Reuters: Energy efficiency - bigger than shale: Kemp

The United States is experiencing the largest and most sustained drop in oil demand since the start of the petroleum era in 1859 thanks to improvements in efficiency and the switch to alternative fuels.

Quietly and almost unnoticed by most commentators, efficiency and fuel switching are making an even bigger contribution to the North American energy revolution than hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

Fuel savings have contributed more barrels to the supply/demand balance than the combined output from North Dakota's Bakken and Texas' Eagle Ford.

Efficiency gains and the switch from crude oil to natural gas and biofuels have cut the consumption of petroleum products in the United States by more than 2 million barrels per day since 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration.
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