Manufacturing Energy Use in Eight OECD Countries: Trends through 1988 *

Abstract

This paper reviews the evolution of manufacturing energy use in eight industrialized nations: West Germany, Denmark, France, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Manufacturing energy use fell in these nations by 16% between 1973 and 1988 while manufacturing value-added increased by 41%. Reduced energy intensities in six industry groups -paper and pulp; chemicals; stone, clay and glass; iron and steel; nonferrous metals; and other manufacturing - were the primary source of this apparent decoupling of energy use and output. Between 1973 and 1988, intensity reductions would have driven down sectoral energy use by 32% if the level and composition of output had remained constant. Structural change, or shifts in the product mix, would have reduced energy use by 11% if the total level of output and the energy intensities of each industry group had remained constant.