Energy Hogs and Misers: Magnitude and Variability of Individuals’ Household Electricity Consumption

Claudia Bustamante, Stephen Bird, Lisa Legault and Susan E. Powers ()
Additional contact information
Claudia Bustamante: Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA
Stephen Bird: Institute for a Sustainable Environment and Political Science, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA
Lisa Legault: Department of Psychology, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA
Susan E. Powers: Institute for a Sustainable Environment, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: We use circuit-level granular electricity measurements from student housing and statistical analysis to better understand individuals’ electricity consumption. Two key patterns emerged—individuals varied systematically in their magnitude of electricity use as well as in their variability of usage at the hourly and daily level. A cluster analysis of electricity consumption in individual bedrooms shows that 18% of students consume 48% of total electricity use at a median of 2.17 kWh/d/person. These few energy hogs have a disproportionate impact on electricity consumption. In contrast, the misers (22% of students) consume only 4% of the electricity (0.18 kWh/d/person). Mini-refrigerators in bedrooms contributed substantially to the total electricity use of the moderate users. In contrast, mini-refrigerators were less influential for energy hogs, suggesting that these residents may draw power in others ways, such as by using powerful computing or gaming systems for hours each day. A sub-cluster analysis revealed substantial individual variability in hourly usage profiles. Some energy hogs use electricity consistently throughout the day, while others have specific periods of high consumption. We demonstrate how our analysis is generalizable to other situations where the resident does not directly pay their utility bills and thus has limited financial incentive to conserve, and how it contributes to a deeper understanding of the different ways in which individuals use energy. This allows for targeting interventions to groups with similar patterns of consumption. For example, policies such as fines or fees that might reduce the excessive electricity use for short times or for individual hogs could result in potential savings ranging from 16–33% of bedroom electricity.

Keywords: energy conservation; occupant behavior; end-use; residential buildings; university; individual electricity use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4171/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4171/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4171-:d:1080296

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().