Cooperative Living August 2021 - 22

CloserLook | by Paul Wesslund, Contributing Columnist
Use of highly
efficient LED bulbs
has grown from a
20% market share
in 2015 to 60%
in 2019.
Being Sensible
About Power
Energy efficiency keeps improving, even during a pandemic
mericans keep getting more
efficient in their use of energy,
even during the pandemic.
Last year saw a 7% drop in energy
use in the U.S., the largest annual
decrease since records were first
collected in 1949, according to the
Energy Information Administration.
EIA attributes much of that decrease
to the economy's reaction to the
coronavirus.
SLEEPY HEADS
Energy consumption didn't just
drop; it shifted as well. Commercial
energy use fell dramatically as
people stayed home from the office.
Residential use rose because people
stayed home.
People even slept later. Some areas
reported peak morning electricity use
moving from around 6 a.m., when
people would normally shower and
make breakfast before leaving for work.
Instead, energy use peaked later in
the day as people walked from their
kitchen to their home office.
Will people decide they prefer
that kind of commute in their socks
even after the coronavirus slows?
Or will they be even hungrier for
in-person meetings?
20 | Cooperative Living | August 2021
A
The 2020 statistics don't offer a lot
of guidance on that kind of speculation.
But specialists speculate that more
energy-efficient uses of technology may
change some of our energy use patterns,
and the trend is here to stay.
Several well-established, long-term
energy use trends:
* Residential energy use per
household fell 16% from 2001 to
2018, says a coalition of energyefficiency
groups;
* Automobiles continued a 20-year
trend that has increased average
fuel economy more than 30%,
from 19.6 miles per gallon in
2011 to 25.7 in 2021, according
to preliminary data from the
Environmental Protection Agency;
*Use of highly efficient LED bulbs
has grown from a 20% market share
in 2015 to 60% in 2019. That trend
likely won't be reversed, since LEDs
last well over 10 years;
*One measure of efficiency is " energy
intensity, " which calculates how
much energy is consumed per
dollar of the nation's Gross Domestic
Product. In 2020, that number was
about half of what it was 30 years
ago. It's projected to fall even further
in the next 30 years.
BUILT-IN EFFICIENCY
In its Annual Energy Outlook
2021, EIA says energy-efficiency
improvements are baked in to our
everyday lives. While the report
projects energy use will not completely
return to 2019 levels until 2025, it
" does not project long-term structural
changes in electricity demand
resulting from the pandemic. "
And if the pandemic hasn't
permanently changed the long-term
structure of the energy industry, the
report says it also won't affect the
march toward greater efficiency. EIA
cites a bevy of factors in long-term
efficiency, including appliance
standards, building codes, and
changing technology and behavior
associated with vehicles, devices and
lighting.
So, as you and the rest of the world
sort out how many meetings will be
forever replaced by Zoom calls, we
can count on continued improvements
in energy-saving measures that will
keep going long into a post-pandemic
world. 
Paul Wesslund writes on consumer and
cooperative affairs for the National Rural
Electric Cooperative Association.
co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living August 2021

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