EVERY minute, 130,000 barrels of oil are used worldwide, with the US consuming 20 million barrels of oil every day. In a bid to highlight increasing oil usage, the Alliance to Save Energy website has created an energy counter, showing the amount of oil used on a real time basis.

A spokesman at the Alliance, said: 'Our new energy counter provides graphic, visual evidence of the need for energy efficiency. With US energy consumption, and particularly oil consumption, constantly increasing, we must embrace energy saving policies and practices to protect our economy, environment and national security.'

The US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) claims that oil will account for 40% of the world's total energy use over the next two decades. The EIA also predicts the Persian Gulf oil producers will control three quarters of the world's market by 2025.

View www.ase.org/counter.htm.