Miscellaneous electricity use in U.S. homes

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998

OSTI ID:20001995

Sanchez, M C; Koomey, J G; Moezzi, M M; Meier, A; Huber, W

Historically, residential energy and carbon saving efforts have targeted conventional end uses such as water heating, lighting and refrigeration. The emergence of new household appliances has transformed energy use from a few large and easily identifiable end uses into a broad array of miscellaneous energy services. This group of so called miscellaneous appliances has been a major contributor to growth in electricity demand in the past two decades. The authors use industry shipment data, lifetimes, and wattage and usage estimates of over 90 individual product types to construct a bottom-up end use model (1976--2010). The model is then used to analyze historical and forecasted growth trends, and to identify the largest individual products within the miscellaneous end use. The authors also use the end use model to identify and analyze policy priorities. They forecast projects that over the period 1996 to 2010, miscellaneous consumption will increase 115 TWh, accounting for over 90% of future residential electricity growth. A large portion of this growth will be due to halogen torchiere lamps and consumer electronics, making these two components of miscellaneous electricity a particularly fertile area for efficiency programs. Approximately 20% (40 TWh) of residential miscellaneous electricity is leaking electricity or energy consumed by appliances when they are not performing their principal function. If the standby power of all appliances with a standby mode is reduced to one watt, the potential energy savings equal 21 TWh/yr, saving roughly $1--2 billion dollars annually.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 20001995
• Report Number(s): CONF-980815--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ELECTRIC APPLIANCES
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
FORECASTING
HOUSES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS