, Columnist
Hey, Energy, We’re Kind Of Over You
It's not just the pandemic. Americans’ demand for power has been sliding for decades.
Tanking up isn’t what it used to be.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
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People around the world used less energy in 2020 than in 2019 — maybe 5% less. This decline was of course due mainly to a deadly pandemic that had billions of us hiding out at home in late winter and early spring, and continues to restrict mobility and economic activity even now. Let’s hope that doesn’t become a regular occurrence!
But in a lot of affluent nations, the 2020 drop, while anomalously large, was not exactly a change in direction. In the U.S., for example, energy consumption appears to have more or less stopped rising 20 years ago.