EIA Analysis: Wind Energy Is The Lowest-Cost Option For Reducing Carbon Emissions

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6. Let's just look at cars

Between 1986 and 2010 the CAFE standard for vehicles went from 26.0 to 27.5 MPG, and for light trucks from 20.0 to 23.5. This amounts to an efficiency improvement of 6% for cars and 15% for light trucks. Yet according to the data at IndexMundi, world gasoline consumption climbed from 16 mbpd to about 22 mbpd, or 37.5% during the same period. The increase in fuel consumption more than offset the increase in fuel economy due to the increased number of vehicles on the road.

This increase isn't a simple single-commodity "Jevons" effect. It's a byproduct of the growth of the world economy. That growth is fueled in part by the sparing of funds due to aggregated efficiency improvements across all energy-using sectors.