Electricity Intensity of U.S. Homes and Commercial Buildings Decreases in Coming Decades

In EIA’s recently released Annual Energy Outlook 2019 (AEO2019) Reference case, projected residential and commercial purchased electricity consumption grows more slowly than the number of households or total commercial floorspace.  As a result, electricity intensity—the amount of electricity consumed per household or square foot of commercial floorspace—decreases by an average of 0.3% per year and 0.4% per year from 2018 through 2050 in the residential and commercial sectors, respectively.

Nationally, the total number of households grows an average of 0.7% per year from 2018 to 2050 in the Reference case.  Total commercial floorspace grows 1.0% per year during the same period.  Growth rates for both sectors are higher than the expected 0.5% per year increase in U.S. population.

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