How much natural gas do Americans use?

Answer 1

It is easier for the standard of measurement of Natural gas to be measured in cubic feet. That is how the Gas companies measure the amount of gas produced, used, moved...etc. Since a therm is a measurement of energy we can approximate the usage like this:

The energy contained in a a cubic foot of gas varies. Therefore an exact Therm usage value will be hard to come by. (It would be easier if there was a measurement of BTU or therm content posted. The Natural Gas companies know this value when gas is acquired from the well, but they are more interested in how much they are moving.) Anyway, on AVERAGE 1ft3 of Natural Gas contains 1,000 Btu of energy. (A Btu is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.)

So...In the USA, the federal energy information administration has measured that in 2006 we used 21,653.086 Billion ft3 of Natural Gas. That is 21,653.086 *109 ft3. Since 1 cubic foot of gas contains on AVERAGE 1,000 Btu of energy, the USA used an average of 21,653.086 * 1012 Btu. Convert that into Therms and we have: (1 therm = 100,000 Btu, 1 dt = 1,000,000 Btu ) 21,653,086,000 dt, or 216,530,860,000 Therms used in 2006.

NOTE: Remember that this is a rough average since the energy contents of different samples of Natural Gas will vary by well or location.

Answer 2

Roughly 50 to 60 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/D) including residential and industrial use. At 50 bcf/D, this is about 1.5 trillion cubic feet per month or 18.4 trillion cubic feet/year. See: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng_cons_sum_dcu_nus_m.htm