Energy Efficiency:Reduce Energy Intensity (energy demand/$ real GDP) 50 percent by 2035 (2010 as base year).

Goal Leader: Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, White House Domestic Policy Council

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the least expensive and most cost-effective ways to enhance the nation’s energy security, save money for American households, reduce our dependence on oil, and ensure a clean environment. 

Initiatives to reduce energy intensity are often low-cost relative to the alternative of developing additional power generation, and the upfront investments in efficiency programs can pay for themselves in energy savings within a few years.

This Cross-Agency Priority Goal is an effort to gradually reduce the total energy consumed in the United States each year through 2035, from a 2010 base year of 98 Quads (quadrillion BTUs), while the economy, measured by our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), continues to grow at a healthy rate.

Thus, while the population and sectors such as housing, American manufacturing, and high-tech industrial operations continue to expand the level and quality of service provided, the country will consume less energy as a whole due to efficiency gains in our buildings, transportation, industry, and federal operations.