The National Academies
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 13% over the next two decades. Global consumption is expected to increase by 44% over the same time period.
Percentage of energy consumed by each economic sector in the United States in 2008.
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Energy Hands-on
Understanding Efficiency
Learn the significance of energy efficiencyOur Energy System
A visualization of all our energy sourcesWhat do you know about energy?
As an automobile fuel, what amount of hydrogen compares with a gallon of gasoline?
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Correct!
A gallon of gasoline contains about the same energy as a kg of hydrogen. Although fuel cells are expected to be twice as efficient as gasoline vehicles, hydrogen is very diffuse and storing an ample supply on board represents an engineering challenge.
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Sorry, that’s incorrect.
A gallon of gasoline contains about the same energy as 1 kg of hydrogen. Although fuel cells are expected to be twice as efficient as gasoline vehicles, hydrogen is very diffuse and storing an ample supply on board represents an engineering challenge.
-
Sorry, that’s incorrect.
A gallon of gasoline contains about the same energy as 1 kg of hydrogen. Although fuel cells are expected to be twice as efficient as gasoline vehicles, hydrogen is very diffuse and storing an ample supply on board represents an engineering challenge.
Energy Defined
- Ampere
A unit of measure for electric current that refers to the amount of electric charge passing a point per unit of time. Ampere is frequently abbreviated to “amp.”
National Academies Press
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 (2009)
- 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)
