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Waaaah! I'm going bankrupt....
... TOO MUCH!https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=97&t=3
How much electricity does an American home use?
In 2015, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,812 kilowatthours (kWh), an average of 901 kWh per month. Louisiana had the highest annual electricity consumption at 15,435 kWh per residential customer, and Hawaii had the lowest at 6,166 kWh per residential customer.
Too much? Well that's our lifestyle.Waaaah! I'm going bankrupt....
... TOO MUCH!
Netherlands
Listed are
1 / 1,870 kWh / €22
- Number of people in houshold
- Ave. Annual use
- Cost per mont in Euro's
2 / 2,990 kWh / €41
3 / 3,660 kWh / €52
4 / 4,110 kWh / €59
5 / 4,610 kWh / €67
6 / 4,930 kWh / €73
Average per household (all households) 2.970 kWh > €40/mo
Source https://www.nibud.nl/consumenten/energie-en-water/
(also lists water and natural gas usage)
NOTE: Heating and hot water in NL is usually by NATURAL GAS, not by ELECTRICITY. Cooking is by natural gas or electricity. Airco is uncommon. Electricy use depends mostly on use of light and various appliances. We tend to build using brick and (prefab) concrete. We do a lot with double glazing and thermal insulation.
Use of natural gas is primarily dependent on type of dwelling/house (flat, rowhouse-inbetween, rowhouse-corner, two-under-one-roof, free standing) , not so much number of people per household.
About 1/3 of water use is for bathing/showering, and the remainder for clothes washing, toilet flushing and cooking. Dependent on how many persons per household.
Data on Belgium here: http://www.vreg.be/nl/gemiddeld-energieverbruik-van-een-gezin
Truely a man who can say 'been there, done that' ;-)
Too much? Well that's our lifestyle.
Air conditioning is the biggest power consumer. ( https://defence.pk/threads/team-usa.306182/page-101#post-8341625 ) As I recall until recently most europeans shunned air conditioning as unnatural and possibly unhealthy. Opening windows was seen as a healthier choice. Plus we all use clothes dryers (79% ) and dishwashers ( 59% ) too which I believe is also shunned in Europe. Plus around 23% of US homes have more than 1 refrigerator ( http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/27/news/economy/23-percent-of-american-homes-have-2-fridges/ ) ...and they are often large ( 0.5 cu meters http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...why-are-american-refrigerators-so-big/280275/ I personally have 2 refrigerators plus 2 dedicated freezers)
Natural gas is used in about 61% of homes ( but declining in newer home construction http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=7690 ) and can be used for house heating/stoves/water heaters/clothes dryers. It certainly cuts down on the electrical usage.
Well, for example, I got a small dishwasher, a washer and a dryer, 2 small fridges, and 1 small freezer, a microwave and an electric oven. It's not like we don't have applicances. But if you go buy appliances here, they are all rated and color coded for energy use. And we do put clothes on the line (indoors or outdoors) whenever we can, so we minimize the apppliance use. We also use energy-efficient lamps, minimize lamp use to where we need it, close curtains early etc. Also, you don't need to heat the house to 21 degrees Celsius, 18-19 does fine and when out during work days thermostat puts is down to 15 automatically.
I don't want to judge on number of appliances for it makes a big difference in how you stock and store whether your foodstore is walking distance or a 60mi drive away.
Lots of Dutch energy use statistics here http://www.pbl.nl/onderwerpen/energie-en-energievoorziening/feiten-en-cijfers
Drop into google translate.
I think the US problem is more with how they build homes and the degree to which these are insulated i.e. with heating/cooling.
Homes here can go back more than 200 years, mind you.Well the homes here range from those built today to those built 200 years ago, So you are really going to have a wide spread on tech. My home is relatively new and has double pane windows and fiberglass insulation in all the walls plus was completely wrapped in the Tyvex plastic air-block stuff. My exterior walls are definitely not cold to the touch. I definitely have too many large windows in my home (5 just in my bedroom) and since a live in the frigid NorthEast that isn't an optimal setup. At least it's on the south side of the house so I get the sun.
Homes here can go back more than 200 years, mind you.
http://eyeonhousing.org/2014/02/the-age-of-the-housing-stock-by-state/
According to the latest 2013 American Housing Survey (AHS), published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the median age of owner-occupied homes is 37 years old, compared to only 27 years old in 1993.
60% of owner occupied housing is younger than 35 years old.
http://eyeonhousing.org/2015/08/the-aging-housing-stock-2/
All buildings in the Netherlands, shaded by year of construction
http://code.waag.org/buildings/
All 9,866,539 buildings in the Netherlands, shaded according to year of construction. Data from BAG (January 2015), via CitySDK LD API. Dark blue is youngest, dark red is oldest.
See also http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics