Home Energy
Let’s make a habit of looking at the Big Picture and the Big Ticket items first.
First the good news: residential energy consumption has been declining steadily in every major US region, due to higher building insulation codes, better windows, and more efficient appliances and lighting.
According to the DOE, heating and cooling are the largest residential use of energy.
The above percentages have changed somewhat since 2015. As of 2022, water heating is responsible for about 13% of both annual residential energy use and consumer utility costs, down from 19%. LED lighting has had a major impact on that number. After that come such things as lighting, appliances such as refrigerators, ovens and stovetops, and plug load (the energy consumed by things that are plugged in, even if they are not “on”.)
Of course, it is quite possible to double or even triple your home electrical consumption if you have one or two electric vehicles (EV), depending on how much you drive. But we will talk more about that in the section on Transportation.