Energy Use and Changing Lifestyles

Book excerpt: A detailed investigation of energy use in the residential, commercial, and transportation sectors of the U.S. and certain European countries (including Germany and Sweden) shows that there is an important parameter that we call lifestyle that is not captured in the exogenous variables commonly used in electric utility forecasting. A retrospective examination shows that lifestyle has been of subordinate importance to the income-linked trend of increasing ownership of the major energy and electricity-using hard goods and dwellings for at least three decades. The recent saturation of the residential and commercial markets for the dominant energy-using technologies has allowed variations in the utilization of this infrastructure to emerge as a significant input to market demand. With saturation of primary technologies, and relative stability in energy prices, the distinct activity patterns that result from various lifestyles are likely to influence demand for electricity and other energy forms, as well as participation in demand side management programs and other utility sponsored programs.