Maybe we can set our thermostats at 72 degrees

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” -Obama Speech May 2008

FROM- Carpe Diem
The Most Energy Efficient Economy in U.S. History

The chart above (click to enlarge) shows the increasing energy efficiency of the U.S. economy, using data from the Energy Information Administration, updated recently through 2008. As recently as 1970, it required 18,000 BTUs of energy for each real dollar of GDP produced, and by 2008 the energy required per dollar of real GDP has been reduced by more than 50%, to only 8,520 BTUs per real dollar of GDP. So the U.S. economy has more than doubled its overall energy efficiency in only 38 years.

Bottom Line: The U.S. economy has never been more energy efficient than it is today, and it just keeps getting more and more efficient every year as we find ways to produce more and more output with less and less energy. Amid all of the gloom and doom, this seems like something to celebrate. Over time, we're not becoming energy gluttons, we're actually becoming energy misers.


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