Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous Equipment Electricity Use in New Homes

Primary Author(s)

Florida Solar Energy Center
Richard Brown, Florida Solar Energy Center

Secondary Author(s)

Rittelmann, William; Parker, Danny; Homan, Gregory

Report Number

FSEC-CR-1675-06

URL

http://publications.energyresearch.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/FSEC-CR-1675-06.pdf

Keywords

Appliances electricity use; Home electronics; Lighting consumption; Miscellaneous equipment; Energy use in new homes

Abstract

The "Other" end-uses (appliances, lighting, electronics, and miscellaneous equipment) continue to grow. This is particularly true in new homes, where increasing floor area and amenities are leading to higher saturation of these types of devices. This paper combines the findings of several field studies to assess the current state of knowledge about the "Other" end-uses in new homes. The field studies include sub-metered measurements of occupied houses in Arizona, Florida, and Colorado, as well as device-level surveys and power measurements in unoccupied new homes. We find that appliances, lighting, electronics, and miscellaneous equipment can consume from 46% to 88% of whole-house electricity use in current low-energy homes. Moreover, the annual consumption for the "Other" end-uses is not significantly lower in new homes (even those designed for low energy use) compared to existing homes. The device level surveys show that builder-installed equipment is a significant contributor to annual electricity consumption, and certain devices that are becoming more common in new homes, such as structured wiring systems, contribute significantly to this power consumption. These findings suggest that energy consumption by these "Other" end uses is still too large to allow cost-effective zero-energy homes.

Date Published

8-1-2006

Identifiers

496

Notes

Original Publication: Richard Brown, William Rittelmann, Danny Parker, and Gregory Homan, "Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous Equipment Electricity Use in New Homes", August 2006

© 006 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Subjects

Electric apparatus and appliances; Household electronics; Lighting; Energy consumption

Type

Text; Document

Collection

FSEC Energy Research Center® Collection

STARS Citation

Florida Solar Energy Center and Brown, Richard, "Appliances, Lighting, Electronics, and Miscellaneous Equipment Electricity Use in New Homes" (2006). FSEC Energy Research Center®. 496.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fsec/496