{"id":149016,"date":"2021-10-01T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T22:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=149016"},"modified":"2021-11-04T08:37:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T18:37:37","slug":"energy-use-in-hawaii-households","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/10\/01\/energy-use-in-hawaii-households\/","title":{"rendered":"Refrigerators, electric devices top energy use in Hawai\u02bbi households"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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What do Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> households use their energy for? Data from a 2019 residential energy use survey shows that refrigerators have the highest share of the total household energy (21.4%), followed by electric devices (18.6%) and water heating (17.9%). Experts from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Economic Research Organization<\/a> (UHERO<\/abbr>) who analyzed the data also found significant differences among counties, as well as between households with or without photovoltaic systems (PV<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

Hawaiian Electric Co<\/abbr>. conducted the survey of its customers, collecting 2,992 qualified responses from residential households on Oʻahu<\/span>, Maui, L\u0101naʻi<\/span>, Molokaʻi<\/span> and Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island. Data included monthly energy usage, PV<\/abbr>, weather, and the different types of appliance ownership and household socioeconomic status. Kauaʻi<\/span> was not part of the study since Kauaʻi<\/span> Island Utility Cooperative services the island instead of Hawaiian Electric.<\/p>\n

Variations among counties<\/h2>\n

Across sample households on Oʻahu<\/span>, refrigerators have the highest share of the total household energy usage (22.5%) followed by electric devices (20.9%). In Maui County, refrigerators and laundry are both the highest usage of total household energy, 23.4% and 23.3% respectively, while on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island, water heating tops the list (26%) followed by electric devices (19.5%).<\/p>\n

With PV<\/abbr> vs<\/abbr>. without PV<\/abbr><\/h2>\n

Researchers also discovered differences in households with or without PV<\/abbr>. In single- and multi-family households without PV<\/abbr>, refrigerators have the highest usage of total household energy at 20% and 22.9%, respectively. However, in single-family households with PV<\/abbr>, water heating has the highest energy (26.3%) compared to refrigerators (20.5%).<\/p>\n

In households on Oʻahu<\/span>, water heating, laundry and refrigerators have a larger share in the total energy usage in single-family households with PV<\/abbr> than in single-family households without PV<\/abbr>. However, the share of usage of electric devices in single-family households without PV<\/abbr> is higher than that of single-family households with PV<\/abbr>. For multi-family households without PV<\/abbr>, the share of energy usage by cooling equipment (air conditioning and fans) is the highest.<\/p>\n

“Households without solar PV<\/abbr> are more conservative in their energy usage as compared to households with PV<\/abbr>. The additional energy from the PV<\/abbr> sources have enabled households to use energy more liberally,” UHERO<\/abbr> said.<\/p>\n

Future research<\/h2>\n

UHERO<\/abbr> will continue to work with Hawaiian Electric to study the household-level impacts of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s decarbonizing energy transition and what it means for the state\u2019s economy. They will dive deeper on the differences in the energy usage between households with and without PV<\/abbr>. The main question they will ask is: Is it because households with larger energy usage are more likely to install solar PV<\/abbr>, or is it because residents change their behavior and consume more energy once PV<\/abbr> is installed?<\/p>\n

For more and to see the data dashboard, visit UHERO<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>. UHERO<\/abbr> is housed in UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s College of Social Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This work is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goals of Building a Sustainable and Resilient Campus Environment: Within the Global Sustainability and Climate Resilience Movement<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), two of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UHERO<\/abbr> found significant differences among counties, as well as between households with or without PV<\/abbr> systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[301,1359,1467,1363,1314,1026,73,9,343],"class_list":["post-149016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-energy","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-manoa-sustainability","tag-social-science","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uhero","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t