What You Need To Know About Energy
How We Use Energy
We divide our energy use among four economic sectors: residential, commercial, transportation, and industrial. Heating and cooling our homes, lighting office buildings, driving cars and moving freight, and manufacturing the products we rely on in our daily lives are all functions that require energy. If projections are correct, we’re going to keep needing more. In the United States alone, energy consumption is expected to rise 7.3% over the next two decades. Global consumption is expected to increase by 40% over the same time period.
Explore Other Topics
Energy Hands-on
Understanding Efficiency
Learn the significance of energy efficiencyThe Promise of Better Lighting
Energy savings through lighting technologyOur Energy System
A visualization of all our energy sourcesEnergy Defined
- Grid
The network connecting electricity producers to consumers. The boundaries of the grid can be drawn differently but may include electricity generators, high power transmission wires, lower power distribution wires, and end users such as homes and businesses as well as the regulatory and market structures that impact electricity transactions. The grid is a physical infrastructure transmitting electricity and is also an economic entity that responds to supply and demand communicated through prices.
National Academies
Search the National Academies Press website by selecting one of these related terms.
Source Material
- Real Prospects for Energy Efficiency in the United States (2010)
- Electricity from Renewable Resources: Status, Prospects, and Impediments (2010)
- Liquid Transportation Fuels from Coal and Biomass: Technological Status, Costs, and Environmental Impacts (2009)
- Effectiveness and Impact of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) Standards (2002)
- Partnerships for Solid-State Lighting: Report of a Workshop (2002)
- Review of the Research Program of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership: First Report (2005)
- Decreasing Energy Intensity in Manufacturing: Assessing the Strategies and Future Directions of the Industrial Energy Technologies Program (2005)
