Building-energy-use

We've all heard the numbers before, but here's a nice little chart with a helpful breakdown of information.  Buildings account for roughly 40% of all U.S. energy use.  Or stated with more particularity, residential buildings account for 22% of all U.S. energy use and commercial buildings account for 18% of all U.S. energy use.  When you parse the numbers out, here's where that energy is used:

Residential Energy Use:

  • 1%  – Computers
  • 5%  – Cooking
  • 5%  – Wet clean
  • 7%  – Electronics
  • 8%  – Refrigeration
  • 11% – Lights
  • 12% – Cooling
  • 12% – Water heat
  • 31% – Heating

Commercial Energy Use:

  • 2%  – Cooking
  • 3%  – Computers
  • 4%  – Refrigeration
  • 6%  – Office equipment
  • 6%  – Ventilation
  • 7%  – Water heat
  • 13% – Cooling
  • 14% – Heating
  • 26% – Lighting

Of course, there will be regional and building specific differences.  For example, in Texas, you might use a lot more energy running the air conditioning equipment and maybe a little less energy running the heating.  Also, it's interesting to see how much commercial energy is used on lighting, which is why the NY Times lighting experiment saved them some major cash on energy costs.  

Also, consider this graph in the light of new technological advances relating to electrical vehicles and the smart grid.  Ten years from now, is car charging going to be one of the major components of commercial and residential building energy use?  And how's that going to affect the other pieces of the energy pie?  Just thinking out loud, though …

Via Steven Chu's Facebook; noticed at Building Green.