IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v29y2008i3p1-26.html

An Empirical Analysis of Energy Intensity and Its Determinants at the State Level

Author

Listed:
  • Gilbert E. Metcalf

Abstract

Aggregate energy intensity in the United States has been declining steadily since the mid-1970s and the first oil shock. Energy intensity can be reduced by improving efficiency in the use of energy or by moving away from energy-intensive activities. At the national level, I show that roughly three-quarters of the improvements in U.S. energy intensity since 1970 results from efficiency improvements. This should reduce concerns that the United States is off-shoring its carbon emissions. A state-level analysis shows that rising per capita income and higher energy prices have played an important part in lowering energy intensity. Price and income predominantly influence intensity through changes in energy efficiency rather than through changes in economic activity. In addition, the empirical analysis suggests that little policy intervention will be needed to achieve the Bush Administration goal of an 18 percent reduction in carbon intensity by the end of this decade.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilbert E. Metcalf, 2008. "An Empirical Analysis of Energy Intensity and Its Determinants at the State Level," The Energy Journal, , vol. 29(3), pages 1-26, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:29:y:2008:i:3:p:1-26
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No3-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No3-1
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol29-No3-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Greening, Lorna A., 2004. "Effects of human behavior on aggregate carbon intensity of personal transportation: comparison of 10 OECD countries for the period 1970-1993," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-30, January.
    2. Greening, Lorna A. & Ting, Michael & Krackler, Thomas J., 2001. "Effects of changes in residential end-uses and behavior on aggregate carbon intensity: comparison of 10 OECD countries for the period 1970 through 1993," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 153-178, March.
    3. repec:aen:journl:1987v08-02-a06 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jüppner, Marcus & Martin, Anika & Radke-Arden, Lucas, 2024. "The effects of energy efficiency on GDP and GHG emissions in Germany," Technical Papers 03/2024, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    2. David Benatia & R'emy Molini'e & Pierre-Olivier Pineau, 2026. "What Drives Energy Use? Prices, Efficiency Policies, and the Demand Frontier," Papers 2604.12112, arXiv.org.
    3. Mei Lu & Michael G Pollitt, 2025. "Will high carbon prices reduce fossil fuel use in China? Evidence from price elasticity estimates using firm data," Working Papers EPRG2508, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    4. Luo, Kaikai & Wang, Fen & Chen, Xuezhen, 2025. "Impact of artificial intelligence on energy efficiency in Chinese enterprises," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Wu, Qingyang & Wang, Yaqi & Shen, Guangjun, 2024. "The green bonus of tax incentives: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    6. Agnolucci, Paolo & De Lipsis, Vincenzo & Gencer, Defne & Lartey, Abraham & Grubb, Michael, 2025. "The evolution and implications of national energy cost shares," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Chen, Ruoyu & Steinbuks, Jevgenijs, 2024. "Assessing the potential for energy efficiency improvements in Latin America and Caribbean," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. Usman, Ojonugwa & Iorember, Paul Terhemba & Ozkan, Oktay & Alola, Andrew Adewale, 2025. "The asymmetric effect of household and commercial energy efficiency on U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions," Innovation and Green Development, Elsevier, vol. 4(5).
    9. Luo, Heng & Sun, Ying, 2024. "The impact of energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the presence of EKC: Evidence from G20 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    10. Gechert, Sebastian & Mey, Bianka & Prante, Franz & Schäfer, Teresa, 2025. "The Price Elasticity of Heating and Cooling Energy Demand," OSF Preprints 4sjy5_v2, Center for Open Science.
    11. Clay, Karen & Jha, Akshaya & Lewis, Joshua & Severnini, Edson, 2025. "Carbon Rollercoaster: A Historical Analysis of Decarbonization in the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 18008, IZA Network @ LISER.
    12. Qiang Wang & Xiaoli Yang & Rongrong Li, 2024. "Does intellectual property protection improve energy efficiency? Evidence from the impact of intellectual property income on energy intensity," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(8), pages 4310-4338, December.
    13. Yang Liu & Weiwei Huang & Taoyuan Wei & Brantley Liddle, 2025. "Decoupling energy consumption from economic growth in Africa: the role of sectoral energy efficiency and economic structural change," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1-34, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Boqiang & Tan, Ruipeng, 2017. "Sustainable development of China's energy intensive industries: From the aspect of carbon dioxide emissions reduction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 386-394.
    2. Zhanglan Wu & Jie Tang & Dong Wang, 2016. "Low Carbon Urban Transitioning in Shenzhen: A Multi-Level Environmental Governance Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Lin, Boqiang & Wang, Xiaolei, 2015. "Carbon emissions from energy intensive industry in China: Evidence from the iron & steel industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 746-754.
    4. Du, Jiangze & Li, Zhiwei & Shi, Guoping & Wang, Bin, 2024. "Can “environmental protection fee to tax” reduce carbon emissions? Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(PB).
    5. Lee, Kihoon & Oh, Wankeun, 2006. "Analysis of CO2 emissions in APEC countries: A time-series and a cross-sectional decomposition using the log mean Divisia method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 2779-2787, November.
    6. Fan, Jing-Li & Liao, Hua & Liang, Qiao-Mei & Tatano, Hirokazu & Liu, Chun-Feng & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2013. "Residential carbon emission evolutions in urban–rural divided China: An end-use and behavior analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 323-332.
    7. Haichao Feng & Ruonan Wang & He Zhang, 2022. "Research on Carbon Emission Characteristics of Rural Buildings Based on LMDI-LEAP Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Fengjian Ge & Jiangfeng Li & Yi Zhang & Shipeng Ye & Peng Han, 2022. "Impacts of Energy Structure on Carbon Emissions in China, 1997–2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-25, May.
    9. Lin, Boqiang & Long, Houyin, 2014. "How to promote energy conservation in China’s chemical industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 93-102.
    10. Hongwei Xiao & Zhongyu Ma & Peng Zhang & Ming Liu, 2019. "Study of the impact of energy consumption structure on carbon emission intensity in China from the perspective of spatial effects," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 99(3), pages 1365-1380, December.
    11. Keirstead, James, 2006. "Evaluating the applicability of integrated domestic energy consumption frameworks in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(17), pages 3065-3077, November.
    12. Liu Chen & Xin Li & Sheng Xue & Lingfei Qu & Minxi Wang, 2019. "Carbon intensity and emission reduction potential in China: spatial measuring method," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Liang Chen & Zhifeng Yang & Bin Chen, 2013. "Decomposition Analysis of Energy-Related Industrial CO 2 Emissions in China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(5), pages 1-19, April.
    14. Fan, Ying & Liu, Lan-Cui & Wu, Gang & Tsai, Hsien-Tang & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2007. "Changes in carbon intensity in China: Empirical findings from 1980-2003," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 683-691, May.
    15. Tol, Richard S.J. & Pacala, Stephen W. & Socolow, Robert H., 2009. "Understanding Long-Term Energy Use and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the USA," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 425-445, May.
    16. Xu, X.Y. & Ang, B.W., 2013. "Index decomposition analysis applied to CO2 emission studies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 313-329.
    17. Lin, Boqiang & Long, Houyin, 2016. "Emissions reduction in China׳s chemical industry – Based on LMDI," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1348-1355.
    18. Duro, Juan Antonio & Padilla, Emilio, 2006. "International inequalities in per capita CO2 emissions: A decomposition methodology by Kaya factors," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 170-187, March.
    19. Tianqi Rong & Pengyan Zhang & Wenlong Jing & Yu Zhang & Yanyan Li & Dan Yang & Jiaxin Yang & Hao Chang & Linna Ge, 2020. "Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Their Driving Forces of Land Use Change Based on Economic Contributive Coefficient (ECC) and Ecological Support Coefficient (ESC) in the Lower Yellow River Region (1995–2018)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Greening, Lorna A., 2004. "Effects of human behavior on aggregate carbon intensity of personal transportation: comparison of 10 OECD countries for the period 1970-1993," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-30, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:29:y:2008:i:3:p:1-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.