LVXXU

Summary
TRANSFORMING U.S.
ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURES
IN A TIME OF RAPID CHANGE:
THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THE
QUADRENNIAL ENERGY REVIEW
SUMMARY FOR POLICYMAKERS
The U.S. energy landscape is changing. The United States has become the world’s leading producer of
oil and natural gas combined. The country is less dependent on foreign oil, as a percentage of national
oil consumption, than it has been since 1971. Current cars can go farther on a gallon of gas than ever
before. Between 2005 and 2014, U.S. consumption of motor gasoline fell 2.6 percent despite population
growth of 7.6 percent and gross domestic product growth of 13.0 percent. Additionally, as a result of
changes in economic structure and conditions and policies to promote energy efficiency, U.S. electricity
consumption was flat over that 10-year period and total energy use declined by 1.9 percent. a
The composition of the Nation’s energy supply has also started to shift: petroleum consumption is flat
and coal consumption is declining, while the use of natural gas and renewables is growing. In 2014,
renew able energy sources accounted for half of new installed electric-generation capacity, and natural
gas units made up most of the remainder. Electricity generation from wind grew 3.3-fold between
2008 and 2014, and electricity generation from solar energy grew more than 20-fold.
The focus of U.S. energy policy discussions has shifted from worries about rising oil imports and
high gasoline prices to debates about how much and what kinds of U.S. energy should be exported,
concerns about the safety of transporting large quantities of domestic crude oil by rail, and the
overriding question of what changes in patterns of U.S. energy supply and demand will be needed—
and how they can be achieved—for the United States to do its part in meeting the global climate
change challenge.
a
The figures in this and the succeeding paragraph are from: Energy Information Administration. “Monthly Energy Review.”
March 2015. www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/mer.pdf. However, the population data are from: Census
Bureau. “Population Estimates.” www.census.gov/popest/. Accessed April 5, 2015.
QER Report: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure | April 2015 S-1