Research Points the Way to Save Money and Energy
The SEU commissioned and analyzed market research that surveyed local attitudes toward energy savings and provided a comprehensive zip-code level snapshot of energy use in homes and businesses throughout the state.
Learn more about the SEU’s research efforts that are shaping our efforts through this Presentation.
The findings helped the SEU tailor programs to meet the unique needs of Delaware residents and businesses.
For Delaware homes, market research shows:
- Delaware uses more energy per capita than our neighbors, and we pay more for it.
- There are 321,000 homes in Delaware. Fifty-five percent are more than 30 years-old. Simply sealing and insulating these homes could save up to 30 percent or about $700 on heating and cooling bills.
- More than 80 percent of home energy consumption is from appliances, space heating and cooling, lighting and generating hot water.
- Two-thirds of homeowners identified a need to make one or more energy efficiency improvements, but only 42 percent plan to take action.
- Homeowners cite money as the number one barrier to cutting energy waste to reduce utility bills.
- There are 13.4 million residential sockets in Delaware, with 85 percent estimated to hold inefficient incandescent bulbs.
For Delaware’s commercial sector, market research shows:
- 20,000 commercial establishments statewide occupy more than 15,000 buildings.
- 240 million square feet of commercial building space.
- Commercial buildings consume between 24 and 29 trillion BTUs of energy annually.
- Electricity consumption for lighting in Delaware’s commercial office buildings is nearly double the amount of energy use for any other type of commercial space (retail, food service, houses of worship, hospitals, etc.).
- Lighting consumes more energy per square foot in health care facilities than in any other type of commercial space, enough to light 248,000 homes for a year (65 percent of Delaware’s residences).
- Money is cited by businesses as the number one barrier to taking action to reduce energy consumption.
