Vital Signs.(Statistical Data Included)

Worldwatch takes the pulse of global energy consumption.

Worldwide consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas declined in 2000 for the second consecutive year, inching down by 0.2 percent to 7,643 million tons of oil equivalent. Nonetheless, global fossil fuel use has expanded by more than three and a half times since 1950. And fossil fuels currently account for 90 percent of commercial energy use.

Consumption of coal, which provides 25 percent of world commercial energy, fell for the fourth year in a row, by 4.5 percent. U.S. coal use, which is just over one