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Page added on April 22, 2016
This Earth Day, Let’s Look at How Much Energy We’ve Been Using
Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, and that got us thinking about how households used energy back then. What did they use it for? Do we follow the same conventional wisdom for saving energy in our homes today, even though there are some obvious differences in the types of devices we use now? We were curious to dig in and see how energy use has changed over the past 35+ years, and how that change shapes our efforts to conserve.
Let’s travel back to the 1980s, when the first comprehensive survey of US residential energy use was published, to get an idea of how the average American household was using energy at the time. Microwaves were just beginning to gain popularity (14% of households had one) and personal computers were so rare that a question about them didn’t even appear on the survey. Ten years later in 1990, almost 80% of households had microwaves and 70% of households had personal computers (EIA 2015). From there the number of electronics and other miscellaneous loads have only continued to grow (AEO 2015).
Meanwhile, heating and air conditioning systems and major appliances are becoming more efficient during this time period, and new homes are being built with more insulation and more efficient windows. Between the late 1980s and late 2000s the share of household energy used to heat and cool a house shifted from a majority of the overall load (61%) to less than half (48%). Over the same time period the share of energy used for appliances, lighting, electronics, and other miscellaneous energy loads swelled from 23% to 35% (EIA 2013, 1987).
Source: EIA 1987, EIA 2009
During this time, lighting and major appliances on the market were getting more efficient, largely thanks to energy efficiency standards, so why the big increase? You can probably think of more than a few devices that are common in homes today that did not exist in the 1980s. While no single device is a particular energy guzzler, in sum their cumulative impact adds up.
So what can we learn from these statistics to help save energy in our own homes? Now more than ever, we need to address a variety of end uses to help chip away at the cost of our energy bill. While heating and cooling loads are still important to address, especially in hot and cold climates (need insulation and air sealing? Here’s how to get it done right), we need to consider a range of energy end uses. Drawing from ACEEE’s energy efficiency consumer resource, smarterhouse.org, we offer a few recommendations for how you can make smart energy choices in your own home.
- Addressing growing electric use requires a variety of strategies. Smarterhouse.org provides a number of ideas for addressing the energy use of the home electronics you already have, and for making smart decisions when purchasing new ones. There are efficient options for products including TVs, computers, set top boxes, and audio equipment. Look for the ENERGY STAR® rating to get the most efficient model.
- Major appliances like clothes washers, refrigerators, and dishwashers are much more efficient than they were in the 1980s. If you’re still hanging onto an old appliance, it makes financial sense to replace it (and, if it’s the second, spare fridge in the garage, consider whether you really need it—if the extra fridge space is a must, replace it with a high efficiency model). Today’s models are so much more efficient than they were in the 1980s (and even the 1990s) that the return on your investment won’t take long. For example, average energy use for refrigerators decreased by almost 70% between 1980 and 2014. If you replace your 1980s refrigerator with a new ENERGY STAR model you would save about $200 a year. Find buying tips here.
- Saving energy in your home in the most cost-effective way possible requires planning and coordination. Getting ready to do a home improvement or remodel? Need to replace a major appliance? Here’s how you can incorporate energy efficiency into your project to be sure to invest in products and improvements that will save you over their lifetime.
- Unless it’s not working and you’re stuck taking a cold shower, the water heater is not an appliance that people think much about. Instead of waiting for it to break, do some research now to figure out what the most efficient option is for your home. High efficiency electric heat pump water heaters are increasingly common and readily available, and use 50% less energy than a standard electric tank. That amounts to about $200 of energy savings annually, and well over $1000 over the lifetime of the unit. Find heat pump water heaters rated by ENERGY STAR here.
For more recommendations on how you can make the smartest decisions about using energy in your home, visit SmarterHouse. In celebration of Earth Day this year, we encourage you to commit to acting on some of these energy saving recommendations that can both save you money and cut down on energy waste.
24 Comments on "This Earth Day, Let’s Look at How Much Energy We’ve Been Using"
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 12:10 pm
The statement about heat pump water heaters is great, unless you live in an area that is cold most of the year and that water heater is pulling heat from inside your thermal envelope in the winter, costing you in heating, on the plus side in Maine it will dehumidify and use that latent heat for some good. Solar hot water works great about 90% of the year here in Maine, if your system is properly sized designed and installed.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 12:11 pm
For an article about Earth day the scope is pretty damn limited, no mention of transportation, manufacturing or agriculture, just go out and buy some new appliances.
onlooker on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 12:36 pm
Totally missing the point it is not about buying more energy efficient it is about not buying period.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 1:00 pm
None of this shit matters any more. Our fate is decided. Our inability to stop decided it. Actually, the call was to slow down, make some changes and buy some time, but we couldn’t even do that. No we sped up. Our response to a thousand warnings of looming existential crisis, presented with tons of evidence, was to go even faster. There will be a real earth day celebration. It will come within a century. It will be the day we are gone. The remaining species will breath a sigh of relief and party like it’s 1999. Good riddance assholes!
Happy earth day ya doomy mofo’s.
Oh, and happy earth day to you barrel counting retards too. Where would we be without youse guys eh?
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 1:06 pm
I love celebrations
Happy Earth day to you
Happy Earth day to you
Happy Earth day planet killing cancer monkeys
Happy Earth day to you
and don’t expect manyyyyyy more
onlooker on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 1:18 pm
Here is what Earth has in store for us. quote- We now know it’s a matter of 1 to 2 years. It’s not just a question of human lifetimes, not just a question of decades, it’s less time than it takes to get through college.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWCXOypJh4
Anonymous on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 1:47 pm
You know, those pie charts would have been a lot more accurate if they had been scaled by SIZE, not just %. The way those two are displayed, you just might get the impression the AMOUNT of energy a typical tar-paper and glue shack the ‘average’ americant lives in has remained exactly the same over the years.
Or put in simpler terms, has the amount of energy consumed, both per capita AND in absolute terms, stayed the same over time? You dont really know the answer to either of those questions since the pie charts dont address those questions at all.
The real questions those charts dont address.
-Was the amount of TOTAL energy used those pies in 1987 the same, less or more than it was in 2009?
-Did the TOTAL amount of energy used for those purposes stay the same, decrease or increase overall? A:(We know it went up,but few articles of this type rarely even talk about this).
-Did the rate of ‘efficiency’ improvements exceed the total growth in overall energy use?
Even if one learned the total amount of energy use stayed the same per CAPITA(did it?), the sheer amount of homes being added every year, along with consumer-slaves to live in them and waste energy, is definitely NOT staying constant. Even despite multiple house bubbles that occurred between 1987 and 2009, even in the worst years, the only effect those had was to slow the rate of the amount of houses being added. At no point in time, does the amount of houses ever decrease, nor does the total amount of energy being consumed.
And there are even MORE ways to question this. All those ‘high-efficiency’ appliances. Are they better constructed, worse, or about the same? How long can one expect a ‘HE’ (anything) to actually stay in service before it gets tossed and replaced with a new one?
Practicalmaina on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 3:51 pm
I am honoring the earth today by not using my breaks driving, your welcome earth. Apneaman people should care about saving money on carbon fuel, how else can one afford the sex drugs and rock n roll necessary to forget the dire situation
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 4:24 pm
All about the Houston floods and not one mention of climate change or global warming.
Houston – the fossil fuel Gomorrah of planet earth. Just a matter of time before that higher power, nature, wipes it off the face of the earth. Reap what you sow fucking retards.
OIL:
Chronic Houston flooding raises the stakes in U.S. ‘energy capital’
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060036086
peakyeast on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 4:57 pm
I thought the exact same thing as Anonymous here. Why arent they scaled?
The percentage is less than half the story.
One major thing earth day misses is the return to a balanced biomass distribution and thus fixing the unbalance caused by invasive species spreading unchecked across the world.
Obviously earth day is about choosing the right consumer goods and planting a random tree. No wonder noone has introduced me to it before.
Btw. I am waaay in the minus with those trees having had to clear my property of about 100 trees and removing at least as many new ones each year. – Which makes me wonder – why would the trees need my help to get planted and how do I choose a spot when every single cM2 is spoken for already within a thousand kM?
penury on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 5:26 pm
The major problem with Earth Day is:nobody cares, stop the nest ten people you see and ask them when and what Earth say is, go ahead report the results if you get any.
penury on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 5:27 pm
should read: next ten not nest,sorry
onlooker on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 5:29 pm
Damm, I read a recent poll that many Americans do not even believe much in climate change. That is okay climate change believes in them.
makati1 on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 6:04 pm
Anon, a quick check says that we (US) consume more than 15% more energy today than we did in 1987. So the pie chart should reflect that change. More obfuscation?
makati1 on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 6:59 pm
The latest news is in:
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/earth-day-2016-humans-are-the-most-destructive-species-on-earth/5521372
That leaves humans out.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 7:10 pm
Watch: River Explodes Into Flames From Methane Coming From Nearby Fracking Sites
“So much methane gas is now bubbling up through the Condamine River in Queensland, Australia that it exploded with fire and held a large flame. Gas seeping into the river began shortly after coal seam gas operations started nearby and is growing in volume and the stretch of river affected is expanding in length.”
https://ecowatch.com/2016/04/22/river-explodes-methane-fracking/
Davy on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 7:15 pm
If you want to have a good earth day then don’t drive. If you are not driving ask someone you know not to drive. Driving is the biggest discretionary activity with the highest impact that can be reduced in most people’s lives. Forget the friggen trees and the other stupid green shit. Most of that stupid green shit must be picked up and delivered by a car. Just don’t do anything that might involve a car.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Apr 2016 8:12 pm
Record Global Heat — Huge Springtime Arctic Warm-up to Crush Sea Ice, Drive Extreme Jet Stream Dip into Europe
“We know now, as soon as the middle of April, that 2016 will be the hottest year on record. That not only will it be the hottest year, but that it will crush any other previous record hot year by a wide margin.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2016/04/22/record-global-heat-huge-springtime-arctic-warm-up-to-crush-sea-ice-drive-extreme-jet-stream-dip-into-europe/
peakyeast on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 4:14 am
Actually after a closer look at the two pies – I do notice that the 2009 pie is somewhat larger. Perhaps that is 15%, but it is impossible to know without some scale at the side or something else indicating that its not just a coincidence.
peakyeast on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 4:22 am
They shouldnt call it earth day – when they only look at american households.
They should call it “only USA matters day” or “data subset day” if they dont care about the remaineder of the world. Perhaps they just think that whats outside USA isnt part of earth?
Oh – and thanks to makati for digging up the 15% – youre a real sweetheart. 😉
Kenz300 on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 8:42 am
We all should look at our consumption habits and make an effort to consume less resources……….
Filipino children driven to the streets by crushing poverty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW5qoAKRSKE
Having a child that you cannot provide for is just cruel…..
If you can not provide for yourself you can not provide for a child.
Birth Control Permanent Methods: Learn About Effectiveness
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/birth_control_permanent_methods/article_em.htm
makati1 on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 8:07 pm
Peaky, the right circle is larger, but, scaling it and doing the math shows that it is only about 6-7% larger by area, not anywhere near the real 15+%. But then, maybe they did not want to draw attention to that obvious fact? After all, the US consumes about 25% of the world’s energy and only has 4-5% of it’s population. Imagine the pain when all of those energy slaves disappear.
Anonymous on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 8:22 pm
I really doubt the pies are scaled in the manner I suggested they should be. It is likely no more than the web designer fiddling with it. The larger size is likely just an accident, a decision, or a formating thing. But i seriously doubt it was a conscious attempt to scale household energy consumption in an accurate way.
Apneaman on Sat, 23rd Apr 2016 10:16 pm
let’s do the math
The Great Math Mystery documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXHaoWRNPY4