Measuring energy efficiency in the United States` economy: A beginning

Energy efficiency is a vital component of the Nation`s energy strategy. One of the Department of Energy`s missions are to promote energy efficiency to help the Nation manage its energy resources. The ability to define and measure energy efficiency is essential to this objective. In the absence of consistent defensible measures, energy efficiency is a vague, subjective concept that engenders directionless speculation and confusion rather than insightful analysis. The task of defining and measuring energy efficiency and creating statistical measures as descriptors is a daunting one. This publication is not a final product, but is EIA`s first attempt to define and measure energy efficiency in a systematic and robust manner for each of the sectors and the United States economy as a whole. In this process, EIA has relied on discussions, customer reviews, in-house reviews, and seminars that have focused on energy efficiency in each of the sectors. EIA solicits the continued participation of its customers in further refining this work