Currently, organizations around the world are under pressure to limit the consumption of non-renewable energy sources and the emission of carbon into the atmosphere. How much energy does an industry deserve to consume? But determining how much consumption is excessive is a difficult issue that is entangled with discussions about our society’s priorities. In the end, determining which goods and services are “worth” using these resources for comes down to a matter of values. Energy use has emerged as the most recent flashpoint in the larger discussion about what, and who, digital currencies are really good for as cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin in particular, have gained in popularity.
The query regarding energy use appears to be reasonable. The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) estimates that the annual energy consumption of Bitcoin is currently 110 Terawatt Hours, or zero. 55% of the world’s electricity production, or roughly the annual energy consumption of small nations like Sweden or Malaysia This certainly sounds like a lot of energy. But how much energy should a monetary system consume?.
Your response will likely be influenced by how you feel about Bitcoin. It would only be logical to conclude that using any amount of energy is wasteful if you think that Bitcoin serves only as a ponzi scheme or a means of money laundering. If you’re one of the tens of millions of people using it to avoid inflation, capital controls, or monetary repression, you probably believe that the effort is very well spent. How much value you believe Bitcoin creates for society ultimately determines whether you believe it has a legitimate claim on its resources.
But if we’re going to have this discussion, let’s be clear about how energy is actually used by Bitcoin. Understanding Bitcoin’s energy usage may not answer questions about its utility, but it can help put the environmental impact that Bitcoin proponents claim to be having into context. Specifically, there are a few key misconceptions worth addressing.
But it’s also crucial to understand that, roughly speaking, all the new energy to be created as this century progresses will have to be produced in the less developed regions of Asia, Africa, and South America because those are the places where the people who will use it are. While changing the North American and European energy systems is important, as energy use in currently low-income regions catches up to that of high-income countries, it becomes less important.
Technology, information, and wealth are now traveling the globe more quickly than ever in the twenty-first century. Since 1990, 1. Over 140 million people per year enter the expanding middle class, helping 1 billion people escape the worst forms of poverty. The number of newly wealthy people is also growing quickly. History suggests that as these global citizens begin to accumulate more money, they will spend a large portion of it—directly or indirectly—on energy.
To enable people in developing nations to enjoy the necessities that people in wealthier regions of the world have long taken for granted, we need advances in the energy sector. We keep saying we need to do more with less. No. We must make more energy—much more cleanly—and use it much more effectively for the benefit of much larger numbers of people.
Similar to renewable energy sources, it is challenging for new entrants to meet the growing demand. Analysts estimate that 1. The International Monetary Fund predicts that by 2050, there will be 3 billion cars on the road worldwide. Currently, there are 2 billion cars. Therefore, experts believe that even though most nations have almost entirely stopped using oil to produce electricity in order to use it instead to produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and plastics, we will still likely burn as much oil over the next 30 years as we did over the years prior to 1869.
The energy required to lift people out of extreme poverty and into stable subsistence is actually quite low. The poor only use a trickle of electricity compared to the rich who use gushing streams of it. In fact, according to calculations by the International Energy Agency (IEA), ensuring that everyone has access to electricity, cooking gas, and other modern energy sources by the year 2030 will only slightly increase global carbon dioxide emissions. For all the suffering it would alleviate and the immense human potential it would free, that is a small price to pay.
In 2021, the average annual electricity consumption for a U. S. 10,632 kilowatthours (kWh) were consumed by residential utility customers, or an average of 886 kWh per month. Hawaii had the lowest annual electricity consumption per residential customer at 6,369 kWh, while Louisiana had the highest at 14,302 kWh.
The United States uses a mix of energy sources
Numerous energy sources and types are used and produced in the United States, and they can be divided into broad categories like primary and secondary, renewable and nonrenewable, and fossil fuels.
Fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal), nuclear energy, and renewable energy sources are the main energy sources. A secondary energy source produced from primary energy sources is electricity.
Liquid fuels are measured in barrels or gallons, natural gas is measured in cubic feet, coal is measured in short tons, and electricity is measured in kilowatts and kilowatthours. British thermal units (Btu), a unit of heat energy, are frequently used in the US to compare various forms of energy to one another. In 2021, total U. S. About 97,331,601,000,000,000 Btu, or 97 quadrillion Btu, was used as primary energy. U. S. primary energy consumption by energy source, 2021 total = 97. 33 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) total = 12. Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration 16 quadrillion Btu 2% geothermal 12% solar 27% wind 4% biomass waste 19% biofuels 17% wood 19% hydroelectric biomass 40% renewable 12% natural gas 32% petroleum 36% coal 11% nuclear electric power S. Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, Table 1. 3 and 10. 1, April 2022, preliminary data Note: Due to independent rounding, the sum of the components may not equal 100%.
Around 96% of all U.S. energy consumption in 2021 came from the electric power sector. S. electricity production at utility scale, almost all of which was sold to other sectors 1.
Because they use primary energy sources and electricity generated by the electric power sector, the transportation, industrial, commercial, and residential sectors are referred to as end-use sectors.
The primary energy use, purchased electricity, energy system losses (energy conversion and other losses related to the production, transmission, and distribution of purchased electricity), and other energy losses make up the end-use sectors’ total energy consumption.
The sources of energy used by each sector vary widely. For instance, in 2021, petroleum accounted for about 90% of the energy needs of the transportation sector but only 1% of the energy needs of the electric power sector. The chart below displays the types and quantities of primary energy sources used in the United States, as well as the amounts of primary energy consumed by the electric power sector and energy end-use sectors and the retail sales of electricity made by the electric power sector to those end-use sectors.
The chart below shows U. S. annual primary energy consumption from 1950 through 2021.
FAQ
How much energy do we use?
With a global population of 7. 3 billion, which equates to 78 million Btu per person annually.
How much energy is in the world?
| Year | TES |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 12600 |
| 2019 | 14400 |
| 2020 | 13800 |
| 2021 | 14500 |
How do you calculate how much energy is consumed?
Kilowatt-hours, or kWh, are the measure of electrical energy. They are calculated by multiplying the amount of power used (measured in kW) by the number of hours it is used. The total cost of energy is calculated by multiplying that value by the price per kWh. Maxim’s Energy Cost Calculator makes the calculation even easier.
How much energy do we use a day?
Each day, U. S. per capita energy consumption includes 2. 5 gallons of oil, 8. A total of 246 cubic feet of natural gas and 86 pounds of coal The average household’s daily electricity use is 12 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per person. In 2021, total U. S. energy consumption decreased 3. 1% from 2019 peak levels.
