93.83 quads
35.44 useful [37.77%]
50.99 rejected [54.34%]
1997 - 93.83 quads
35.7327 useful [38.08%]
51.8455 rejected [55.25%]
1998 - 94.78 quads
34.3109 useful [35.14%]
52.0351 rejected [54.90%]
1999 - 97 quads
36.8 useful [37.93%]
53.2 rejected [54.84%]
2000 - 98.5 quads
34.3 useful [34.82%]
57.8 rejected [58.68%]
2001 - 97 quads
35 useful [36.08%]
55.9 rejected [57.62%]
2002 - 97.8 quads
42.40 useful [43.35%]
55.36 rejected [56.60%]
2003 - 98.1 quads
42.65 useful [43.47%]
55.48 rejected [56.55%]
2004 - 100.2 quads
43.43 useful [43.34%]
56.75 rejected [56.63%]
2005 - 100.4 quads
42.93 useful [42.75%]
57.47 rejected [57.24%]
2006 - 99.8 quads
42.32 useful [42.40%]
57.43 rejected [57.54%]
2007 - 101.5 quads
43.04 useful [42.40%]
58.47 rejected [57.60%]
2008 - 99.2 quads
42.15 useful [42.48%]
57.07 rejected [57.53%]
2009 - 94.6 quads
39.97 useful [42.25%]
54.64 rejected [57.75%]
2010 - 98 quads
41.88 useful [42.73%]
56.13 rejected [57.27%]
2011 - 97.3 quads
41.7 useful [42.85%]
55.6 rejected [57.14%]
2012 - 95.1 quads
37 useful [38.90%]
58.1 rejected [61.09%]
2013 - 97.4 quads
38.4 useful [39.42%]
59.0 rejected [60.57%]
Data from https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/archive.html#energy_archive
More data at the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Review page here:
http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm
