 |
Beauty & Self
Books & Music
Career
Computers
Education
Family
Food & Wine
Health & Fitness
Hobbies & Crafts
Home & Garden
Money
News & Politics
Relationships
Religion & Spirituality
Sports
Travel & Culture
TV & Movies
|
|
US Electricity Usage
According to the US Department of Energy, by far the biggest user of energy in US homes is heating and cooling as well as kitchen appliances. The exact "worst offender" depends on whether you heat your home with electricity or whether you use another fuel source. Here are the breakdown of numbers.
Homes with Electric Heat
This table shows the percentage of an average home's electrical bill that is used for various categories of use. In this table, the heating/cooling category includes electric heat. The "other" category includes hair dryers, clothes irons, and power tools.
| Heating/Cooling | 31.2% |
| Kitchen | 26.7% |
| Water Heater | 9.1% |
| Lighting | 8.8% |
| Home Electronics | 7.2% |
| Washer/Dryer | 6.7% |
| Other | 10.2% |
Graph of electricity usage for homes with electric heat:
Homes Without Electric Heat
This table shows the percentage of an average home's electrical bill that is used for various categories of use. In this table, the heating/cooling category does NOT include electric heat. It only includes air conditioners and similar devices. The "other" category includes hair dryers, clothes irons, and power tools.
| Kitchen | 29.7% |
| Heating/Cooling | 23.4% |
| Water Heater | 10.2% |
| Lighting | 9.8% |
| Home Electronics | 8.0% |
| Washer/Dryer | 7.4% |
| Other | 11.4% |
Graph of electricity usage for homes with electric heat:
Certainly in both cases the use of electricity for cooling and related costs is substantial. You can greatly decrease your electricity bill usage by insulating your home and adjusting your thermostat!
It's also well worth noting that even though the washer / dryer value is fairly low compared with other costs, you can have a substantial impact on reducing your bill by working on those areas. For example you could drop your cost in this area by 90% with some simple changes. It would be challenging to make that same kind of change in your refrigerator usage!
In terms of raw numbers, by far the two biggest users of electricity in the average US household is the air conditioning units and the refrigerator. Make sure you optimize the use of both pieces of equipment in your home.
DOE Raw Figures
Let us know if you have any other suggestions for us to add to this page!
Reduce your Carbon Footprint - main page
Green Living and Carbon Footprints
BellaOnline Green Living Carbon Footprints main page
How to Calculate your Carbon Footprint
Ways to Offset your Carbon Footprint
Reduce your Carbon Footprint
Carbon Footprint Statistics
Determining the Carbon Footprint of a Webserver
FREE Green Living Ebook Series
About BellaOnline |
Terms of Use |
Privacy Policy |
Press Releases |
Advertising |
Alumni |
Contact Info
|
|
|
Note: BellaOnline uses cookies to help provide a consistent user experience. Our advertisers may use cookies to help customize ads. Please contact us with any question about our cookie use.
|
|
|
|
