Electricity is used to light up our bulbs, tubes and energy savers.It also provides power to refrigerators, washing machine, computer and TV at our homes
We use electricity virtually every minute of every day, yet few of us understand the major uses of electricity in our homes.
By answering the simple question ‘how do we use electricity’ this post helps us understand our own electricity use.
Before we dive into how electricity is used around the home it is worth putting household electricity use in perspective.
Household electricity use generally makes up about a third of total electricity consumption in most developed nations. Using data from the European Union we can give an example of how electricity demand is split among different sectors.
Among the twenty-seven countries that make up the European Union electricity is used primarily by industry (36%), households (31%) and the commercial sector (30%), while transport (3%) is a small share. For this purpose the ‘commercial’ sector includes both private and public services while industry is mostly manufacturing.
Although this breakdown varies from country to country the three-way slit between industry, households and the commercial sector is a good rough guide for any developed country. Total generation is typically 5-10% more than this total due to transmission and distribution losses.
So when we talk about household electricity use, it is worth remembering homes only account for a about a third of total electricity use.