Changes in household size and home construction have been the main causes of over-consumption of energy by American consumers, according to a new study released by SMR Research Corporation.
Based on interviews of with more tha 27,000 households, the SMR's study, Consumer Enegery Spending and the Gemographics of Over-Consumption, calls for a new approach to the engery-savings message.
Typically based around energy-saving measures within the home structures such as insulation, the study suggests that single-person households, which have grown at triple the rate of overall population growth since 1960, use 18.4 percent more energy per capita than two-person households do, SMR found. Singeltons use 52.8 percent more energy per capita than three-person households.
According to a statement by SMR President Stuart A. Feldstein, "People who decide to live alone, now more than one of every four households, and people who buy the McMansions, are those who squander our energy resources."
Even when excluding households with children, since they do not drive, per-capita energy use is far higher among single-person households than any others, SMR found.
SMR also found that people in houses with 10 or more rooms--McMasions--use 18.8 percent more energy than people in eight-room homes, and 31.3 percent more than people in seven-room homes -- regardless of the age of the home. The average square footage of newly built homes has increased by some 34 percent since 1980, SMR noted.
Household density is the key problem in over-consumption. In 2007, the U.S. hit a new record low of 2.56 persons per household. The data show that Americans are now spending 29.6 percent more on energy per capita than in 1960, based solely on the decline in density.
SMR's study is based on its work with the "micro-data" files of the Consumer Expenditures Survey (CES), conducted by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These large, complex files contain raw data on household spending on hundreds of products, allowing a researcher to isolate any product and compare spending patterns to the characteristics of families. SMR used data from 27,159 household interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007, the most recent available.
