/PRNewswire/ -- American families faced the biggest increase in energy expenses on record last year, in large part because of costs for transportation fuels driving global demand.
According to a study released today by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), for the half of the U.S. families earning $50,000 or less, energy costs consumed 20 percent of after-tax income in 2008. The study also reveals energy costs consumed a quarter of after-tax income when families made $30,000 or less.
"This is our annual household energy cost report card, and this year we would grade 2008 as a D for dangerous," said Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President of Communications for ACCCE. "As our economy is faltering and more and more Americans are finding it hard to make ends meet, adopting policies that help keep energy costs affordable should be a national priority."
Families saw their total energy burden increase by 75 percent between 2001 and 2008. Electricity costs increased less than 38 percent during that same timeframe showing that electricity remains an energy bargain in most parts of the country.
"Primarily because we used lower-cost domestic coal for half our nation's electric generation, electricity costs have increased at less than the inflation rate during the past two decades," Lucas said.
The study notes that gasoline prices retreated from historic highs in July, but they are once again starting to climb, ensuring the total energy cost burden will continue to seriously constrain most people's budgets. Lucas said that this shows the economic peril associated with high reliance on imported energy resources.
"In our focus groups, many Americans say that they feel helpless to reduce energy costs when America is dependent on other countries to meet our energy needs. We can change that. We have domestic fuels like coal available here at home, and we can use those fuels wisely to not only promote energy independence but to also keep energy costs low," said Lucas.
Lucas said that ACCCE supports the expanded use of electricity to fuel transportation energy needs, recognizing that a variety of fuels will be needed to meet the increase in electricity demand as a means of displacing foreign oil.
Lucas also noted that keeping energy costs affordable needed to be a key factor in shaping government policies - especially in designing a federal program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"We support a mandatory program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," said Lucas. "We just believe that we have to be smart in designing the program to ensure that consumers are not paying a higher than necessary cost of energy."
According to Lucas, the 100 percent auction for emissions allowances being promoted for inclusion in a federal cap-and-trade bill will drive up the cost to consumers.
"Under an auction for emissions credits, you get the very same environmental benefit as you would with an allocation of credits - it is just that the cost to the consumer is higher," said Lucas.
"These auctions really work as a de facto energy tax where the government raises revenue ultimately paid by consumers with the hope of getting that money back at some future date in the form of an increased government service. We say, don't raise the cost of energy on American consumers, if you can keep from it, based upon the promise of repaying that investment somewhere in the future," said Lucas.
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Showing posts with label households. Show all posts
Showing posts with label households. Show all posts
Monday, March 9, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Big Homes, 1-Person Households are Main Causes of Consumer Energy Waste, Study Finds
/PRNewswire/ -- Changes in household size and home construction have been the main causes of over-consumption of energy by American consumers, according to a new study released today by SMR Research Corporation.
A reversal of these trends, SMR noted, would dramatically reduce U.S. energy use. Yet, household demographics and home building are seldom mentioned in the debates over global warming and energy independence.
SMR's study, Consumer Energy Spending And The Demographics Of Over-Consumption, is based on detailed interviews with more than 27,000 households.
Single-person households, which have grown at triple the rate of overall population growth since 1960, use 18.4% more energy per capita than two-person households do, SMR found. They use 52.8% more energy per capita than three-person households.
Even when excluding households with children, since they do not drive, per-capita energy use is far higher among single-person households than any others, SMR found.
SMR also found that people in houses with 10 or more rooms use 18.8% more energy than people in 8-room homes, and 31.3% more than people in 7-room homes -- regardless of the age of the home. The average square footage of newly built homes has increased by some 34% since 1980, SMR noted.
"This study shows that energy conservationists need a new public message," said SMR President Stuart A. Feldstein. "The old focus on things like home insulation and auto fleet mileage is incomplete. People who decide to live alone, now more than one of every four households, and people who buy the McMansions, are those who squander our energy resources."
The SMR study reviewed household spending on six major energy products: electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, heating oil, and bottled gas. Tables in the study show spending per household and per capita on all the products combined, as well as on each individual product, based on the demographic, financial, and housing characteristics of the interviewees.
Among other findings of the study:
-- Spending data belie the notion that the most educated consumers are
the most sensitive to energy conservation. Instead, people with
Master's degrees or higher spend more on energy per household and per
person than any others.
-- Energy spending per person rises along with incomes.
-- There is poor correlation between energy spending and the age of a
home, suggesting that by now, people in older homes have already taken
such steps as adding insulation. The housing characteristics that do
correlate powerfully with energy spending are size and value.
-- Household density is the key problem in over-consumption. In 2007, the
U.S. hit a new record low of 2.56 persons per household. The data show
that Americans are now spending 29.6% more on energy per capita than
in 1960, based solely on the decline in density.
-- Households headed up by young adults and by Hispanic persons are the
most frugal energy users. Households headed by persons aged 75 or
more spend the least per capita on motor fuels, but spend the most per
capita on electricity, natural gas, and heating oil.
SMR's study is based on its work with the "micro-data" files of the Consumer Expenditures Survey (CES), conducted by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These large, complex files contain raw data on household spending on hundreds of products, allowing a researcher to isolate any product and compare spending patterns to the characteristics of families. SMR used data from 27,159 household interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007, the most recent available.
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A reversal of these trends, SMR noted, would dramatically reduce U.S. energy use. Yet, household demographics and home building are seldom mentioned in the debates over global warming and energy independence.
SMR's study, Consumer Energy Spending And The Demographics Of Over-Consumption, is based on detailed interviews with more than 27,000 households.
Single-person households, which have grown at triple the rate of overall population growth since 1960, use 18.4% more energy per capita than two-person households do, SMR found. They use 52.8% more energy per capita than three-person households.
Even when excluding households with children, since they do not drive, per-capita energy use is far higher among single-person households than any others, SMR found.
SMR also found that people in houses with 10 or more rooms use 18.8% more energy than people in 8-room homes, and 31.3% more than people in 7-room homes -- regardless of the age of the home. The average square footage of newly built homes has increased by some 34% since 1980, SMR noted.
"This study shows that energy conservationists need a new public message," said SMR President Stuart A. Feldstein. "The old focus on things like home insulation and auto fleet mileage is incomplete. People who decide to live alone, now more than one of every four households, and people who buy the McMansions, are those who squander our energy resources."
The SMR study reviewed household spending on six major energy products: electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas, heating oil, and bottled gas. Tables in the study show spending per household and per capita on all the products combined, as well as on each individual product, based on the demographic, financial, and housing characteristics of the interviewees.
Among other findings of the study:
-- Spending data belie the notion that the most educated consumers are
the most sensitive to energy conservation. Instead, people with
Master's degrees or higher spend more on energy per household and per
person than any others.
-- Energy spending per person rises along with incomes.
-- There is poor correlation between energy spending and the age of a
home, suggesting that by now, people in older homes have already taken
such steps as adding insulation. The housing characteristics that do
correlate powerfully with energy spending are size and value.
-- Household density is the key problem in over-consumption. In 2007, the
U.S. hit a new record low of 2.56 persons per household. The data show
that Americans are now spending 29.6% more on energy per capita than
in 1960, based solely on the decline in density.
-- Households headed up by young adults and by Hispanic persons are the
most frugal energy users. Households headed by persons aged 75 or
more spend the least per capita on motor fuels, but spend the most per
capita on electricity, natural gas, and heating oil.
SMR's study is based on its work with the "micro-data" files of the Consumer Expenditures Survey (CES), conducted by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These large, complex files contain raw data on household spending on hundreds of products, allowing a researcher to isolate any product and compare spending patterns to the characteristics of families. SMR used data from 27,159 household interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007, the most recent available.
-----
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