Energy is a commodity, and like any commodity, its level of consumption is largely a reflection of its price. However, unlike most other commodities, energy is not valued as a good unto itself, but as a means to achieve an end—the power behind the technology that makes it possible to do more and improve standards of living. For this reason, huge sums are spent by governments, utilities, and businesses to gather the statistics to forecast consumption patterns. They want to know not only how much energy can be found, extracted, transported, and converted to useful forms, but also how that energy powers today's technology and the emerging technologies of tomorrow.

Consumption in the United States

From 1967 to 1973, U.S. energy consumption dramatically increased, from 57.57 quadrillion Btus to 74.28 quadrillion Btus (see Figure 1). In these years leading up to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, energy was inexpensive and growth in...