Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)

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Table HC1.9 Fuels used and end uses in U.S. homes by home size, 2015¹

Release date: October 2017
Revised date: May 2018

	Number of housing units (million)
		Size of home in square feet³
	Total U.S.²	Fewer than 1,000	1,000 to 1,499	1,500 to 1,999	2,000 to 2,499	2,500 to 2,999	3,000 or greater
All homes	118.2	26.6	26.1	17.5	14.1	10.8	23.1
Fuels used for any use (more than one may apply)
Electricity	118.2	26.6	26.1	17.5	14.1	10.8	23.1
Natural gas	68.6	14.8	12.9	9.9	8.6	7.2	15.3
Propane⁴	11.6	1.5	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.2	3.4
Wood	12.5	1.0	2.2	1.9	1.9	1.6	4.0
Fuel oil/kerosene	6.9	1.2	0.9	0.9	0.8	1.0	2.1
Electricity end uses (more than one may apply)
Space heating	57.7	14.2	14.8	8.8	6.1	4.7	9.1
Main	40.9	12.1	12.0	6.0	3.7	2.3	4.8
Secondary	23.0	3.6	4.6	4.0	2.9	2.8	5.0
Air conditioning	102.8	21.5	22.6	15.5	12.5	9.7	21.0
Water heating	55.1	13.2	15.0	8.6	6.1	3.9	8.3
Cooking⁵	75.0	16.5	16.9	11.0	8.8	6.9	14.9
Natural gas end uses (more than one may apply)
Space heating	59.5	10.4	10.7	8.9	8.3	6.8	14.5
Main	57.7	10.2	10.4	8.5	8.0	6.6	14.0
Secondary	7.5	0.4	0.8	1.0	1.3	0.8	3.1
Water heating	56.3	12.1	10.2	8.2	7.1	6.1	12.6
Cooking⁵	39.0	7.8	7.7	6.0	4.8	3.8	9.0
Outdoor grilling	4.1	0.2	0.2	0.6	0.4	0.6	2.1
Propane end uses (more than one may apply)
Space heating	7.5	0.6	1.3	1.3	1.3	0.8	2.2
Main	5.0	0.5	0.9	0.7	0.9	0.4	1.5
Secondary	2.9	Q	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.9
Water heating	4.3	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.4	1.4
Cooking⁵	6.2	1.0	1.1	0.7	0.9	0.7	1.8
Outdoor grilling⁴	42.2	3.3	6.9	7.2	6.8	5.1	12.9
Wood end uses (more than one may apply)
Space heating	12.5	1.0	2.2	1.9	1.9	1.6	4.0
Main	3.5	0.3	0.7	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.9
Secondary	9.2	0.6	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.2	3.2
Water heating	Q	N	N	Q	N	Q	Q
Fuel oil/kerosene end uses (more than one may apply)
Space heating	6.6	1.1	0.8	0.9	0.8	1.0	2.0
Main	5.8	1.1	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.8	1.7
Secondary	0.9	Q	Q	Q	Q	Q	0.3
Water heating	2.9	0.6	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.5	0.9
¹Housing characteristics data were collected between August 2015 and April 2016. ²Total U.S. includes all primary occupied housing units in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Vacant housing units, seasonal units, second homes, military houses, and group quarters are excluded. ³Total square footage includes all basements, finished or conditioned (heated or cooled) areas of attics, and conditioned garage space that is attached to the home. Unconditioned and unfinished areas in attics and attached garages are excluded. The square footage for some housing units was calculated based on measurements taken by the interviewer. For households responding without the presence of an interviewer, square footage was imputed based on characteristics of the housing unit. See 2015 RECS Square Footage Methodology for full details about data collection and processing. ⁴Households that use propane only for outdoor grilling are excluded from the RECS estimate of households using propane. ⁵Cooking includes fuels used by major cooking equipment (ovens, cooktops, and stoves). Q = Data withheld because either the Relative Standard Error (RSE) was greater than 50% or fewer than 10 cases responded. N = No cases responded. Notes: Because of rounding, data may not sum to totals. See RECS Terminology for definition of terms used in these tables. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Office of Energy Consumption and Efficiency Statistics, Forms EIA-457A and EIA-457C of the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey.