USES OF ENERGY

Americans use a lot of energy in homes, in businesses, and in industry, and to travel and transport
goods. There are four end-use sectors that purchase or produce energy for their own consumption and
not for resale:

The residential sector includes homes and apartments.

The commercial sector includes offices, malls, stores, schools, hospitals, hotels, warehouses,
restaurants, and places of worship and public assembly.

The industrial sector includes facilities and equipment used for manufacturing, agriculture, mining, and
construction.

The transportation sector includes vehicles that transport people or goods, such as cars, trucks, buses,
motorcycles, trains, aircraft, boats, barges, and ships.

Energy use in industry

The United States is a highly industrialized country. In 2020, the industrial sector
accounted for 36% of total U.S. end-use energy consumption and 33% of total
U.S. energy consumption.1

Industry uses many energy sources

The U.S. industrial sector uses a variety of energy sources including:

 Natural gas
 Petroleum, such as distillate and residual fuel oils and hydrocarbon gas
liquids (HGLs)
 Electricity
 Renewable sources, mainly biomass such as pulping liquids (called black
liquor) and other residues from papermaking and residues from agriculture,
forestry, and lumber milling
 Coal and coal coke

Industry uses fossil fuels and renewable energy sources for:

  Heat in industrial processes and space heating in buildings
 Boiler fuel to generate steam or hot water for process heating and
generating electricity
 Feedstocks (raw materials) to make products such as plastics and chemicals

Energy use for transportation

Different types of energy sources (or fuels) are used for transportation
in the United States

The major types of energy used for transportation in the United States
are:

 Petroleum products—products made from crude oil and from

natural gas processing, including gasoline, distillate fuels (mostly
diesel fuel), jet fuel, residual fuel oil, and propane
 Biofuels—ethanol and biomass-based diesel/distillates
 Natural gas
 Electricity (produced from many different energy sources)

Energy sources are used in several major ways

 Gasoline is used in cars, motorcycles, light trucks, and boats.

Aviation gasoline is used in many types of airplanes.
 Distillate fuels are used mainly by trucks, buses, and trains and in
boats and ships.
  Jet fuel is used in jet airplanes and some types of helicopters.
 Residual fuel oil is used in ships.
 Biofuels are added to gasoline and diesel fuel.
 Natural gas, as compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas,
is used in cars, buses, trucks, and ships. Most of the vehicles that
use natural gas are in government and private vehicle fleets.
 Natural gas is also used to operate compressors to move natural
gas in pipelines.
 Propane (a hydrocarbon gas liquid) is used in cars, buses, and
trucks. Most of the vehicles that use propane are in government
and private vehicle fleets.
 Electricity is used by public mass transit systems and by electric
vehicles.

Energy use in homes

Many factors affect the amount of energy a household uses

A number of factors affect the amount of energy an individual

household uses, including

 Geographic location and climate

 Type of home and its physical characteristics
 Number, type, and efficiency of energy-consuming devices in the
home and the amount of time they are used
 Number of household members
The types and major end uses of energy by the residential sector
include:

 electricity—all types of energy end uses

 natural gas—space and water heating, clothes drying, cooking
 heating oil—space and water heating, clothes drying
 LPG/propane—space and water heating, clothes drying, cooking
 kerosene—space heating
 geothermal energy—space cooling, and space and water heating
 solar energy—space and water heating, electricity generation
 wood (cord wood and wood pellets)—space and water heating,
cooking

Energy use per household has declined

The typical U.S. household now uses more air conditioning, appliances,
and consumer electronics than ever before. However, average annual
site energy use per home has declined. The reasons for this decline
include:

 Improvements in building insulation and materials

 Improved efficiencies of heating and cooling equipment, water
heaters, refrigerators, lighting, and appliances
 Population migration to regions with lower heating—and thus
lower total energy—demand
Energy use in commercial buildings

The top five energy-consuming building categories used about half of

the energy consumed by all commercial buildings in 2012, and they
include the following types of buildings:

Mercantile and service (15% of total energy consumed by commercial

buildings)

 Malls and stores

 Car dealerships
 Dry cleaners
 Gas stations

Office (14% of consumption)

 Professional and government offices

 Banks
 Education (10% of consumption)
 Elementary, middle, and high school
 Colleges
Health care (8% of consumption)

 Hospitals
 Medical offices

Lodging (6% of consumption)

 Hotels
 Dormitories
 Nursing homes

Everyone uses energy

People use energy for transportation, cooking, heating and cooling

rooms, manufacturing, lighting, entertainment, and many other uses.
The choices people make about how they use energy—turning
machines off when they're not using them or choosing to buy fuel-
efficient vehicles and energy-efficient appliances—affects the
environment and people's lives.