U. S. Industrial Energy Consumption and Conservation: Past and Future Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examines U.S. industrial energy consumption and conservation potentials by defining the concept of energy service which, in turn, leads to more precise consideration of various aspects of conservation. It is seen that there are a number of components which contribute to energy conservation in the industrial sector. These consist of product and process change, energy efficiency improvement and energy management. The total energy demand is projected on the basis of production indices, reduced (historical) energy service requirements per unit of production and estimates of efficiency Improvements.

The focus of this analysis is definition of the particular issues whose exploration would best improve the quality of projections of energy use. At the same time, we obtain a reasonable estimate of energy consumption for the industrial sector as a whole.