Part 1: A Glimpse of the Energy Future

Buildings offer the greatest opportunity for energy conservation.

…Americans work, live and play in boxes of brick, wood, glass, steel and concrete-artificial environments typically kept at constant temperature and lighting levels regardless of season or time of day and notwithstanding the presence or departure of the occupants. The results are obvious. In the United States, buildings command 40% of the nation’s overall energy use, ranking above both industry, at 32%, and transportation, at 28%. Buildings demand 71% of domestic electric power in the U.S. and 55% of the nation’s natural gas-and produce 43% of U.S. carbon emissions.

“Creating more energy-efficient buildings is not only part of the overall solution but is the number one most cost-effective opportunity to reduce the nation’s energy consumption and affect climate change,” says Jeff Christian, a buildings technology researcher at ORNL and coordinator of the Habitat for Humanity project. “Yes, we must replace oil with biofuels. Yes, we must pursue other supply-side solutions in an environmentally acceptable manner. But there is enormous potential to reduce energy demand in the buildings sector, and that is by far the cheapest solution if we really want to address this problem.”


Because the nearly 5 million commercial buildings and 112 million households use a collective 38.8 quadrillion BTUs of energy each year, curtailing consumption is a tall order but has enormous potential. Space heating and cooling and ventilation demand most of that power, followed closely by lighting, then water heating. Refrigeration, electronics, computers and other items add up to their own significant and growing slice of the energy pie.

Buildings’ appetite for energy has been on the rise as a result of natural population growth and related development of homes, apartment complexes, shopping malls, schools, office buildings and healthcare facilities. The amount of energy required for each person occupying those buildings is climbing as well.

Renewable Energy Access