Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)
BTS Home > Publications > National Transportation Statistics
Printable Version

Table 4-6: Energy Consumption by Mode of Transportation

(Trillion Btu)

Excel | CSV

  1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Air                                          
Certificated carriersa                                          
Jet fuel 264 525 1,061 1,020 1,150 1,366 1,664 1,553 1,588 1,614 1,672 1,711 1,784 1,831 1,800 1,944 (R) 2,007 (R) 1,872 (R) 1,744 (R) 1,766 (R) 1,902 (R)1,885 1,834
General aviationb                                          
Aviation gasoline 29 35 66 50 63 51 42 43 38 32 32 35 35 35 37 42 40 (R)34 33 (R)33 (R)33 (R)31 32
Jet fuel N 8 28 61 103 93 90 78 67 61 63 76 82 87 110 131 131 (R)124 (R)127 (R)126 (R)166 (R)169 174
Highway                                              
Gasoline, diesel and other fuels                                          
Passenger car and motorcycle 5,146 6,215 8,485 9,282 8,773 8,963 8,720 8,063 8,203 8,406 8,510 8,534 8,677 8,762 8,988 9,187 9,159 9,219 9,458 9,456 (R)9,451 (R)9,701 9,400
Other 2-axle 4-tire vehicle N e 1,539 2,385 2,975 3,420 4,451 4,777 5,116 5,356 5,514 5,701 5,919 6,173 6,308 6,607 6,617 6,690 6,903 7,595 (R)7,927 (R)7,359 7,583
Single-unit 2-axle 6-tire or more truck N 1,921 550 752 960 1,026 1,159 1,133 1,142 1,177 1,253 1,278 1,305 1,328 946 1,300 1,326 1,341 1,290 1,110 (R)1,120 (R)1,188 1,230
Combination truck N 923 1,019 1,273 1,808 1,942 2,238 2,331 2,388 2,462 2,587 2,743 2,801 2,816 3,489 3,403 3,560 3,538 3,673 3,303 (R)3,355 (R)3,840 3,894
Bus 115 121 114 146 141 116 124 120 122 129 134 134 137 142 144 159 154 142 139 134 (R)189 (R)155 159
Transitc                                          
Electricity 10 9 9 9 8 14 17 17 16 17 17 17 17 17 17 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20
Motor fuel                                            
Diesel 29 34 38 51 60 84 90 92 95 94 94 94 96 99 103 106 109 103 100 99 101 101 102
Gasoline and other nondiesel fuelsd 24 16 9 1 1 6 4 4 5 6 8 8 8 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 9
Compressed natural gas N N N N N N N N <1 <1 1 1 2 3 5 6 8 9 11 14 16 17 20
Rail, Class I (in freight service)                                          
Distillate / diesel fuel 480 498 492 507 541 431 432 403 417 428 462 483 496 496 497 515 513 515 517 531 563 568 581
Amtrak                                              
Electricity N N N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 U U U U U
Distillate / diesel fuel N N N 9 9 9 11 11 11 12 10 9 10 10 10 10 11 10 U U U U U
Water                                          
Residual fuel oil 592 463 565 608 1,340 687 947 1,014 983 791 806 881 853 750 841 874 960 810 726 580 702 775 861
Distillate / diesel fuel oil 109 90 114 152 205 236 286 284 308 299 304 324 345 357 360 336 314 284 288 307 297 278 264
Gasoline N N 75 91 132 132 163 214 165 109 109 133 124 123 120 137 141 124 135 138 126 158 155
Pipeline                                              
Natural gas 358 516 745 601 654 519 680 620 606 644 707 722 734 775 655 665 662 644 688 610 (R)584 (R)602 603

KEY: Btu = British thermal unit, N = data do not exist, R = revised, U = data are unavailable.

a Domestic operations only.

b Includes fuel used in air taxi operations, but not commuter operations.

c Prior to 1984, excludes commuter rail, automated guideway, ferryboat, demand responsive vehicles, and most rural and smaller systems.

d Gasoline and all other nondiesel fuels such as liquefied natural gas, methanol, and propane, except compressed natural gas.

e Included in other single-unit 2-axle 6-tire or more truck category.

NOTES

The following conversion rates were used:

Jet fuel = 135,000 Btu/gallon

Compressed natural gas = 138,700 Btu/gallon

Aviation gasoline = 120,200 Btu/gallon

Distillate fuel = 138,700 Btu/gallon

Automotive gasoline = 125,000 Btu/gallon

Residual fuel = 149,700 Btu/gallon

Diesel motor fuel = 138,700 Btu/gallon

Natural gas = 1,031 Btu/ft3

Electricity 1kWh = 3,412 Btu, negating electrical system losses. To include approximate electrical system losses, multiply this conversion factor by 3.

SOURCES

Air:

Certificated air carriers:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of Airline Information, Fuel Cost and Consumption, available at http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_information as of August

General aviation:

1960-70: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA Statistical Handbook of Aviation - 1972 edition (Washington, DC: 1973), table 9.12.

1975-93: Ibid., General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table 5.1, and similar tables in earlier editions.

1994-2006: Ibid., FAA Aerospace Forecasts Fiscal Years 2007-2018 (Washington, DC: Dec. 2005), table 34 and similar tables in earlier editions.

Highway:

1960-94: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics, Summary to 1995, FHWA-PL-97-009 (Washington, DC: July 1997), table VM-201A. (Revised data obtained from Internet site http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/ohimstat.ht

1995-2006: Ibid., Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table VM-1.

Transit:

Electricity / motor fuel / compressed natural gas:

American Public Transportation Association, Public Transportation Fact Book (Washington, DC: Annual issues), tables 27, 28, 29 and similar tables in earlier editions.

Rail:

Association of American Railroads, Railroad Facts (Washington, DC: Annual issues).

Amtrak:

1975-2001: Amtrak, Energy Management Department, personal communication.

Water:

Residual and distillate / diesel fuel oil:

1960-80: American Petroleum Institute, Basic Petroleum Data Book (Washington, DC: Annual issues), tables 10, 10a, 12, and 12a.

1985-2006: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, Fuel Oil and Kerosene Sales (Washington, DC: Annual issues), tables 2, 4, and similar tables in earlier editions.

Gasoline:

1970-2006: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table MF-24 and similar tables in earlier editions.

Pipeline:

U.S. Department of Energy, Natural Gas Annual, DOE/EIA-0131(04) (Washington, DC: Annual issues), table 15 and similar tables in earlier editions.
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) • U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT)
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE • Washington, DC 20590 • 800-853-1351 • E-mail RITA

Accessibility | Disclaimer | Fast Lane | FedStats | Freedom of Information Act | No FEAR Act | OIG Hotline | Privacy Policy | RSS | USA.gov | White House | Wireless

Plug-ins: PDF Reader | Flash Player | Excel Viewer | PowerPoint Viewer | Word Viewer | WinZip

RITA's privacy policies and procedures do not necessarily apply to external web sites. We suggest contacting these sites directly for information on their data collection and distribution policies.