page_title: Energy in the United States
section_title: Regional variation
hierarchical_section_title: Energy in the United States / Final energy consumption / Regional variation
caption_attribution_description: English: A chart showing Residential Energy Consumption per capita. All data sourced from US Energy Information Administration's SEDS State Energy Data System.
context_page_description: Energy in the United States comes mostly from fossil fuels: in 2010, data showed that 25% of the nation's energy originates from petroleum, 22% from coal, and 22% from natural gas.
  Nuclear energy supplied 8.4% and renewable energy supplied 8%, mainly from hydroelectric dams and biomass; however, this also includes other renewable sources like wind, geothermal, and solar.
  The United States was the second-largest energy consumer in 2010 after China. The country is ranked seventh in energy consumption per capita after Canada and several small nations. As of 2006, the country's energy consumption had increased more rapidly than domestic energy production over the last 50 years in the nation. This difference was largely met through imports. Not included is the significant amount of energy used overseas in the production of retail and industrial goods consumed in the United States.
  According to the Energy Information Administration's statistics, the per-capita energy consumption in the US has been somewhat consistent from the 1970s to the present time. The average was about 334 million British thermal units [BTU] per person from 1980 to 2010.
context_section_description: Household energy use varies significantly across the United States. An average home in the Pacific region (consisting of California, Oregon, and Washington) consumes 35% less energy than a home in the South Central region. Some of the regional differences can be explained by climate. The heavily populated coastal areas of the Pacific states experience generally mild winters and summers, reducing the need for both home heating and air conditioning. The warm, humid climates of the South Central and South Atlantic regions lead to higher electricity usage, while the cold winters experienced in the Northeast and North Central regions result in much higher consumption of natural gas and heating oil. The state with the lowest per-capita energy use is New York, at 205 million BTU (216 GJ; 60 MWh) per year, and the highest is Wyoming, at slightly over 1 billion BTU (1,100 GJ; 290 MWh) per year.
  Other regional differences stem from energy efficiency measures taken at the local and state levels. California has some of the strictest environmental laws and building codes in the country, leading its per-household energy consumption to be lower than all other states except Hawaii.
  The land-use decisions of cities and towns also explain some of the regional differences in energy use. Townhouses are more energy efficient than single-family homes because less heat, for example, is used per person. Similarly, areas with more homes in a compact neighborhood encourage walking, biking and transit, thereby reducing transportation energy use. A 2011 US EPA study found that multi-family homes in urban neighborhoods, with well-insulated buildings and fuel-efficient cars, use less than two-thirds of the energy used by conventionally built single-family houses in suburban areas (with standard cars).
caption: Residential energy consumption per capita by state[38]
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