Americans Using More Energy Than Ever — Energy Use In The US Still Growing Rapidly [View all]

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http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/08/americans-using-energy-ever-energy-use-us-still-growing-rapidly/

Americans Using More Energy Than Ever — Energy Use In The US Still Growing Rapidly


Americans are using more and more energy every year, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Across the board, more energy of every type — everything from renewables, to fossil fuels, to nuclear — is being used. In 2013, Americans used over 2.3 quadrillion thermal units more than in 2012.



That is some very notable growth in energy usage — something that is a real problem when you consider the fact that regardless of any technological improvements that may occur (or may not) in the near-future, energy use will have to decrease to some degree or other with the increasing scarcity of economically recoverable fossil fuels. Also, switching to renewable sources of energy isn’t enough on it’s own to limit carbon emissions to a large enough degree to mitigate severe climate change — decreased energy use would be a requirement — so to see energy use of all types is not decreasing, but actually increasing, is a worrying (though not at all surprising) trend.

The Laboratory has also provided a companion chart that illustrates the nation’s growing energy-related carbon dioxide emissions — carbon dioxide emissions in 2013 in America rose to over 5,390 million metric tons, the first increase since 2010.