Domestic energy consumption is the amount of energy that is spent on the different appliances used within housing. The amount of energy used per household varies widely depending on the standard of living of the country, climate, and the age and type of residence.
In the United States as of 2008, in an average household in a temperate climate, the yearly use of household energy can be composed as follows:
| Average domestic energy consumption per household in the United States | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heating | 12000 kW·h/yr (1400 watts) | |||
| Hot water | 3000 kW·h/yr (340 watts) | |||
| Cooling/refrigeration | 1200 kW·h/yr (140 watts) | |||
| Lighting | 1200 kW·h/yr (140 watts) | |||
| Washing and drying | 1000 kW·h/yr (110 watts) | |||
| Cooking | 1000 kW·h/yr (110 watts) | |||
| Miscellaneous electric load | 600 kW·h/yr (70 watts) | |||
This equates to an average instantaneous power consumpton of 2 kW at any given time.
Households in different parts of the world will have differing levels of consumption, based on climate and income.
Famous quotes containing the words domestic, energy and/or consumption:
“The effect of having other interests beyond those domestic works well. The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”
—Amelia Earhart (1897–1937)
“Just as we are learning to value and conserve the air we breathe, the water we drink, the energy we use, we must learn to value and conserve our capacity for nurture. Otherwise, in the name of human potential we will slowly but surely erode the source of our humanity.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“The Cairo conference ... is about a complicated web of education and employment, consumption and poverty, development and health care. It is also about whether governments will follow where women have so clearly led them, toward safe, simple and reliable choices in family planning. While Cairo crackles with conflict, in the homes of the world the orthodoxies have been duly heard, and roundly ignored.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)