America is the most energy-efficient economy in history
On this Earth Day, economists show how far the United States has come in energy efficiency. As it turns out, we use less than half the energy we did in 1970 per dollar of output.
“Compared to 1970 when the first Earth Day was celebrated and 14,400 BTUs of energy were required for every dollar of output, the energy efficiency of the US economy has more than doubled – we use less than half that amount of energy today (6,110 BTUs) for every dollar of output (see chart).
