Originally published in 1983, Energy and Household Expenditure Patterns claimed that two-thirds of energy consumption in the United States came from households. This study aimed to estimate the expected changes in household activities and how this would affect energy consumption in the country as a whole. Also discussed are implications of direct energy purchases and spending on energy goods in households as well as predicting the growth in energy consumption leading up to the year 2000. This title will be of interest to students of Environmental Studies and Economics.

A detailed investigation of energy use in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors of the U.S. and certain European countries (including Germany and Sweden) shows that there is an important parameter that we call lifestyle that is not captured in the exogenous variables commonly used in electric utility forecasting. A retrospective examination shows that lifestyle has been of subordinate importance to the income-linked trend of increasing ownership of the major energy and electricity-using hard goods and dwellings for at least three decades. The recent saturation of the residential and commercial markets for the dominant energy-using technologies has allowed variations in the utilization of this infrastructure to emerge as a significant input to market demand. With saturation of primary technologies, and relative stability in energy prices, the distinct activity patterns that result from various lifestyles are likely to influence demand for electricity and other energy forms, as well as participation in demand side management programs and other utility sponsored programs.

How do households consume and spend on energy? What are the drivers of their spending and consumption patterns? How does energy consumption has evolved? What is to be expected as the region climbs the development ladder? What are the distributive implications of different energy pricing approaches? This book looks at these questions and examines which policies work in reducing energy poverty and increasing energy savings. The authors unveil the growing household demand of better quality of energy and show that to achieve more cost-effective and progressive public policies, it is necessary to strengthen the transparency and sustainability of energy pricing while having into account the consumer behavioral responses. This volume is a resource for designing energy policies based on an empirical understanding of the household’s energy needs.

In this paper a descriptive analysis of the relationship between energy consumption, patterns of energy use, and housing stock variables is presented. The purpose of the analysis is to uncover evidence of variations in energy consumption and expenditures, and patterns of energy use between majority households (defines as households with neither a black nor Hispanic head of household), black households (defined as households with a black head of household), and Hispanic households (defined as households with a Hispanic head of household) between 1980 (time of the first DOE/EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey, 1982a) and 1987 (time of the last DOE/EIA Residential Energy Consumption Survey, 1989a). The analysis is three-dimensional: energy consumption and expenditures are presented by time (1980 to 1987), housing vintage, and housing type. A comparative analysis of changes in energy variables for the three population groups -- majority, black, and Hispanic -- within and between specific housing stock categories is presented.