Summary:

A report by home energy savings innovator, Sense, released a report showing the cities more frugal in their energy use, as well as the most wasteful. Find out where your city stands. New Sense data shows Burlington, VT, Madison, WI, and California cities use the least electricity; homes in the Southwest use more and pay more for electricity.

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Main Article:

This Earth Day, Sense, the innovator in home energy savings, delved into electricity data for more than 4,000 real homes across the U.S. to find out who is leading the charge in saving energy—and who is lagging. The analysis drew on real-time and historical electricity usage data for the homes over the course of 12 months.

Two cities known for collegiate life, Burlington, VT, and Madison, WI, lead the way in energy savings. Residents in Burlington use the least electricity of any major city—about one-fourth as much as homes in Phoenix, AZ, and half as much as Chicago residents.

California residents don't just talk the eco talk, they live it. Several California cities made the list for the least electricity use, including San Jose, San Francisco-Oakland, San Diego, and the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area. The big cities of the Northwest, Portland and Seattle, are home to energy misers too, along with East Coast cities Boston and Providence.

Homes in hot, sunny Phoenix, AZ, use more electricity than any other city—twice as much as Salt Lake City, UT, and more than three times as much as San Jose, CA. Homeowners in Texas cities Dallas, Austin, Houston and San Antonio use about twice as much electricity as residents in Providence, RI, or Denver, CO.  This difference is partly due to the weather—but also shows the opportunities for more efficient ACs, pool pumps and other home devices.

The State You Live In

At a state level, the Green Mountain State, Vermont, truly is the greenest, with the lowest electricity usage per home of any state. Arizona topped the list of highest electricity consumers, with Southern states like Texas and Florida close behind.

The states where residents used the most electric power were not necessarily the ones with lower electricity rates. Residents in Arizona and Texas have some of the highest electricity costs in the nation, paying on average $3072 annually in Arizona and $2581 in Texas.

Massachusetts ranked low in electricity usage, but its electricity costs are high, so the average homeowner ends up paying $2906. And although Hawaii has low electricity use per home, its electricity prices are the highest in the U.S., translating into average annual costs of $3963.

Said Sense CEO Mike Phillips: "The electricity consumption for an average U.S. home results in over 16,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year (source here). At Sense, we believe that most homes can cut that number in half simply by knowing more about their home's energy patterns, and in states like Arizona and Texas, where the average home electricity usage and cost is high, homeowners have a tremendous opportunity to save. When residents have detailed data about their electricity usage, they can take steps to make their homes more efficient, sustainable and eco-friendly."

There are many ways for homeowners to reduce electricity costs, including the following:

Identify energy hogs that can be eliminated or reduced. Common culprits include pool pumps and heaters, hot tubs, old water heaters, inefficient HVAC systems, incandescent lighting, always on devices, and older model appliances and consumer electronics.

Take advantage of solar power in sunny regions to reduce the home's overall energy footprint.

Choose homes built to near net zero standards, which dramatically reduce their electricity needs.

To find out how people are eliminating energy hogs in their homes, visit Sense Saves.