Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)
All Reports & Publications
Residential BuildingsAvailable formats
How does EIA estimate energy consumption and end uses in U.S. homes?Released: March 28, 2011
EIA administers the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) to a nationally representative sample of housing units. Specially trained interviewers collect energy characteristics on the housing unit, usage patterns, and household demographics. This information is combined with data from energy suppliers to these homes to estimate energy costs and usage for heating, cooling, appliances and other end uses information critical to meeting future energy demand and improving efficiency and building design.
Share of energy used by appliances and consumer electronics increases in U.S. homesReleased: March 28, 2011
Over the past three decades, the share of residential electricity used by appliances and electronics in U.S. homes has nearly doubled from 17 percent to 31 percent, growing from 1.77 quadrillion Btu (quads) to 3.25 quads. This rise has occurred while Federal energy efficiency standards were enacted on every major appliance, overall household energy consumption actually decreased from 10.58 quads to 10.55 quads, and energy use per household fell 31 percent.
EIA household energy use data now includes detail on 16 StatesReleased: March 28, 2011
EIA is releasing new benchmark estimates for home energy use for the year 2009 that include detailed data for 16 States, 12 more than in past EIA residential energy surveys.
What's new in our home energy use?Released: March 28, 2011
The 2009 RECS collected home energy characteristics data from over 12,000 U.S. households. This report highlights findings from the survey, with details presented in the Household Energy Characteristics tables.
PDF Trends in U.S. Residential Natural Gas ConsumptionReleased: June 23, 2010
This report presents an analysis of residential natural gas consumption trends in the United States through 2009 and analyzes consumption trends for the United States as a whole (1990 through 2009) and for each Census Division (1998 through 2009).
U.S. Household Electricity ReportReleased: July 14, 2005
Brief analysis reports on the amount of electricity consumed annually by U.S. households for each of several end uses, including space heating and cooling, water heating, lighting, and the operation of more than two dozen appliances.
PDF Householder's Perceptions of Insulation Adequacy and Drafts in the Home in 2001Released: August 1, 2004
In order to improve the estimation of end-use heating consumption, the Energy Information Administration's (EIA), 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), for the first time, asked respondents to judge how drafty they perceived their homes to be as a measure of insulation quality.
Effect of Income on Appliances in U.S. Households, TheReleased: January 1, 2004
This web page page entails how people live, the factors that cause the most differences in home lifestyle, including energy use in Geographic Location, Socioeconomics and Household Income.
Cooking Trends in the United States : Are We Really Becoming a Fast Food Country?Released: November 25, 2002
This report will refer to cooking patterns data collected in the 1993 and 2001 RECS.
Winter Energy Savings from Lower Thermostat SettingsReleased: December 12, 2000
This discussion provides details on the effect of lowering thermostat settings during the winter heating months of 1997.
PDF Preliminary Conservation Tables from National Interim Energy Consumption SurveyReleased: August 15, 1979
The focus of this report is the conservation activities performed by households since January 1977, and the status of households with respect to insulation, storm windows, and other energy conserving characteristics.