Heating and Air Conditioning

• The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that 27 percent of residential home wattage is consumed in heating or cooling the home. Antiquated heating and air products use much more power in some homes. Recent initiatives to weatherize homes, update heating and air conditioning equipment and install programmable thermostats may begin to decrease this consumption.
  
  

Appliances

• The same EIA study estimates that 27.9 percent of home electricity is consumed in operating clothing washers and driers. This figure includes the average cost to heat the water in your dishwasher and clothes washer. With the advent of highly efficient laundry appliances, such as front-loading washers, this consumption should begin to decline. For two years the federal government has been giving tax credits of up to 30 percent of the cost of upgrades to those who replaced older appliances. These newer, higher-efficiency Energy Star models should help lower overall energy use.
  
  

Lighting

• The EIA study finds that an estimated 15.3 percent of home electricity is used for lighting. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if you replace just 15 of your inefficient incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, you will save $50 worth of electricity per year.
  
  

Electronics

• The EIA study estimates that 11 percent of electrical usage is from powering electronics, including computers and television-related products. As of 2009 more than 112 million homes have one or more televisions, including 9.7 million homes with five or more. In addition, 46.9 million homes have at least one computer. While there are certainly many more electronic devices consuming kilowatts, these two categories make up the majority of consumption. With the advent of much less expensive and more energy-efficient flat-screen televisions, this consumption may decrease as older, inefficient televisions and computers are replaced. Laptops and the smaller netbooks have emerged to make up a majority of home computers. These consume much less power than desktop computers. Recently, smartphones with data plans have outsold personal computers, a trend sure to reduce electricity consumption even more.
  
  

Other Considerations

• The EIA study also concludes that an estimated 18.9 percent of residential power is used to power all the other plugged-in items inside the home. If electric cars become common in the United States, charging the batteries of these efficient vehicles will likely increase this category of consumption.