Recent Energy Consumption Trends in American Homes

9 pages•Published: June 9, 2021

Abstract

Given the growing environmental awareness, this paper intends to provide an updated picture on the relationships between 1) demographic factors and number of residential sustainable features (mainly appliances), 2) demographic factors and energy consumption (for all fuels), and 3) house size and energy consumption in American households. Using data from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), this study applies descriptive and inferential statistics (poisson regression, spearman correlation and analysis of variance) to evaluate those relationships. The results indicate that income influences the number of sustainable appliances in a home, while education does not; on the other hand, the findings also indicate that education has a significant relationship to energy consumption (measured in thousand BTUs) per area of home, while income does not. Additionally, a significant moderate correlation between size of home and energy consumption was confirmed. This information is important given the steady but constant rise in home sizes in the U.S. since 1970s. Outcomes of this study can help understand the impact of demographic factors have on sustainable housing choices and on energy consumption while using a recent data set with large sample size.

Keyphrases: consumer behavior, energy consumption, RECS survey, Residential Construction, Sustainability Trends

In: Tom Leathem, Anthony J. Perrenoud and Wesley Collins (editors). ASC 2021. 57th Annual Associated Schools of Construction International Conference, vol 2, pages 606--614

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/SS1v
	https://doi.org/10.29007/dx6k