United States of America

Index rank 12

Energy Sustainability Index Rankings

 2010  2011  2012  Trend
Energy Performance  8  15  13 
Energy Security  19  32  27 
Social Equity  1  1  1 
Environmental Impact Mitigation  30  39  31 
       
Contextual Performance  14  18  15 
Political Strength  17  23  26 
Societal Strength  16  20  20 
Economic Strength  17  18  16 
       
Overall Rank  9  12  12 
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Fossil Fuel Resources

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Key Metrics

Industrial sector (% of GDP) 19.2
TPEP / TPEC  (net energy importer) 0.77
Emission intensity (kg CO2 per USD) 1.68
Energy affordability (USD per kWh) 0.12
GDP / capita (PPP, USD); GDP Group 46,900 (A)
Energy intensity (million BTU per USD) 0.03
CO2 emissions (metric tons) / capita) 17.51
Population Access to Electricity (%) 100.0
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Index Commentary

The United States maintains its position in the Index on rank twelve. The country shows relatively constant performance in the contextual dimensions and remains the leader in the social equity dimension. An improvement in energy security is driven by an increased wholesale margin on gasoline and a decrease in energy consumption growth, which may be partly driven by the economic recession. Environmental performance improves due to lower CO2 emissions from electricity and heat generation; however energy and emissions intensity per capita is very high compared to other countries and slightly increased during the last year.

Trends and Outlook

Due to advances in horizontal drilling and in hydraulic fracturing shale gas production has become economically viable in recent years. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the country has more than 1,744 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, including 211 tcf of proved reserves (the discovered, economically recoverable fraction of the original gas-in-place); production of shale gas is expected to increase from a 2007 US total of 1.4 tcf to 4.8 tcf in 2020. The significant increases in domestic oil and gas production will greatly reduce oil imports over the next ten years, and lead to increased exports of refined products and possibly natural gas. Important energy policy developments in the United States which will impact the countries balance in the three dimensions of energy sustainability include: 1) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on coal leading to the projected closure of more than 200 coal plants in the next few years accounting for more than 10% of the USA’s current energy production; 2) possible regulations on unconventional gas production; and 3) the extension (or not) of the wind production tax credit, which can cut the cost of developing a wind project by nearly a third.

Notes

1) Data for shale gas resources not available; 2) Data for shale oil is for resources in place