4. ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Federal buildings

The federal government is the largest energy consumer in the United States. The DOE estimates that the federal government operates over 350 000 energy-consuming buildings and 600 000 vehicles. As such, efforts by the federal government to trim energy consumption have important bearings on the overall energy consumption of the US economy.

Efforts to improve energy efficiency of federal agencies are overseen by the DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) as directed by statute. Among the mandates of the programme are to issue legislative and executive guidance, facilitate technology integration, leverage funding resources, provide technical assistance, track agency accountability, and develop accredited training programmes (DOE, 2018e). FEMP works with multiple stakeholders, including federal agencies, national labs, Congress, and industry in order to achieve the energy efficiency goals of federal agencies. FEMP also oversees public-private partnerships on energy savings projects at federal agencies. The DOE estimates FEMP’s efforts have achieved a 49% reduction in energy intensity since 1975 and cost savings of around USD 50 billion.

The Office of Federal Sustainability, administered by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, co-ordinates policy on energy and environmental sustainability across federal agencies, working closely with the FEMP (Council on Environmental Quality, 2018).

The administration issued Executive Order 13834 in May 2018, which reduces the directives that guide energy efficiency measures for buildings, vehicles and overall operations of federal agencies. Specifically, the order removes non-statutory requirements for energy efficiency and grants more discretion to agencies in improving their operational efficiency. Moreover, it encourages agencies to use performance contracting to improve energy efficiency, to avoid upfront costs to the government.

Industry

Energy consumption in the industry sector

In 2017, the industry sector consumed 410 Mtoe, 27% of US TFC. Industry energy consumption declined by 7% from 2007, the second-largest drop among end-user sectors following the residential sector. Consumption fell significantly during the financial crisis and has since stabilised on a level below pre-crisis consumption (Figure 4.12).

Natural gas and oil are the largest energy sources in industry, each accounting for over one-third of total energy consumption in the sector. In the last decade, there has been a fuel switch from oil, which decreased by 18%, to natural gas, which increased by 28%. The remaining energy consumption is mainly electricity, bioenergy and waste, and coal.

77

ENERGY SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION

IEA. All rights reserved.

4. ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Figure 4.12 TFC in industry by source, 1974-2017

IEA (2019). All rights reserved.

Since the economic crisis years, industrial energy consumption has stabilised around 400 Mtoe, of which oil and natural gas together account for 70%.

*Not visible on this scale.

Notes: Includes non-energy consumption.

Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics/.

Nearly one-third of total fuel consumption in industry is non-energy consumption, mainly oil products and some natural gas used as feedstock in the chemical and petrochemical sector and construction. The chemical and petrochemical sector is the largest user of energy and fuels, with 31% of total consumption, a majority of which is for non-energy purposes. Other large energy consumers are the paper and pulp, construction, and food and tobacco sectors (Figure 4.13).

Figure 4.13 Energy consumption in manufacturing industry sectors, 2017

The chemicals and petrochemicals industries account for 44% of industrial fuel consumption, a majority of which is oil products used as feedstock.

*Others includes non-ferrous metals, mining and quarrying, transport equipment, wood and wood products, and textile and leather.

Note: Includes fuel consumption for non-energy use.

Source: IEA (2019), World Energy Balances 2019, www.iea.org/statistics/.

78

IEA. All rights reserved.