Ever Wonder How the Average American Uses Energy?

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It’s amazing to see how much energy we, Americans, use every year. I found this interesting infographic and thought I’d share. The folks at Visual Economics take data from a variety of sources and create interesting, informative visuals to help the average layperson.

It’s not surprising to see that 37.14% of the US energy comes from petroleum; 22.42% from coal; and 23.84% from natural gas.

At home, 41% of energy is used for space heating; 20% for water heating; and 26% for lighting and appliances. And a little over a gallon of gasoline per day per person is used in the United States.

It’s alarming to see how our energy use per capital compares to the rest of the world.


2 thoughts on “Ever Wonder How the Average American Uses Energy?”

  1. You are right, this is a wonderful graphic. Of course, this is only showing the *average* American’s usage. If you travel for business, your usage goes way up. If you have a swimming pool (or even worse, a free-standing hot tub) your usage goes up. Ditto for that plasma screen TV. And on and on for the many toys found in American households.
    As a society we need to become way more energy efficient, *and* embrace renewable energy sources in a big way. Images like this one help folks see the disparities world wide and some of the common sources of the problem – thanks for posting it.

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