Consumption and Expenditures 1993
Executive Summary
Household Energy Consumption
and Expenditures 1993 presents information about household end-use
consumption of energy and expenditures for that energy. These data were
collected in the 1993 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS),
the ninth in a series of nationwide household energy consumption surveys
conducted since 1978 by the Energy Information Administration of the
U.S. Department of Energy. More than 7 thousand households were surveyed
for information on their housing units, energy consumption and expenditures,
stock of energy-consuming appliances, and energy-related behavior. The
information represents all households nationwide—97 million. An earlier
report presented information on the energy-related characteristics of
U.S. households.
Key Findings
- National residential energy consumption
was 10.0 quadrillion Btu in 1993, a 9-percent increase from the
9.2 quadrillion Btu consumed in the last study in 1990. Average
household consumption of major energy sources—electricity, natural
gas, fuel oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—was 103.6
million Btu in 1993, compared with 98.1 million Btu in 1990 (an
increase of 6 percent). These changes are statistically significant.
- Between 1990 and 1993, national expenditures
for household energy increased by 12 percent—from 110 billion dollars
to 124 billion dollars. The average household spent $1,282 for all
major energy sources.
- Natural gas remains the predominant fuel
for space heating. U.S. households consumed nearly three times as
much natural gas as site electricity (89.9 million Btu versus 34.0
million Btu per household) but they paid 54 percent more for electricity
($840 per household per year for electricity versus $546 for natural
gas). More than 60 percent of new homes use natural gas for main
space heating.
- New homes (built between 1988 and 1993)
use energy at a rate that is 82 percent of the rate used by homes
built before 1980. Most of this gain comes from improvements in
space heating. New houses have the newest heating equipment—powered
by either electricity or natural gas—and their shells tend to be
more airtight. The 1993 RECS over sampled new homes to learn more
about their energy efficiency.
- Weather has a significant effect on energy
consumption. Energy consumption in 1993 would have been nearly unchanged
from consumption in the 1987 and 1990 survey years if the winter
had been as warm. The colder winter in 1993 led to an increase of
9 percent in natural gas consumption for space-heating and a 21-percent
increase in electricity consumption for space-heating from 1990.
Summers over the 3 survey years were about equally warm and close
to the 30-year average, so weather had little effect on energy consumption
for air-conditioning.
- Energy expenditures per household in 1993
were $159 greater than in 1987, an increase of 14 percent. After
expenditures are adjusted for variations in weather and price changes,
the difference is reduced to $92, or an 8.6 percent increase.
- More than half the electricity used in the
home goes for appliances—lighting, TV, clothes dryers, freezers,
ranges and ovens, and others. For the first time, the 1993 RECS
provided separate estimates for the annual amount of electricity
used for lighting (940 kilowatthours (kWh)), cooking (458 kWh),
clothes drying (875 kWh), and dishwashing (299 kWh) per household.
- The consumption of electricity for appliances
is increasing, likely a result of the use of more appliances. For
example, in 1980 only 14 percent of households used microwave ovens,
but in 1993, 84 percent of households used one. Personal computers
are another appliance that has become more common; in 1990, 16 percent
of households had personal computers, a percentage that grew to
23 percent in 1993.
- Also for the first time, the 1993 RECS collected
State data for the four most populous States: California, Florida,
New York, and Texas. California, with 11 percent of U.S. households,
consumed 7 percent of total U.S. energy; Florida, with 6 percent
of households, consumed 3 percent; New York, with 7 percent of households,
consumed 8 percent of U.S. energy; and Texas, also with 7 percent
of households, consumed 7 percent of total U.S. energy.
- Households that use electricity for their
main space heating fuel have lower overall energy expenditures than
households that heat with other fuels, despite the fact that electricity
costs more per million Btu. Reasons for this apparent anomaly are
that households with electric heat tend to be newer, located in
warmer climates or in areas where electricity rates are low, and
more likely to be apartments than single-family homes.
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File Last Modified: March 18, 1997
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