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Don't forget to convert the gas into MJ / kWh with an appropriate conversion factor. When I calculated total energy use for my household I was somewhat amazed a

by wjnc 6y ago

Don't forget to convert the gas into MJ / kWh with an appropriate conversion factor. When I calculated total energy use for my household I was somewhat amazed at how much energy gas holds.

eqvinox 6y ago
There's no gas involved in any of these numbers. 3500 kWh/year is a typical number for pure electricity in Germany.
- wjnc 6y ago
  Don't Americans use electric heat pumps / air-conditioning units for cooling and heating, while Europeans more often heat on natural gas? My point is you need to look at the per capita energy use in comparable terms (MJ or BTU/cap perhaps with CO2 MT/cap next to that). To put it in perspective. In the last month my household of 5 in NL used about 400 kWh of electricity and 400 m3 of gas. Those 400 m3 calculate to about 5 MWh (!) of electrical energy (Dutch gas is about 35 MJ per m3ans my heater is 95% efficient if used optimally). Since I expect Texans to mostly have electrical HVAC mostly for cooling ... My house is very inefficient in comparison. US: 49% gas, 34% electrical [1] NL: 90%+ gas [2] [1] https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/home-heating-systems https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/home-heatin... [2] https://www.milieucentraal.nl/energie-besparen/aardgasvrij-wonen/wonen-zonder-aardgas/ https://www.milieucentraal.nl/energie-besparen/aardgasvrij-w...
  - eqvinox 6y ago
    Yes, but also... it's Texas, and a HVAC cooling a house by x °C is significantly more efficient (factor ~1:3 usually) than heating the same house by x °C. (Since moving heat is more efficient than generating it...) So ... I don't think Texan climate can account for such a large difference in electricity consumption if the houses were equally well isolated? Presumably the cooling in the summer is the bigger problem & wasteful? (Yes, I don't really know... that's why I only pointed out that gas isn't involved without making further claims ;D)
  - perl4ever 6y ago
    >Don't Americans use electric heat pumps / air-conditioning units for cooling and heating In the northeastern US where I live, it gets down below 0 C for a good portion of the winter and usually once or twice to around -18 C. While certainly there are apartments, maybe houses, with electric heat and heat pumps, my experience has been that electric heat is expensive and undesirable and a heat pump is a useless gimmick that doesn't work in actual cold weather (although maybe a newer system would be better). It seems like the cheaper apartments in terms of rent have electric heat, which is more expensive. I think natural gas (I use around 140 therms at peak in the winter, which I think is about equivalent to 400 m^3) is typical if you live reasonably close to the city/inner suburbs, and if you don't have gas, you may well burn fuel oil, which is essentially diesel fuel that's delivered in trucks and stored in tanks. In some parts of the US, where coal is produced, I think people use that for heating, but it's less common overall because it isn't cost effective to ship a long way. Last month I used about 500 kWh which is higher than you but not hugely. I wonder if your climate is as cold as where I live though, or if you are using as much gas for a significantly more temperate region.

by wjnc 6y ago

Don't forget to convert the gas into MJ / kWh with an appropriate conversion factor. When I calculated total energy use for my household I was somewhat amazed at how much energy gas holds.

eqvinox 6y ago

There's no gas involved in any of these numbers. 3500 kWh/year is a typical number for pure electricity in Germany.

wjnc 6y ago
Don't Americans use electric heat pumps / air-conditioning units for cooling and heating, while Europeans more often heat on natural gas? My point is you need to look at the per capita energy use in comparable terms (MJ or BTU/cap perhaps with CO2 MT/cap next to that). To put it in perspective. In the last month my household of 5 in NL used about 400 kWh of electricity and 400 m3 of gas. Those 400 m3 calculate to about 5 MWh (!) of electrical energy (Dutch gas is about 35 MJ per m3ans my heater is 95% efficient if used optimally). Since I expect Texans to mostly have electrical HVAC mostly for cooling ... My house is very inefficient in comparison. US: 49% gas, 34% electrical [1] NL: 90%+ gas [2] [1] https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/home-heating-systems https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/heat-and-cool/home-heatin... [2] https://www.milieucentraal.nl/energie-besparen/aardgasvrij-wonen/wonen-zonder-aardgas/ https://www.milieucentraal.nl/energie-besparen/aardgasvrij-w...
- eqvinox 6y ago
  Yes, but also... it's Texas, and a HVAC cooling a house by x °C is significantly more efficient (factor ~1:3 usually) than heating the same house by x °C. (Since moving heat is more efficient than generating it...) So ... I don't think Texan climate can account for such a large difference in electricity consumption if the houses were equally well isolated? Presumably the cooling in the summer is the bigger problem & wasteful? (Yes, I don't really know... that's why I only pointed out that gas isn't involved without making further claims ;D)
- perl4ever 6y ago
  >Don't Americans use electric heat pumps / air-conditioning units for cooling and heating In the northeastern US where I live, it gets down below 0 C for a good portion of the winter and usually once or twice to around -18 C. While certainly there are apartments, maybe houses, with electric heat and heat pumps, my experience has been that electric heat is expensive and undesirable and a heat pump is a useless gimmick that doesn't work in actual cold weather (although maybe a newer system would be better). It seems like the cheaper apartments in terms of rent have electric heat, which is more expensive. I think natural gas (I use around 140 therms at peak in the winter, which I think is about equivalent to 400 m^3) is typical if you live reasonably close to the city/inner suburbs, and if you don't have gas, you may well burn fuel oil, which is essentially diesel fuel that's delivered in trucks and stored in tanks. In some parts of the US, where coal is produced, I think people use that for heating, but it's less common overall because it isn't cost effective to ship a long way. Last month I used about 500 kWh which is higher than you but not hugely. I wonder if your climate is as cold as where I live though, or if you are using as much gas for a significantly more temperate region.