It’s well documented that a reduction of greenhouse gases will require a multi-pronged approach, involving a combination of new technologies along with some existing but not often popular clean energy technologies.  The new technologies are vitally important to a long-term reduction in greenhouse gases, however their development time and implementation costs often result in long realization horizons. These technologies and the growth of renewable energy sources can easily capture our imagination and enthusiasm, and may overshadow the benefits of energy conservation.  However, the proposed goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 83% will require substantial conservation efforts as well.

B-Green Collaborative will be publishing a series of articles during the next several months on the opportunities to reduce greenhouse gases through improvements in energy efficiency, and specifically those efficiencies that can be attained by residential and commercial consumers. 

Improvements in our current energy efficiency can be implemented rapidly using existing technology to reduce the magnitude of our energy requirements.  Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through efficiency improvements are potentially substantial and, despite current efforts to conserve energy, there is much more that can be accomplished in the short term.  Improving our energy efficiency in the residential and commercial sectors allows many people to get involved in mitigating the adverse effects of greenhouse gas emissions on our environment.

This article discusses the magnitude of energy used by the residential and commercial sectors and, within each sector, where the energy is consumed.  Articles will follow that present and discuss specific technologies and equipment to improve efficiency and reduce consumption as well as some of the financial benefits of doing so.

Residential and Commercial energy use contributes 38% of the CO₂ gas emitted in the United States every year.  The chart below illustrates the relative CO₂ emissions for the major consumption sectors in 2008. (The percentages for energy consumed are within a couple of percentage points of the CO₂ emissions)

Within the residential and commercial sectors, the consumption and distribution of energy is illustrated in the charts below. (All energy has been expressed as a % of consumption).

When combined, the charts show that electricity and natural gas comprise over 80% of the energy consumed.  Natural gas is our largest consumption, averaging over 42%, followed by electricity at 41%.  (The electricity figures are based on the consumed kWh’s, and do not include energy losses due to generation, distribution, and transmission.)  It’s important to remember that these are National averages for 2008, and the consumption in different regions of the U.S. varies substantially.  As we discuss energy conservation in future articles we will include coverage of the energy usage for each of the major regions in the U.S. to help readers understand where their efforts should be focused.  This discussion becomes very important since electricity costs in the U.S. vary from 7¢ to 19¢ per kWh.  Potential restrictions on carbon emissions and implementation of additional clean power sources will increase the cost of electricity.  If, for example, the cost increase were 4¢ per kWh, some regions would see their electric costs increase substantially on a percentage basis.

 A 20% reduction in residential and commercial energy consumption would result directly in an 8% reduction in the total U.S. energy.  Taking into consideration the efficiency losses of delivering energy to the consumer (e.g. transformer and line losses for electricity, refining and transportation for petroleum products) the impact on overall U.S. energy consumption would be greater than 8%. 

A 20% reduction in our residential and commercial energy consumption offers numerous advantages:

• The reduction reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
• The consumption savings result in 20% cost savings – cost savings that go directly to you.
• A reduction in consumption will help mitigate higher electricity costs in the future.  Inflation, carbon limits, utility implementation of renewable energy sources will all increase the cost of electricity from current levels. 
• The technology required to reduce consumption is well known and available today.
• There are financial incentives available to help offset the cost of implementation.
• Reducing current energy requirements will reduce capital expenditures for future energy requirements.
• Efficiency improvements rarely cause controversy over the impact of installing equipment that could adversely affect the environment.
• Efficiency improvements would reduce the need for more power plants, particularly nuclear and coal.

The table below summarizes residential and commercial energy consumption.  These figures are averages, and future articles will present this information by region so you can see the consumption for your region to better understand your opportunities.

The table shows very clearly the high consumption of natural gas at over 40% of our energy usage.  Natural gas in the residential and commercial sector is largely used for heating.  Future articles will concentrate on current heating technologies, new alternatives, and energy efficiency, i.e. – thermostats, insulation, air inspiration, windows, etc.

Electricity consumption is about the same % as natural gas, but is used for a wider variety of functions.  Clearly in the commercial sector, lighting improvements are a major source of potential consumption reduction. However, the implementation of electricity conservation needs to take place across a broad number of functions. 

Petroleum energy products use about 5% of the energy in the two sectors.  While that percentage is not large against the overall numbers, the use of petroleum (specifically fuel oil) is significant in the northeastern U.S., so we’ll cover technologies and options there as well.

A 20% reduction in our residential and commercial electricity consumption is an aggressive but very attainable goal.  This reduction would exceed the total energy usage of over 150 countries in the world.

B-Green Collaborative will be publishing a series of articles over the next several months reviewing various practical approaches to improving energy efficiency.  These articles will include equipment technologies as well as proven operational techniques that have effectively reduced energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors.  In each of these articles we’ll try and illustrate renewable energy alternatives that will help you offset the use of fossil fuel for primary or secondary energy.

* All data for this article has been extracted from Government Energy Statistics