A survey result that the energy usage has decreased due to the fact that the time spent everyone else at home is long

byThought Catalog

Labor Statistics Bureau, US Department of LaborAccording to (BLS), in 2016 22% of all employees in the United States did partial work or all work at home. The number of people who work at home increases and the number of people who watch movies at home using streaming services, for example, also increases, but as a result of this "increase in time spent at home" increases, the overall energy consumption decreases The results of the investigation that it is doing are clarified.

Changes in Time Use and Their Effect on Energy Consumption in the United States
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542435118300035

Americans staying home, streaming video, and using less energy because of it | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/02/americans-staying-home-streaming-video-and-using-less-energy-because-of-it/

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin examined the data of the American Time Use Survey (American Time Use Survey / ATUS) from 2003 to 2012 and as to how the change in the use time of buildings and cars is related to energy use We investigated whether it has an influence. As a result, the average time for American citizens to spend at their homes increased by 7.8 days per year on average from the year 2003 to the year 2012. Looking closely, the time spent in buildings other than the residences such as offices and shops was reduced by 6.7 days, traveling time was decreased by 1.2 days. Researchers are watching that this is a very big shift.

byToa Heftiba

Although energy usage at home is increased by spending a lot of time at home, energy consumption as a whole is decreasing, and it is said that the reduction of the driving time of the car is greatly related to this . It is said that car driving is one of the activities with the highest energy consumption per minute.

This survey divided employees by age and social position and analyzed it, especially the stratification from 18 to 24 years of age shows an increase in the time spent at home, this age group is 2003 Compared with 2012, it seems that there were many hours spent at home as average as 14 days. Meanwhile, the time spent at the residence of employees aged 65 or older decreased, and more time was being devoted to non-residential buildings and movements. Researchers are looking at this because retirement times are slower than in the past.

Researchers also investigated how the time spent at home, population growth, house size, energy saving measures are affecting energy use. As a result, due to the increased time spent at home, 480 trillionBTUThe researchers speculate that the extra energy of is used. Meanwhile, in the building division other than housing, 1,000 trillion BTU was decreasing from 2003 to 2012, and 1200 BTU in the transport sector was decreasing. Regarding the increase in energy consumption in housing, we also know that energy conservation measures are the key to limiting this impact.

byMaryus Bio

Of course, the part which ATUS data does not cover is not reflected in this survey, and there is no mention of the existence of an increasing data center or the influence of secondary energy consumption in the manufacturing industry, for example. Even if American people spend more time at home and energy usage is decreasing, it is possible that these sectors may offset the effect.

However, as the importance of "energy efficiency" is shown as an approach to environmental problems, this research indicated that the solution is also "how to spend time each person".