Reviewing the complexity of energy behavior: Technologies, analytical traditions, and household energy consumption data in the United States

Healthcare facilities in the United States account for 4.8% of the total area in the commercial sector and are responsible for 10.3% of total energy consumption in this sector. The number of healthcare facilities increased by 22% since 2003, leading to a 21% rise in energy consumption and an 8% reduction in energy intensity per unit of area (544.8 kWh/m2). This study provides an analytical overview of the end-use energy consumption data in healthcare systems for hospitals in the United States. The energy intensity of the U.S. hospitals ranges from 640.7 kWh/m2 in Zone 5 (very hot) to 781.1 kWh/m2 in Zone 1 (very cold), with an average of 738.5 kWh/m2. This is approximately 2.6 times higher than that of other commercial buildings. High energy intensity in the healthcare facilities, particularly in hospitals, along with energy costs and associated environmental concerns make energy analysis crucial for this type of facility. The proposed analysis shows that U.S. healthcare facilities have higher energy intensity than those of most other countries, especially the European ones. This necessitates the adoption of more energy-efficient approaches to the infrastructure and the management of healthcare facilities in the United States.

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Measurement of inequality using household energy consumption data in rural China

Nature Energy ◽

10.1038/s41560-017-0003-1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (10) ◽

pp. 795-803 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Shimei Wu ◽

Xinye Zheng ◽

Chu Wei

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Rural China ◽

Household Energy ◽

Household Energy Consumption ◽

Consumption Data ◽

Measurement Of Inequality

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Forecasting of primary energy consumption data in the United States: A comparison between ARIMA and Holter-Winters models

10.1063/1.5002357 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

A. Rahman ◽

A. S. Ahmar

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

The United States ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Primary Energy Consumption ◽

Consumption Data

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Do Energy Burdens Contribute to Economic Poverty in the United States? A Panel Analysis

Social Forces ◽

10.1093/sf/soz131 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 99 (1) ◽

pp. 155-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeremiah Bohr ◽

Anna C McCreery

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Energy Consumption ◽

Low Income ◽

Social Stratification ◽

Household Income ◽

Well Being ◽

The United States ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Energy Expenditures ◽

Energy Behavior

Abstract For many households, energy consumption represents a non-discretionary portion of their budget and directly relates to quality of life. As researchers continue to study the environmental impacts of energy behavior, it is important to explore how energy consumption relates to socio-economic wellbeing. This paper examines the economic impacts of being energy-burdened in the United States, defined as spending at least 10% of household income on heating and electricity services; energy burdens are partially, but not entirely, driven by income, since energy needs and costs can vary substantially due to housing characteristics, utility rates, and other factors. Using panel data of US household income and energy expenditures during 1999–2017, this analysis demonstrates that energy-burdened households were at about 150%–200% greater risk of transitioning into or extending the duration of economic poverty over a two-year timeframe relative to non-burdened households. This analysis indicates that dedicating inordinate amounts of income to energy services can threaten a household’s economic well-being over time, possibly by preventing a household from engaging in other economic activities or compounding existing economic hardship. These results emphasize the importance of energy assistance and energy efficiency for low-income households, drawing attention to how structures of energy consumption, the welfare state, and social stratification intertwine.

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A Summary on Research of Household Energy Consumption: A Bibliometric Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12010316 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 316

Author(s):

Xiaowei Ma ◽

Mei Wang ◽

Chuandong Li

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Supply ◽

Citation Index ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Supply And Demand ◽

The United States ◽

High Yield ◽

Household Energy ◽

Household Energy Consumption ◽

The Relationship

With the emergence of the contradictions between energy supply and demand, considerable attention has been paid to the residential household energy consumption with increasing research in this field. Based on databases of Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, this paper applies the bibliometric method to analyze the development and evolution of this research field using the literature published in the field of residential energy consumption during the period 1970–2018. The following findings were found: (1) The research on energy consumption of households is mainly divided into three stages: cognition (1970–1989), exploration (1990–2005), and rapid development (2006–2018); (2) By analyzing the citations of high-yield authors, institutions, journals and papers in this field, it is clear that the developed countries such as the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands have significantly stronger research capabilities in this field; (3) By analyzing the co-occurrence of keywords and co-citation of the literature in this field, the research hotspots in this field are summarized as the relationship between energy supply and demand, energy use efficiency, the relationship between various household indicators and energy consumption, environmental protection, modeling and measurement; (4) In view of the reality, future works should pay more attention to the influence of micro-factors, regional energy consumption issues, and energy consumption of rural households.

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Why Low-Carbon Publicity Effect Limits? The Role of Heterogeneous Intention in Reducing Household Energy Consumption

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14227634 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (22) ◽

pp. 7634

Author(s):

Jin Zhang ◽

Lianrui Ma ◽

Jinkai Li

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Saving ◽

Energy Awareness ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Household Energy ◽

Consumption Behavior ◽

Household Energy Consumption ◽

Energy Behavior ◽

Saving Behavior

Low-carbon knowledge is seen as having a key role in interfering with household energy consumption behaviors by wide consensus from political and academic areas. Whether low-carbon publicity will help to reduce household energy consumption is still in dispute. By constructing an integrated knowledge-intention-behavior model and using 1335 detailed survey questionnaires of household energy behavior in Henan Province, the central area in China, this paper finds that in the developing area low-carbon knowledge or publicity cannot positively impact household energy-saving behavior even if mediated by energy awareness and energy-saving attitudes. Low-carbon knowledge does improve energy-saving attitude and attitude does not decrease household energy consumption directly. Familiarity with particular energy-saving knowledge would decrease the household energy consumption but not significantly in the statistics. Path analysis unfolds the reason that the heterogeneous effects of purchase-based intention and habitual intention explain energy consumption behavior. Subgroup analysis supports those economic factors of income and energy prices play key roles in explaining such household energy consumption behavior in the rapid urbanization area. This paper gives new evidence on the residential energy-saving behavior intervention among developing areas.

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