The United States saw the largest recorded annual decrease in overall energy consumption last year, falling from 100 quadrillion (quad) Btu in 2019 to 93 quad in 2020, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). However, renewable energy demand grew.

The Covid-19 pandemic and other economic factors played a significant role in reducing energy consumption, particularly for fossil fuels, which fell from 80.3 quad to 72.9, the lowest level since 1991. 

While natural gas consumption saw a slight reduction from nearly 32 quad in 2019 to 31.5 in 2020, it was at the second-highest recorded level in the United States.

Most of the decline in fossil fuels was for petroleum demand used for transportation and for coal used for electricity generation. Petroleum was down to...