From Mother Earth News, Apr/May 1994

Heating of space 57.5%

Water heating 14.9%

Refrigerating 6.0%

Cooking 5.5%

Air conditioning 3.7%

Lighting 3.5%

Television 3.0%

Food freezer 1.9%

Clothes drying 1.7%

Others 2.3%

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 25, 1999

Answers

Seems like transportation should be in there somewhere. Hard to believe it's down in "others".

-- Michael Goodfellow (mgoodfel@best.com), April 25, 1999.

Sorry, Michael, should have noted that these numbers relate to energy usage in and around the home and were compiled by Penn State researchers. I think the air conditioning statistic seems awfully low. Our family's AC usage has to be higher than our heating usage--but I'm a cool Brit living in the muggy south. Unfortunately, the usage table was in the form of a sidebar and didn't give information regarding the sample base.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 26, 1999.

I think air conditioning was low too. We keep a cool house winter and summer. It's seems that most people, on most forums, are more concerned with keeping warm, than keeping cool. I'm just the opposite. I live in the hot, humid lower midwest and heat kills me. Sure wish we had an earth house, or a big basement. Our basement is just large enough for minimal food storage, water tank and furnace.

-- gilda (jess@listbot.com), April 26, 1999.

Gilda, if we lose power but keep the water. . . Go to Wal-Nart garden dept., ask them for one of them there Cobra sprayers. It's a rigid plastic serpentine-shaped thingie which emits a fine mist of water, cools the surrounding area by 10-20 degrees. Buy two in case you break one, they're cheap enough. Then I thought I'd get one of those neck thingies, you know, some sort of moisture-retentive crystals in a sausage-shaped cloth container, goes around the neck, keeps you cool. And then there are those solar-powered fan hats! I already have a battery-powered fan from Real Goods, which is great for hot flashes.

Yup, keeping cool is a serious concern for people like us and even more so for the elderly and very young.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), April 26, 1999.