INTRODUCTION

Purpose

The purpose of the Washington State Energy Use Profile is to provide information on energy use, consumption, and prices in Washington State in a manner that is useful to energy professionals, policy makers, and the general public. By highlighting energy trends in the state, the Profile increases understanding of energy issues and their importance.

What's In The Profile?

A series of 10 energy performance indicators developed by the Washington State Energy Office are presented in the Profile. The indicators are designed to show the important energy trends in the state. They combine energy consumption, expenditure, and price information with economic and demographic data, and national trends to present energy information in a useful format for comparison and trend analysis (the next section describes the indicators used). The data for each indicator are presented in graphical and tabular form along with a brief explanation of the indicator, the trends, what the trends mean and the data used to develop the indicator. The appendices contain the detailed energy, economic and demographic data used to develop the indicators.

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How To Interpret The Information

It is important to recognize that the trends shown by the energy performance indicators are all interrelated. For example, energy prices directly influence energy expenditures (expenditures are equal to the price of energy multiplied by the consumption of energy) and indirectly influence energy consumption (high prices tend to discourage consumption). Economic and demographic trends strongly influence energy trends. Consumption may increase as population increases, but per capita consumption may decline. Likewise, a growing economy can lead to higher energy consumption, but consumption per economic benefit may decline.

Data are presented for the period from 1970 to 1993. A number of events occurred during this period which had a strong influence on energy consumption and expenditures in the United States. The first oil crisis was triggered by the Arab oil boycott of 1973. The Iranian revolution in 1978 was accompanied by rising oil prices and a period of high inflation during the late 1970s. The early 1980s were characterized by a sharp recession. Oil prices crashed in 1985. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a period of moderate economic growth and low inflation. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in July of 1990 brought to an end a decade of declining oil prices. The effect was short-lived, however, and oil prices began to retreat even before the Gulf War got under way.

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Where Do The Data Come From?

The energy data in the Profile are derived largely from Energy Information Administration (EIA) sources. EIA sources are used for several reasons. First, they provide consistency when making comparisons across fuels or with national trends. Second, the information is sufficiently detailed to tailor it to meet our needs. Third, EIA provides reliable and consistent time series information. Economic and demographic data are derived from Washington State sources and national sources of economic data.

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