Industrial Total Energy Consumption

The industrial sector comprises manufacturing and other non-manufacturing sectors not included in transportation or services. These non-manufacturing sectors are agriculture, forestry and fisheries, mining, and construction. Only in the manufacturing sector is data on energy use collected annually, although information on energy costs for the other sectors is available through Census data every five years. Figure I1, below, shows how industrial sector energy intensity has changed over time.

Results are presented based on total energy consumption for the period between 1985 and 2004.

Activity: The top line in Figure I1 shows that industrial sector GDP has increased 64% since 1985.
Energy Use: Energy use has increased slightly less than 12%.
Energy Intensity Index: Energy intensity has declined by 19% since 1985, with most of this decline occuring since 1993.
Changes due to factors unrelated to efficiency improvements: Other explanatory factors have also contributed to a decline in energy used since 1993. These factors have contributed to about an 16% decline in total industrial energy use.

A chart shows four lines representing GDP in industry, energy use, structure, and intensity for the years 1985 to 2004. An index with 1985 equal to 1.0 is plotted on the vertical axis; years are plotted on the horizontal axis. The top line, GDP in industry, moves up gradually to 1989, dips slightly for the next two years, then climbs until 2000, dips a little in 2001, then continues to climb to 1.64 in 2004. The second line from the top, energy use, is slightly less than GDP for the first five years; is identical to GDP from 1991 to 1993; then diverges from the GDP line, staying almost contant at 1.20 between 1993 and 2000; drops to about 1.12 in 2001; and remains at this level through 2004. The third line from the top, structure, remains near 1.0 through 1993, then slowly drops to nearly 0.8 in 2004. The fourth line, intensity, closely resembles the structure line, except that it dips slightly below 1.0 in 1986 and slowly rises until it reaches 1.0 in 1993, then gradually drops to about 0.8 in 2004, mirroring the structure line during most of this period.

Figure I1. Energy Use, Energy Intensity, Output and Structural Effects in the Industrial Sector, 1985-2004

The change resulting from other factors, shown in Figure I1, is a composite of two effects, the change in manufacturing as a fraction of total industrial output over time, and the changes (mostly shifts among industries) that have occurred over time within manufacturing. These components are shown in Figure I2, below. The line labeled "Relative Mfg Growth" indicates that manufacturing, which is more energy intensive than non-manufacturing, has grown relative to total industrial GDP, with most of that change occurring since 1995. This factor has added about 6% to energy use, most of this effect occurring after the recession in the early 1990's. The line labeled "Within Mfg Shifts" shows that the manufacturing industries that are less energy intensive have grown relative to those industries that are highly energy intensive, thus reducing the energy intensity of manufacturing as a whole. The effect of these shifts has been a reduction of industrial energy use of 21%.

A chart shows three lines representing relative manufacturing/non manufacturing growth, within manufacturing shifts, and total structure for the years 1985 to 2004. An index with 1985 equal to 1.0 is plotted on the vertical axis; years are plotted on the horizontal axis. The three lines are almost identical from 1985 through 1992, at or near 1.0, and then diverge. The top line, relative manufacturing/non manufacturing growth, begins rising gradually in 1993, reaching 1.06 in 2004. The second line from the top, total structure, begins dropping in 1993 to reach 0.87 in 2000, remains at this level for the next three years, then drops to about 0.83 for 2003 and 2004. The bottom line, within manufacturing shifts, closely resembles the second line except that it begins dropping in 1993 at a slightly steeper and increasing rate, reaching 0.79 in 2004.

Figure I2. Industrial Structure, 1985-2004

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