Justin Fox, Columnist

The De-Electrification of the U.S. Economy

There's even worse news for the coal industry.

April 12, 2017 at 1:19 PM EDT

Corrected

April 15, 2017 at 8:06 AM EDT

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business, economics and other topics involving charts. A former editorial director of the Harvard Business Review, he is author of “The Myth of the Rational Market.”

Nowhere to go but down.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE

This article is for subscribers only.

For more than a century after the advent of commercial electrical power in the late 1800s, electricity use in the U.S. rose and rose and rose. Sure, there were pauses during recessions, but the general trajectory was up. Until 2007, it appears:

The initial drop in electricity use1492005044758 in 2008 and 2009 could be attributed partly to the economic downturn. But the economy grew again in 2010, and every year since. Electricity use in the U.S., meanwhile, is still below its 2007 level, and seemingly flatlining.

The change is even more dramatic if you measure on a per-capita basis:

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE