Abstract
Residential buildings are a key driver of energy consumption and also impact transportation and land-use. Energy consumption in the residential sector accounts for one-fifth of total U.S. energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions, with floor space a major driver of building energy demands. In this work a consistent, vintage-disaggregated, annual long-term series of U.S. housing stock and residential floor space for 1891–2010 is presented. An attempt was made to minimize the effects of the incompleteness and inconsistencies present in the national housing survey data. Over the 1891–2010 period, floor space increased almost tenfold, from approximately 24,700 to 235,150 million square feet, corresponding to a doubling of floor space per capita from approximately 400 to 800 square feet. While population increased five times over the period, a 50% decrease in household size contributed towards a tenfold increase in the number of housing units and floor space, while average floor space per unit remains surprisingly constant, as a result of housing retirement dynamics. In the last 30 years, however, these trends appear to be changing, as household size shows signs of leveling off, or even increasing again, while average floor space per unit has been increasing. GDP and total floor space show a remarkably constant growth trend over the period and total residential sector primary energy consumption and floor space show a similar growth trend over the last 60 years, decoupling only within the last decade.
Highlights
From 1950 to 2011 primary energy consumption in the U.S residential sector increased from 5,989 to 21,411 trillion BTU, accounting for approximately one-fifth of the country’s total primary energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions [1]
The Decennial Census uses what is known as a “short form questionnaire”, where a limited number of basic questions are asked of the entire population and every housing unit in the country
Our results show that over the last 120 years floor space and housing stock in the U.S increased approximately tenfold, while population increased approximately fivefold and household size decreased by a dramatic 50%
Summary
From 1950 to 2011 primary energy consumption in the U.S residential sector increased from 5,989 to 21,411 trillion BTU, accounting for approximately one-fifth of the country’s total primary energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions [1]. One of the most significant innovations occurred in 1940, when statistical sampling was first introduced As part of this new methodology, the Decennial Census started collecting additional questions from a small rotating sample of the population and housing units. These surveys, referred to as the “long form questionnaire”, collected more detailed data related to housing than the short-form questionnaire. This methodology innovation is reflected in the better quality of the post-1940 survey data, leading to greater accuracy in the last seven decades of the various time-series that were developed in this work
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