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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 4-4: U.S. Energy Consumption by the Transportation Sector

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Table 4-4: U.S. Energy Consumption by the Transportation Sector

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(Quadrillion Btu)

  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 (R)2006 (R)2007 2008
Energy consumption (all sectors) 45.09 54.02 67.84 72.00 78.12 76.49 84.65 84.61 85.96 87.61 89.26 91.17 94.18 94.77 95.18 96.82 98.98 96.33 97.86 98.21 100.35 (R)100.48 99.88 101.55 99.30
Total transportation consumptiona 10.60 12.43 16.10 18.24 19.70 20.09 22.42 22.12 22.42 22.77 23.37 23.85 24.44 24.75 25.26 25.95 26.55 26.28 26.85 27.00 27.90 28.36 28.84 29.13 27.92
Transportation as percent of total energy consumption 23.5 23.0 23.7 25.3 25.2 26.3 26.5 26.1 26.1 26.0 26.2 26.2 26.0 26.1 26.5 26.8 26.8 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.8 28.2 28.9 28.7 28.1
Total primary consumptionb 10.56 12.40 16.06 18.21 19.66 20.04 22.37 22.07 22.36 22.72 23.31 23.79 24.38 24.70 25.20 25.89 26.49 26.22 26.79 26.93 27.82 28.28 28.76 29.05 27.84
Coalf 0.075 0.016 0.007 0.001 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
in million short tonsf 3.046 0.655 0.298 0.024 N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N
Natural gasc 0.36 0.52 0.74 0.59 0.65 0.52 0.68 0.62 0.61 0.64 0.71 0.72 0.74 0.78 0.67 0.68 0.67 0.66 0.70 0.63 0.60 0.62 0.62 0.67 0.68
in trillion cubic feet 0.35 0.50 0.72 0.58 0.63 0.50 0.66 0.60 0.59 0.63 0.69 0.70 0.72 0.76 0.64 0.66 0.65 0.64 0.68 0.61 0.59 0.61 0.61 0.65 0.66
Petroleum productsd 10.13 11.87 15.31 17.61 19.01 19.47 21.62 21.37 21.67 21.98 22.50 22.95 23.56 23.81 24.42 25.10 25.68 25.41 25.91 26.06 26.92 27.31 27.65 27.77 26.33
in million barrels 1,880 2,203 2,839 3,267 3,494 3,591 3,974 3,929 3,982 4,060 4,167 4,259 4,363 4,416 4,533 4,659 4,762 4,722 4,821 4,862 5,021 5,094 5,175 5,215 4,996
Electricity 0.010 0.010 0.011 0.010 0.011 0.014 0.016 0.016 0.016 0.016 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.017 0.018 0.020 0.019 0.023 0.025 0.026 0.025 0.028 0.026
Electrical system energy lossese 0.026 0.024 0.026 0.024 0.027 0.032 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.038 0.039 0.038 0.038 0.038 0.040 0.042 0.043 0.042 0.051 0.055 0.056 0.054 0.060 0.056

KEY: Btu = British thermal unit; N = data do not exist; R = revised.

a Sum of primary consumption, electricity, and electrical system energy losses categories.
b Sum of coal, natural gas, and petroleum categories.
c Consumed in the operation of pipelines, primarily in compressors, and small amounts consumed as vehicle fuel.
d Includes most nonutility use of fossil fuels to produce electricity and small amounts (about 0.1 quadrillion Btu per year since 1990) of renewable energy in the form of ethanol blended into motor gasoline.
e Incurred in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity plus plant use and unaccounted for electrical system energy losses.
f Beginning from 1980, small amounts of coal consumed for transportation are included in industrial sector consumption.

NOTES
Energy consumption (all sectors) differs from totals in table 4-2 for 1990 and subsequent years.

SOURCES
Energy consumption (all sectors), total transportation consumption and total primary consumption:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 2.1a, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Coal:
Btu:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 2.1e, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Short tons:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 7.3, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of September 2008.
Natural gas:
Btu:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 2.1e, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Cubic feet:
1960-70: Ibid., Annual Energy Review 2000, DOE/EIA-0384 (2000) (Washington DC: August 2001) table 6.5.
1975-2008: Ibid., Monthly Energy Review (Washington DC: December 2009), table 4.3, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Petroleum products:
Btu:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 2.1e, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Barrels:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 5.13c, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.
Electricity and electrical system energy losses:
U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review (Washington DC: Annual issues), table 2.1e, available at http://www.eia.doe.gov as of December 2009.