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# Time Explains: Energy Efficiency

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DDVcGaZL.m3u8" -->
## Video: Time Explains: Energy Efficiency

[Watch (HLS stream): Time Explains: Energy Efficiency](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DDVcGaZL.m3u8) (1:27)

![Time Explains: Energy Efficiency](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DDVcGaZL/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2013-11-15. The United Sates is currently undergoing an energy revolution. Just about every part of the its economy has become more efficient._


---

Jul 27, 2023 3:56 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

[Energy Efficient Improvements May Not Be Worth It](/video/wu59GHs3/)

### Energy Efficient Improvements May Not Be Worth It

[TIME Explains: U.S. Energy Independence](/video/XmcuBM5C/)

### TIME Explains: U.S. Energy Independence

[Energy Efficiency](/video/zbqRyiaG/)

### Energy Efficiency

---


## Transcript

[ MUSIC ] The best way to reduce the environmental impact and the cost of producing new energy is to never need to produce it in the first place. And the way to do that is to improve energy efficiency. Right now, the US is in the middle of an efficiency revolution, and here's what you need to know. [ SOUND ] You can trace the efficiency revolution back to 1973 that's when Middle Eastern oil producers put an embargo on the US, as a result oil prices and gas prices skyrocketed and American consumers scrambled to recover. [ MUSIC ] But out of that, the federal government produced the first gas mileage standards.

As a result, the average fuel efficiency of US cars has gone from 11. 9 miles per gallon back in 1973 to more than 25 miles per gallon today. The Obama administration has established even tougher standards for the future. By 2025, the standard will be 54. 5 miles per gallon That's enough to save twelve billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the standards. And it's not just vehicles. Power plants, factories, homes, businesses, pretty much every part of the US economy has gotten more efficient. Right now the US gets twice as much economic output per unit of energy than it did back in 1980. And the best news is that the US has even more room for improvement.

On a global scale, countries like Japan and most of Europe are still far more efficient than the US is now. That leaves a lot of room to grow and a lot of energy waste to reduce.

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