CHICAGO | Americans drive their cars too much, use too much electricity at home and pay too little attention to conservation.

The above critique is common and may be true. However, the numbers presented Tuesday at The 56th Annual BP Statistical Review of World Review tell another story.

According to Mark Finley, a senior economist for BP, gas and oil consumption declined in the U.S. and other Western nations in 2006.

"Last year was a very weak year for oil consumption," said Finley. "U.S. gas consumption has been very weak for many years. That continued in 2006 ...The world's two largest liberalized gas markets, the U.K. and the U.S., saw the largest and third-largest consumption declines in volume terms in 2006."

Finley analyzed the worldwide energy market in a 45-minute speech before about 100 people at the Chase Tower downtown. The event was sponsored by BP, The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

During his speech, Finley focused on trends in six regions of the world and five energy products -- oil, gas, coal, nuclear and renewables. In his analysis, he frequently included the U.S. as part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a 30-nation group of mostly Western European nations that are democratic and have free-market economies.

Finley noted that OECD oil consumption fell by 400,000 barrels per day in 2006, the biggest drop since 1983. Consequently, worldwide energy consumption grew only 2.4 percent.

"China has accounted for about half the growth in global energy consumption in the last five years," said Finley, adding the communist nation's share of worldwide energy consumption has increased to 16 percent from 9 percent since 1991.

Finley said the decline in gas and oil consumption in the industrialized world came while its economy grew by 5.3 percent, "the strongest growth since 1973."

"For 2006, the story was one of modest growth in energy consumption, despite accelerated growth in the world's economy," said Finley, who attributed the U.S. consumption slowdown to higher prices, milder weather, high inventories and increased supplies.

The economist also talked a lot about coal, which has gained market share in recent years because it is cheap and homegrown and now produces 28 percent of the world's energy compared to 38 percent from oil and 25 percent from gas.