Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Key Fact: New Homes Are 20% More Fuel Efficient

It's not just cars that are getting much more energy efficient.  New homes are too.

Indeed, homes built from 2000-2009 used 37.1 thousand Btus per square foot compared to 46.9 Btus for those constructed from 1970 to 1979, according to Energy Information Administration data.
www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/data/2009/c&e/summary/xls/CE1.1%20Summary%20Site.xlsx.

The EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey shows homes built from 2000 to 2009 are about 20% more efficient per square foot than homes that were built 30 years ago.  I, however, believe that homes built from 2000 to 2009 were bigger on average than those built 30 years ago.

The trend toward more energy efficiency throughout the economy is deep and structural.  Falling energy consumption or much slower growth rates for electricity are no fluke and makes competition between fuels intense for market share.

2 comments:

  1. http://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/reports/2009/square-footage.cfm

    You would be right re: 20% larger (so no net gain?)

    Article today in the WSJ...
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323353204578128733463180210.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

    Also, have you heard of a book called the "Bottomless well"? Not sure I'd buy the arguments it makes, but it sounds interesting. Guy who wrote it graduated top of his class in Harvard Law' not sure if that makes him extremely knowledgeable, or just extremely good at supporting his own beliefs.

    Cheers,

    Hobson

    ReplyDelete
  2. on the other hand...

    http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2012/11nov/monterey1112.cfm

    HB

    ReplyDelete