Fundamental social forces and policies quite unconnected with energy use affect housing, industrial structure, urban design and transport infrastructure. These forces vary greatly among countries and they have profound impacts on energy consumption. The indicators aid in the discovery of how all these forces affect the key links between energy use and human activities. They can point to policies or policy modifications which will build energy efficiency into the very structure of life, the human and institutional behaviour behind all energy consumption. The indicators reveal many new insights, some of which make sense intuitively, while some come as surprises.
Efficiency accounts for only part of the story, however.
Structural changes brought significant shifts in energy use C increases more often than decreases. Similar trends prevailed in the services which energy provides. More efficient engines and designs have made automobiles today larger and more powerful than 20 years ago, but such improvements did not always lead to large reductions in fuel use per kilometre. Meanwhile, the indicators continued to show more and more kilometres driven, everywhere. The ratio of fuel use to output in manufacturing plunged by 20 to 50 per cent, a remarkable drop, considering that the same ratio for electricity held constant or increased slightly.