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What is energy and water efficiency, and why is it important?
How much energy do we use as Americans?
Together, we consume about 17% of the global energy, and in 2020, the U.S. spent a total of $17 trillion in energy. If it is spread among the American population, the annual costs are around $3,000 per person.
The amount of carbon emissions to produce energy is a lot. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 32% of total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions was the generation and consumption of electricity.
It makes you wonder, how much electricity do we actually use?
In 2021, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,632 kilowatt hours (kWh), an average of about 886 kWh per month. Louisiana had the highest annual electricity consumption at 14,302 kWh per residential customer, and Hawaii had the lowest at 6,369 kWh per residential customer. 2
At home, the amount one person would use on electricity would be 12 kilowatt-hours (kWh). These statistics only apply to residential homes. This does not include commercial, industrial, or transportation.
How does energy consumption impact our environment?
Ultimately, the efficient use of resources, like energy and water, have become more important and prevalent than ever, especially in the face of extreme climates like "bomb cyclones," hurricanes, floods, droughts and fires, happening not only in our nation, but also globally.
Countries, including ours, and other governments have come together to implement ways on how to conserve our natural resources, including energy and water. Some of the things that we’ve seen are that technology has become smarter and more efficient. In addition, other things that we don’t see often is that utilities have programs to reduce energy and water consumption.
This is how energy and water efficiency comes into play and why we are here. Energy and water efficiency means to simply use less energy and water while performing the same task.
How does energy and water efficiency impact us?
Water and energy goes hand in hand with one another. At home, we like to be comfortable whether that’s with our heating and cooling systems, but it also means heating and cooling our water when we take showers, do the laundry or dishes.
To heat up the water, it takes up a lot of gas and electricity for one household. There are around 140 million homes in the United States alone, including 14 million homes in the state of California alone. You can only imagine the amount of energy and water that we use in our homes.
It’s why our national and local governments have implemented programs that include smart technology and other installed measures to help you to conserve energy and water.
Did you know the U.S. has an energy efficiency of 42% when implementing such measures as a nation? Every measure like inexpensive improvements (ie. insulation, air ducts, weatherstripping, caulking, showerheads, etc.) and other investments (ie. new heat pump water heater or HVAC system) count.
Due to these programs, together, we are able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as a whole and increase your well-being and health in your home.
To see how you can conserve energy and water, request an appointment or call 1-800-818-4298
2 U.S. Energy Information Administration How much electricity does an American home use?
