United States, energy consumption

In the United States, energy conservation, if implemented just in the commercial and industrial sectors, could eliminate the need for all oil imports from the Middle East. The total energy consumption of the United States is about 100 Q, and commerce and industry consume 51%, or approximately 51 Q, of all energy used. As detailed in my book Optimization of Unit Operations, energy consumption of commercial buildings, power plants, refineries, and the chemical industry can be reduced by an average of 15-25%, or by nearly 10 Q, while the total oil import from the Middle East is about 6 Q. 

Figure 1. Predicted and actual energy consumption (United States). Adapted from [1].

Figure 2.8. United States energy consumption by source, 2000 and 2025. (Source EIA 2005b.)...

United States Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Markets, EIA-846, 1998 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey, 1998. 

Figure 21.17 United States energy sources in 2000. CHI, natural gas, and coal account for 85% of the total energy consumption. 

Trends in commercial fuel, eg, fossd fuel, hydroelectric power, nuclear power, production and consumption in the United States and in the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, are shown in Tables 2 and 3. These trends indicate (6,13) (/) a significant resurgence in the production and use of coal throughout the U.S. economy (2) a continued decline in the domestic U.S. production of cmde oil and natural gas lea ding to increased imports of these hydrocarbons (qv) and (J) a continued trend of energy conservation, expressed in terms of energy consumed per... 

The average daily incident solar radiation, or insolation, that strikes the earth s surface worldwide is about 220 W/m (1675 Btu/ft ). The annual insolation on 0.01% of the earth s surface is approximately equal to all energy consumed (ca 1992) by humans in one year, ie, 321 x 10 J (305 X 10 Btu). In the United States, the world s largest energy consumer, annual energy consumption is equivalent (1992) to the insolation on about 0.1 to 0.2% of U.S. total surface. 

A projection of biomass energy consumption in the United States for the years 2000, 2010, 2020, and 2030 is shown in Table 6 by end use sector (12). This analysis is based on a National Premiums Scenario which assumes that specific market incentives are appHed to aU. new renewable energy technology deployment. The scenario depends on the enactment of federal legislation equivalent to a fossil fuel consumption tax. Any incentives over and above those in place (ca 1992) for use of renewable energy will have a significant impact on biomass energy consumption. 

Table 6. Projected Biomass Energy Consumption in the United States from 2000 to 2030, EJ...

The production and consumption of LPG in the United States increased dramatically from its early beginnings in the 1930s until the international energy crises of the 1970s when rising prices and regulatory restraints resulted in reduced domestic production. However, total consumption, including imports. 

To reduce drying time, maximum airflows are used during the first portion of the kilning cycle until the exit air is no longer saturated with moisture. Airflow then is reduced or recirculated to conserve energy. Average fuel consumption for a United States kiln is ca 5.9 x 10 kJ/t (1.4 x 10 kcal/t) ) malt, with a range of 2.9-10 X 10 kJ/t of malt. 

Table 10. United States Portland Cement Industry Energy Consumption, %...

The demand for energy is continually increasing and the highest energy consumption in the world occurs in the United States. In 1989 consumption totaled 8.6 x 10 MJ (81.3 x 10 Btu) or 11.7 metric tons of coal-equivalent per capita (85). World recoverable reserves were about 120 times the annual coal production in 1988 and about 10 times that for the additional reserves beheved to be in place (1). Estimated coal consumption reduces the known recoverable reserves at about 1%/yr. Whereas the use of bituminous coal is expected to continue to increase in terms of tonnage, the percentage of coal used in the United States has stabilized as shown in Table 11. 

Table 1 is an estimate of energy usage by United States industry for 1988 (1). The chemical industry used 21% of the energy consumed by the U.S. industrial sector, and the other three related process industries, paper (qv), petroleum (qv), and primary metals, combined for an additional 50% of the industrial consumption. 

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