The pandemic has upended life as we know it, and many changes are occurring that we could never have anticipated. Probably one of the more interesting statistics is just how much less energy Americans used once the pandemic forced commercial buildings to close.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) most recent Monthly Energy Review, in April 2020, the U.S. consumed the lowest amount of energy since September 1989. Energy consumption in April 2020 was 14 percent lower than in April 2019, the largest year-over-year decrease in EIA’s monthly total energy consumption, dating back to 1973. Before April 2020, the largest year-over-year change in U.S. total energy consumption occurred between December 2000 and December 2001, when consumption decreased by about 10 percent because of economic and weather-related factors, noted the EIA report.