News release: “While most home appliances have become more efficient over the past 30 years, the average U.S. household uses many more consumer electronics — in particular, personal computers, televisions and related devices, according to data released today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the latest update to its Residential Energy Consumption Survey. This new information on the ways energy is used in American homes is the first release of 2009 data from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS), which EIA has conducted periodically since 1979. Notable trends in household energy characteristics include:

• 58 percent of U.S. homes had energy-efficient, multi-pane windows, up from 36 percent in the 1993 survey
• 76 percent of the 114 million U.S. homes had at least one computer, eight percentage points more than just four years prior; 35 percent had multiple computers
• 68 million homes have energy-efficient compact fluorescent (CFL) or light-emitting diode (LED) lights
• 44 percent of all U.S. homes had three or more televisions. Screen size and average energy consumption per television continue to grow.
• The initial RECS 2009 household energy characteristics data can be found here.”