After conservation gains in the early 1980s, energy use in the US is rising again. Next year, the US Energy Department predicts, energy consumption per person will come to within 2 percent of the 1973 peak, despite the energy efficiency advances since. On the road, fuel consumption is rising fast. Industry is also using more energy, but thanks to big efficiency gains in the 80s, it's still consuming less than two decades ago after adjusting for growth in output. Residential energy consumption per person fell by a tenth from 1973 to 1983 but has since risen about as much.
Homes are larger, requiring more energy for heating and cooling and to run more appliances.
Since the early 70s, the average size of a new home has grown from 1,600 square feet to 2,100 while the average household has shrunk from 3.6 to 3 people. Computers, videocassette recorders, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers have been using about 5 percent more energy a year since 1990. Though Americans regard low energy prices as part of the Bill of Rights, the growing demand conflicts with the nation's declared goals of reducing dependence on imported oil and lowering carbon dioxide emissions, thought to cause global warming. At his conference on global warming last October, President Clinton confessed his doubts about how much the nation could alter its ways. Or even how much he could change his own.