How We Use Energy

The United States is a highly developed and industrialized society. We use a lot of energy in our homes, in businesses, in industry, and for personal travel and transporting goods. There are four major sectors that consume energy at the point of end use.

Share of Energy Consumed by Major Sectors of the Economy, 2010 graphic. Image of the four major energy use sectors: Industrial sector with 31%, Transportation sector with 28%, Residential sector with 23%, and Commercial sector with 19%
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  • The industrial sector includes facilities and equipment used for manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and construction.

  • The transportation sector comprises vehicles that transport people or goods, such as: cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, trains, subways, aircraft, boats, barges, and even hot air balloons.

  • The residential sector consists of homes and apartments.

  • The commercial sector includes buildings such as offices, malls, stores, schools, hospitals, hotels, warehouses, restaurants, places of worship, and more.

Each end-use sector consumes electricity produced by the electric power sector.

U.S. Total Energy Consumption by End-Use Sector, 1949-2010

line graph showing energy consumption by sector, 1949-2009
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From 1949 to 2010, primary energy consumption in the United States tripled. In all but 16 of those years, primary energy consumption increased over the previous year.

The year 2009 provided a sharp contrast to this historical trend, in part due to the economic recession. Real gross domestic product (GDP) fell 2% compared to 2008, and energy consumption declined as well: by nearly 5%. Decreases occurred in all four major end-use sectors: residential — 2%, commercial — 1%, industrial — 9%, and transportation — 4%.

Consumption decreased the most in the industrial sector, which was particularly hard hit by the recession. Real value added for the manufacturing sector fell by 6%. Total energy consumption in the transportation sector fell by about 4% in 2009. Decreases in total transportation sector consumption in 2008 and 2009 were the first since 1990 and 1991 that consumption fell in consecutive years.

The general historical trend for annual increases in energy consumption resumed in 2010 as the U.S. economy improved. Total energy consumption increased by about 4% over 2009. Increases occurred in all sectors: residential — 5%, commercial — 2%, industrial — 6%, transportation — 2%.