The 250-year history of U.S. energy consumption

The federal government's energy statistics office released a look back at how the country has powered itself over the past 250 years, and where things stand now. In 2025, the U.S. used 96 quadrillion BTUs of energy, up 2% from 2024 but still below the 2007 peak. Petroleum was the top energy source, with natural gas close behind. Renewables, coal, and nuclear each made up about 9% of total use. Altogether, fossil fuels still account for 82% of the energy the country consumes, even as their share has shrunk over time.

The mix has shifted a lot in recent years. Renewables passed nuclear power in 2022 and passed coal in 2023, something that hadn't happened since the 1880s. Wind and solar now supply more energy than hydropower. Natural gas has become the top fuel for generating electricity and is also the most common way American homes are heated. None of this changes what's available to any single household, since that depends on local utilities and what's already installed in your home, but it does show the country's overall reliance on gas and electricity growing while coal keeps fading.

Looking ahead, the report expects electricity demand to grow faster over the next couple of years than it has since 2000, driven mainly by data centers. Electric vehicles are also pulling more power off the grid: nearly 6 million EVs were on U.S. roads in 2024, six times as many as in 2018, and the electricity they use has grown sharply too. For homeowners, this is mostly background context on where the country's energy is headed, rather than something that changes any near-term decision about your own house.