This is the fifth in a series of posts on energy consumption in Missouri. In the previous four, I have compared Missouri energy consumption to consumption in four neighboring states, and I have reported on energy consumption in Missouri by source. In this post, I report on energy consumption by sector.
Energy consumption is typically discussed as occurring in four or five broad economic sectors. They are residential consumption, commercial consumption, industrial consumption, and transportation consumption. The fifth sector is electrical power generation. Often, more energy is consumed to generate electricity than any other sector. However, electricity itself is used as energy in the other four sectors. Thus, some analyses prefer to include electricity as one of five economic sectors, while others prefer to regard electricity as an energy source consumed by the other four sectors. I will give you the data both ways.
The first graph at right shows Missouri energy consumption from 1960-2010 with electrical power counted as one of five economic sectors. Energy consumption in all sectors has increased significantly, except in the industrial sector. There it grew until 1974, but then declined, and finished at very close to its starting level. Commercial consumption tripled, while residential and transportation consumption roughly doubled.
Consumption for generating electrical power, on the other hand, grew by 674%, a very large increase. Where energy consumption to generate electrical power was once the fourth largest sector in the state, now it is the largest, more than 50% larger than the second largest.
The second graph at right shows Missouri energy consumption from 1960-201 with electrical power counted as one source of power consumed by four economic sectors. In this graph, industrial consumption has grown, though it has grown least, and the industrial sector has gone from the largest consumer to the smallest. The slopes of the other three lines are roughly the same, indicating that consumption has grown at about the same rate. Transportation is now the sector with the largest consumption. It’s rate of increase over the last decade has slowed, however, something that cannot be said for residential or commercial consumption.
The third graph at right shows Missouri electricity consumption from 1960-2010 by sector. The transportation sector is not a significant consumer of electricity and has been omitted. The graph shows that consumption has more than tripled since 1960. However, its growth rate has been nothing compared to the growth rate in the residential and commercial sectors, which have more than quintupled.
These graphs show the relative growth of consumption, and the relative contribution of electricity. In the next few posts, I will explore how the sectors performed on per capita and per Gross State Product bases.
The data for this post is not found on a single source. It was pieced together from data available at the State Energy Data System(SEDS): 1960-2010 (Complete), Missouri State Profile and Energy Estimates, Energy Information Administration, http://www.eia.gov/state/seds/seds-data-complete.cfm?sid=MO#Consumption.