Annual Energy Review 1998

Fifty Years of History. That’s what you will find in this report—energy data from 1949 through 1998. Remarkable change occurred in half a century. The U.S. population grew by 82 percent while consumption of energy increased by 194 percent. At the end of the period, the average amount of energy used per person in one year was 62 percent greater than at the beginning. At mid-century, America was nearly self-sufficient in petroleum; we were a net exporter of natural gas; most of our coal came from underground mines and was produced at the rate of seven-tenths of a short ton per miner hour; nuclear electric power had not been developed; and almost twice as much electricity was used at industrial sites as in homes. Near the end of the century, half of the petroleum we use comes from other countries; 15 percent of our natural gas consumption is imported; more of our coal comes from surface mines than underground mines and U.S. miners produce coal at a rate of over 6 short tons per miner hour; about a fifth of U.S. electricity is supplied by nuclear electric power; and residences use more electricity than industrial sites.