https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/data/2018/ce/pdf/e5.pdf


Hi everyone,

I'm trying to interpret a table on electricity consumption in billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) by end use, specifically the row about LEDs (page 7). The table lists a total of 860 billion kWh for LEDs, but there are additional numbers across columns labeled for different end uses like space heating (48), cooling (114), ventilation (163), water heating (18), and so on.

Here’s my confusion:

• LEDs are primarily used for lighting (143 billion kWh in the "Lighting" column), so what do these other numbers represent?
• For example, how can 163 billion kWh be attributed to ventilation using LEDs? That’s more than the electricity consumed for lighting.

I’d appreciate it if someone could explain how to interpret these numbers and what they might mean in the context of the table.

Thanks for your help!

 

It is a bit confusing, but I read it as any building with some LED lighting would be included in the consumption data row labeled "LED". The columns are the energy consumed for those functions, in the buildings that fit the "LED" category.

 

If you look at all of the tables, the meaning becomes pretty apparent. It is almost certainly explained in detail if the document that describes the survey and the tables that result from it.

The are talking about different types of energy consumption in buildings that have different characteristics.

So the LED row merely says that if you total up the energy consumed by those buildings that use LED lighting, that those buildings used 163 billion kWh of electricity for ventilation.

As the note indicates, a given building is likely included in more than one row, for instance if it has both LED lighting and incandescent lighting.

As for whether a given building is included in either, that would be up to the survey respondent based on descriptions and instructions included with the survey.