How much electricity is used for lighting in the United States?
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates in the Annual Energy Outlook 2022 that in 2021, the U.S. residential and commercial sectors combined used about 211 billion kilowatthours (kWh) of electricity for lighting. This was about 8% of total electricity consumption by both of these sectors and about 5% of total U.S. electricity consumption by all sectors.
Residential sector electricity consumption for lighting was about 59 billion kWh or about 4% of total residential sector electricity consumption and about 1% of total U.S. electricity consumption in 2021.
The commercial sector, which includes commercial and institutional buildings, and public street and highway lighting, consumed about 152 billion kWh for lighting in 2021, equal to about 11% of total commercial sector electricity consumption and about 4% of total U.S. electricity consumption in 2021. EIA does not have an estimate of electricity use specifically for public street and highway lighting.
In 2018, about 48 billion kWh were consumed for facility lighting in manufacturing facilities, which was equal to about 1.2% of total U.S. electricity consumption in 2018.1
1 This is the most recent data available at the time that this FAQ was updated.
Learn more:
EIA projections for energy use in the residential and commercial sectors in Annual Energy Outlook, Reference case Tables 4 Table 5
Articles on lighting
Energy Explained: Use of electricity
Energy Explained: Energy use in homes
Energy Explained: Energy use in commercial buildings
Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)
Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS)
Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS)
Trends in Lighting in Commercial Buildings
U.S. Department of Energy market studies on lighting
Last updated: March 7, 2022
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