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America the efficient
Using energy wisely can drive down consumer costs and strengthen U.S. energy security.
July 10, 2008
Today, the United States is looking for new sources of energy to ease the burden of high oil prices and strengthen the nation’s energy security.
One of the energy "sources" that is readily accessible — and often overlooked — is energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency does not mean doing less. It means doing the same, or more, with less by using our energy more wisely.
By applying new energy-efficiency technologies, while continuing to exercise good judgment in our energy-use decisions, we can use less energy to run our businesses, power our homes and fuel our vehicles.
And this can make a dramatic difference. Since 1970, reductions in "energy intensity" — the amount of energy needed to produce a unit of economic output — helped to effectively meet well over 50 percent of Americans’ growing demand.
Efficient energy use extends the life of the world’s energy reserves. It reduces greenhouse-gas emissions. It helps drive down energy prices.
Energy efficiency also strengthens energy security. Sudden changes in energy prices have less overall economic impact because energy is a relatively smaller input to the goods and services the world produces than it was 25 years ago.
Much more could be done to improve energy efficiency across our economy. For example, the performance of a typical internal-combustion engine, including idling, makes most of today’s vehicles only about 15 percent efficient. In other words, only about one-seventh of the energy from the fuel is used to move the vehicle down the road.
New technologies — coupled with informed actions by consumers — could make U.S. transportation far more efficient. Similar potential exists in the residential, industrial and commercial sectors.
At ExxonMobil, we have worked systematically to improve efficiency at our facilities here in the United States and around the world. We’ve seen how efficiency drives down costs while also reducing emissions, a subject we will turn to in the next installment in this series.
The United States is the world’s largest energy consumer — Americans alone use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil production. So we have a lot to gain by using energy more wisely.
By all of us doing our part to advance energy-efficiency, Americans can save money, reduce emissions and strengthen the nation’s energy security.
