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All posts tagged energy statistics

Household Energy Consumption

Posted by on November 8, 2013

Between your fridge, computers, toaster, TV, internet, lights, microwave, washing machine, dryer, and any other energy consumers in your home, you can find yourself using really large amounts of electricity that you don’t even know about. Our houses use up a significant chunk of energy and it adds up to points you may not even believe. Recently, we did a blog post on global energy consumption and broke it down to average energy usage per state, but we broke it down to even finer detail: household energy consumption, specifically appliances.

 

Average Energy Usage per House

So how much does your home use exactly? Well, we can’t give you numbers for your home specifically, but we can give you the average for your area. Here are the pure numbers from the EIA (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=97&t=3):

  • The average U.S. home used 11,280 kWh in 2011.
  • This breaks down to about 940 kWh per month.

This is the whole country, so let’s break it down even further to the states. Listed alphabetically, here is the average household energy consumption per state in 2012:


  • Alabama – 1187 kWh
  • Alaska – 654 kWh
  • Arizona – 1061 kWh
  • Arkansas – 1120 kWh
  • California – 573 kWh
  • Colorado – 706 kWh
  • Connecticut – 731 kWh
  • Delaware – 942 kWh
  • DC – 721 kWh
  • Florida – 1081 kWh
  • Georgia – 1098 kWh
  • Hawaii – 544 kWh
  • Idaho – 1010 kWh
  • Illinois – 767 kWh
  • Indiana – 997 kWh
  • Iowa – 873 kWh
  • Kansas – 945 kWh
  • Kentucky – 1130 kWh
  • Louisiana – 1254 kWh
  • Maine – 531 kWh
  • Maryland – 1005 kWh
  • Massachusetts – 627 kWh
  • Michigan – 676 kWh
  • Minnesota – 793 kWh
  • Mississippi – 1193 kWh
  • Missouri – 1060 kWh


  • Montana – 842 kWh
  • Nebraska – 1000 kWh
  • Nevada – 935 kWh
  • New Hampshire – 615 kWh
  • New Jersey – 691 kWh
  • New Mexico – 656 kWh
  • New York – 603 kWh
  • North Carolina – 1077 kWh
  • North Dakota – 1091 kWh
  • Ohio – 895 kWh
  • Oklahoma – 1132 kWh
  • Oregon – 957 kWh
  • Pennsylvania – 837 kWh
  • Rhode Island – 597 kWh
  • South Carolina – 1119 kWh
  • South Dakota – 980 kWh
  • Tennessee – 1217 kWh
  • Texas – 1168 kWh
  • Utah – 793 kWh
  • Vermont – 565 kWh
  • Virginia – 1117 kWh
  • Washington – 1037 kWh
  • West Virginia – 1078 kWh
  • Wisconsin – 703 kWh
  • Wyoming – 867 kWh


The state that used the most energy in 2012 was Louisiana with 1258 kWh, and the least energy usage was Maine with 531 kWh. (Find the full list of states with average monthly rates in this Excel spreadsheet from the EIA: http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/xls/table5_a.xls)

What Appliances Use the Most Electricity?

We’re not done yet! We know the world’s energy consumption (524 quadrillion BTU per year) and the average states’ energy consumption (940 kWh per month), but what is really responsible here? We all have to use electricity; it’s a part of our everyday life. How much of this everyday usage comes from your computer, microwave, and TV? Energy.gov quotes the typical Wattage of some common household appliances on their site: http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/estimating-appliance-and-home-electronic-energy-use
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Here’s their list of appliances and how many Watts they use:

  • Fish Aquariums – 50-1210W
  • Coffee Maker – 900-1200W
  • Washer – 350-500W
  • Dryer – 1800-5000W
  • Dishwasher – 1200-2400W
  • Ceiling Fan – 65-175W
  • Window Fan – 55-250W
  • House Fan – 240-750W
  • Hair Dryer – 1200-1875W
  • Clothes Iron – 1000-1800W
  • Microwave – 750-1100W
  • Average Desktop PC – 60-250W (From Mr. Electricity)
  • Laptop – 50W
  • Fridge – 725W
  • TVs
    • 19” – 65-110W
    • 27” – 113W
    • 36” – 133W
    • 53”-61” / Projectors – 170W
  • Toaster – 800-1400W
  • DVD Player – 20-25W
  • Vacuum – 1000-1440W
  • Water Heater – 4500-5500W

 

What is Your Electricity Consumption Exactly?

If you want to know your exact energy usage per month, check your energy bill at the top left. Your energy supplier should place it in the 4th section of your bill generally marked “Electric Usage Profile” as seen in our BGE sample bill below.

 

Is Your Electric Bill Too High?

If you want to compare your energy rates in MD, DC, or IL and switch energy suppliers, switch now using our free service to save on your energy bill.

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World Energy Consumption

Posted by on August 20, 2013

There are over 7 billion people in the entire world, and rising. Each of us use loads of energy each year, and in some cases we don’t even think about it. The average U.S. household uses somewhere around 1000kWh per month. For a reference, 1kWh can power 15 days of cell phone usage, so only 2kWh are technically needed for your cell phone per month. With 7 billion people in the world, what is the total world energy consumption?

 

World Energy Consumption Statistics

World energy consumption, according to the EIA was 524 quadrillion BTU in 2010. Never heard of a quadrillion before? Well, after the billion is the trillion, and then there’s the quadrillion; that’s 524,000,000,000,000,000 BTU all written out. One BTU (British Thermal Unit) is needed to cool/heat 1 pound of water by 1ºF. That’s a lot of energy usage! How much of that belongs to the U.S.? About 19%: 99 quadrillion BTU. Breaking it down even further, that’s an average of just under 2 quadrillion BTU per state, provided that we use the exact amount of energy in each state.

 

Individual Energy Consumption

Many people look at this number in awe and wonder how that could even be possible. Who uses all of this energy? The answer is simple, yet shocking: we do! In 2010, we used an average of 74 million BTU…per person. However, in 2011 we spiked up to 312 million BTU per person, and have been rising ever since. (2012 statistics are currently unavailable from the EIA) However, the word “consumption” does not include biomass fuels. “Consumption includes only coal, electricity, natural gas, and petroleum fuels” – EIA.

 

Future Projections

On July 25 of this year, the EIA released some predictions of energy consumption for the future. If our current trends continue (which is likely), our world energy consumption will increase by 56% between 2010 and 2040. In their predictions, “world energy use rises from 524 quadrillion Btu in 2010 to 630 quadrillion Btu in 2020 and to 820 quadrillion Btu in 2040” – EIA. Fossil fuels still account for about 80% of total energy production, but renewable energy and nuclear power methods are increasing by about 2.5% more each year.

 

Renewable Energy

Switching to a renewable energy supplier will no doubt help keep our planet healthier and livable. 312 million BTU per person could be generated in a greener fashion. There are many methods of energy production available, and there’s a supplier near you that uses some of these earth-friendly methods. Green methods to produce energy include: solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, and tidal.

 

Switching Suppliers

Do you live in MD, DC, or IL? Sound like something you’d be interested in? Then compare your electricity rates and switch to a new energy supplier today!

For more statistics and studies on world energy consumption, visit the EIA: http://www.eia.gov/.

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