Energy Use in the USA
description
Transcript of Energy Use in the USA
-
Energy Use in the USA
-
Energy Use in the USAThe United States of America is the world's largest energy producer, consumer, and net importer of energy. How? Why?Trends in energy consumptionSocial explanationsCurrent situation
-
Top World Oil Consumers, 2006(thousand barrels per day)(www.EIS.gov)
-
Energy Consumption: Total energy consumption per capitaUnits: Kilograms of oil equivalent (kgoe) per personWorld Resources Institute: Earth Trends
-
History of US energy use by source (quadrillion BTU)
-
Attitudes towards energy useThe American DreamEnvironmentalismResponsible Consumerism
-
The American DreamCurrent concept has roots in 1950'sAny one can make it - regardless of backgroundHouse in the suburbs, two cars
-
Electricity consumption by 107 million U.S. households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh. The most significant end uses were central air-conditioning and refrigerators, each of which accounted for about 14 percent of the U.S. Total. (
-
The automobile84% of travel in USA by car Fuel efficiency has not traditionally been important to American consumersSUV's
-
Passenger vehicles in the US According to the US Bureau of Transit Statistics for 2004 there are 243,023,485 registered passenger vehicles in the US
-
Fuel consumption of US cars(www.bts.gov)
-
EnvironmentalismModern environmentalism began in 1962 with Rachel Carson's Silent SpringAnti-pollution legislationPost-environmentalism?
-
Pollution1963 Clean Air Act1990 amendment to the clean air act began system of carbon trading.1997: The US signs the Kyoto protocol -but never ratifies the treatySome state and local governments have
-
Acquisitions of alarmismThe greatest hoax in historyAccording to one poll about 64% of Americans think that scientists disagree about whether global warming is happening (they don't)
-
A convenient approach
-
The environmental consumerSave the environment without sacrificing quality of life:New energy-saving appliances, light bulbsCarbon offsetsHybrid carsSupporting green companies
-
Energy per dollar of GDP/PPP