Chances are that your home could be much more energy efficient by utilizing the latest in eco friendly technologies. A recent 2002 study conducted reveals that US Homes are the largest CO2 emission producing homes in the world. Even with the advent of the new alternative energy technologies, american consumers are still using more coal producing energy then ever.
U.S. households are the biggest contributer to CO2 emissions and smog, although developing countries are quickly catching up.
Households rely primarily on three sources of energy: natural gas, electricity, and fuel oil. In the past several decades, electricity’s share of household consumption has grown dramatically, and the shares of natural gas and fuel oil have declined. Retail sales of electricity to U.S. households exceed sales of electricity to the commercial and industrial sectors.
In 2005, there were 619 US facilities with 1,522 individual generators that used coal as the predominant fuel source for generating electricity.
The need to switch to alternative energy sources today is imperative.
U.S. HOUSEHOLD ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION IN 2001
Electricity consumption by 107 million U.S. households in 2001 totaled 1,140 billion kWh. The most significant end uses were central air-conditioning and refrigerators, each of which accounted for about 14 percent of the U.S. total.
HVAC and Water Heating
Heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) accounted for 356 billion kWh, 31 percent of the electricity consumed by U.S. households in 2001. Central air-conditioning alone accounted for almost half of the HVAC total. Although there were improvements in the efficiency of the U.S. stock of air-conditioners over time, central air-conditioning continued to be responsible for the greatest share of household electricity use. The predominance of air-conditioning was due to a significant increase in the number of households with central air-conditioning in the two decades preceding 2001. The share of households with central air-conditioning rose from 27 percent of households in 1980 to 55 percent in 2001.
Kitchen and Laundry Appliances
Kitchen and laundry appliances accounted for about one-third of household electricity consumption in 2001. Refrigerators, the biggest consumers among household appliances, used 156 billion kWh of electricity. More electricity was used for refrigerators than for space heating, water heating, or lighting.
Lighting and Home Electronics
Lighting includes both indoor and outdoor lighting and is found in virtually every household in the United States. In 2001, lighting accounted for 101 billion kWh (8.8 percent) of U.S. household electricity use. Incandescent lamps, which are commonly found in households, are highly inefficient sources of light because about 90 percent of the energy used is lost as heat. For that reason, lighting has been one focus of efforts to increase the efficiency of household electricity consumption.
The Outlook for Electricity Consumption
Retail sales of electricity to the residential sector totaled 1.3 trillion kilowatthours (kWh) in 2003 and increased use of electricity accounts for 68 percent of the projected increase in residential delivered energy use between 2003 and 2025. The demand for electricity to power appliances is projected to increase rapidly. Electricity consumption for home electronics, particularly for color TVs and computer equipment, is also forecast to grow significantly over the next two decades. EIA projects electricity consumption to grow 3.5 percent annually for color TVs and computer equipment through 2025, to more than double the level of consumption in 2003. Continued growth of new housing in the South, where almost all new homes use central air-conditioning, is also expected to contribute to an increase in household electricity demand.
THE ROLE OF EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
A large number of Federal and State efficiency standards apply to household equipment and appliances. EIA collects data on the ages of household heating and cooling equipment and two major appliances (refrigerators and freezers) that can be used as indicators of the efficiency of the stock of those items. Quantifying the extent to which efficiency standards affect national and regional electricity consumption will require additional research and data. Clearly, however, the stock of household equipment and appliances was more efficient in 2001 than when the household survey began in the 1980s.
REGIONAL FACTORS
National household electricity consumption is, in effect, an average of household electricity consumption in different regions across the United States and is affected by many factors. Climate is a good example. Hot summers increase the amount of electricity used for air conditioning and other space cooling, so households in southern States will tend to use more electricity. Similarly, cold winters increase the amount of energy used for space heating. Although U.S. households more frequently rely on natural gas than on electricity for heating, in the South the reverse is true, meaning that households in southern States will tend to have a peak of electricity use in winter as well as in summer.
2007-12-13 01:17:16
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