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Energy Consumption in Nebraska's Residential Sector

The residential sector consists of private households.  Energy is consumed primarily for space heating, water heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, cooking, clothes drying, and lighting.  Fuel used for motor vehicles by household members is included in the transportation sector.

For the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, a net total or net energy consumption (less electrical system energy losses) is provided to indicate the energy actually consumed by these sectors.  In addition, energy consumed in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity (electrical system energy losses) is allocated to each sector based on the electricity consumed by the sector.  Thus, total energy consumption represents the energy consumed by the sector as well as that used to provide electricity to the sector.

Between 2009 and 2010, residential sector net energy use increased 1.6 percent to 85.9 trillion British thermal units (Btu), which was 11.6 percent below the peak of 97.2 trillion Btu recorded in 1972.  Total energy consumption attributed to the residential sector in 2010 was 165.4 trillion Btu, an increase of 3.0 percent from 2009.  Natural gas use decreased 0.8 percent from 2009, renewable energy use decreased 0.3 percent.  Electricity use increased 5.0 percent and petroleum use increased 0.5 percent, while coal consumption remained at a level low enough to round to zero.

In 2010, nearly half (46.9 percent) of the residential sector's energy needs were met by natural gas.  Forty and two–tenths percent (40.2%) of the energy consumed in the residential sector was electricity, 10.0 percent were petroleum products, and 3.0 percent was renewable energy.  According to the 2010 American Community Survey, 65 percent of Nebraska's households use natural gas for home heating, 23 percent use electricity, 8 percent use propane, 1.5 percent use wood, 0.77 percent use heating oil, 0.01 percent use coal, and 0.02 percent use solar energy.

The solar data below includes small amounts of solar thermal and photovoltaic energy consumed by the commercial sector that cannot be separately identified.

Energy Consumption by Fuel Type, Residential Sector
Nebraska, 1960 – 2010

[Trillion British Thermal Units (Btu)]

Year Coal Electricity Natural Gas Petroleum Renewable Net
Energy
Consumption
Electrical
System
Energy
Losses
Total
Energy
Consumption
Heating
Oil
Kerosene Propane Geothermal Solar1 Wood
1960 2.691 6.508 40.879 0.813 1.912 7.498 0.000 0.000 2.150 62.451 16.094 78.545
1961 1.818 7.104 41.643 0.838 1.822 8.123 0.000 0.000 1.978 63.326 17.263 80.588
1962 1.901 7.579 44.669 0.754 1.908 9.083 0.000 0.000 1.823 67.717 18.206 85.922
1963 1.303 8.331 40.340 0.759 1.294 10.997 0.000 0.000 1.651 64.675 19.915 84.589
1964 0.925 8.897 44.656 0.874 1.337 9.852 0.000 0.000 1.496 68.037 21.141 89.177
1965 0.718 9.607 47.202 0.649 2.568 10.660 0.000 0.000 1.376 72.780 22.934 95.715
1966 0.553 9.725 52.692 0.884 1.956 11.135 0.000 0.000 1.307 78.252 23.307 102.560
1967 0.396 9.608 53.604 0.953 0.526 12.344 0.000 0.000 1.221 78.652 22.951 101.603
1968 0.411 10.575 53.269 0.970 2.494 13.567 0.000 0.000 1.152 82.438 25.231 107.670
1969 0.814 12.562 55.053 0.858 2.051 15.899 0.000 0.000 1.084 88.321 29.967 118.287
1970 0.410 14.014 58.761 1.143 2.148 16.289 0.000 0.000 1.032 93.797 33.902 127.700
1971 0.329 14.701 58.139 1.102 2.554 15.685 0.000 0.000 1.032 93.542 35.449 128.991
1972 0.360 13.926 60.861 1.260 3.012 16.710 0.000 0.000 1.032 97.161 33.341 130.503
1973 0.164 15.136 51.008 1.223 3.040 14.733 0.000 0.000 1.049 86.353 35.919 122.272
1974 0.084 15.396 49.760 1.059 2.331 12.749 0.000 0.000 1.101 82.480 37.229 119.709
1975 0.050 16.014 53.615 1.009 2.107 13.163 0.000 0.000 1.204 87.162 38.412 125.574
1976 0.055 16.112 54.774 1.471 2.429 13.276 0.000 0.000 1.307 89.424 38.555 127.979
1977 0.082 16.579 52.951 1.327 2.132 11.765 0.000 0.000 1.410 86.246 39.627 125.874
1978 0.098 18.244 48.210 1.549 1.634 11.994 0.000 0.000 1.410 83.139 44.180 127.319
1979 0.221 17.957 53.385 2.652 0.147 5.980 0.000 0.000 1.514 81.856 42.866 124.722
1980 0.072 18.838 47.943 2.095 0.057 5.886 0.000 0.000 5.740 80.631 45.254 125.885
1981 0.051 19.112 42.397 2.243 0.164 5.493 0.000 0.000 5.158 74.618 44.754 119.372
1982 0.088 19.943 50.380 2.132 0.164 6.018 0.000 0.000 6.168 84.893 47.154 132.046
1983 0.187 21.968 45.661 1.444 0.262 7.158 0.000 0.000 5.728 82.408 51.664 134.073
1984 0.367 21.386 46.049 1.774 0.314 3.208 0.000 0.000 7.014 80.112 48.769 128.881
1985 0.057 21.136 44.823 2.059 0.227 4.181 0.000 0.000 7.225 79.708 48.409 128.117
1986 0.019 21.580 41.129 1.732 0.105 3.724 0.000 0.000 6.581 74.870 48.414 123.285
1987 0.019 21.763 37.490 1.293 0.074 5.114 0.000 0.000 5.489 71.242 48.169 119.412
1988 0.181 23.247 42.073 1.220 0.091 5.004 0.000 0.000 5.858 77.674 51.471 129.146
1989 0.022 22.941 43.440 1.690 0.046 5.068 0.041 0.009 5.923 79.171 52.960 132.140
1990 0.017 23.200 39.931 1.142 0.024 4.096 0.045 0.009 4.017 72.472 54.710 127.193
1991 0.045 24.356 43.213 1.147 0.031 5.139 0.049 0.009 4.212 78.192 56.585 134.786
1992 0.023 22.388 39.986 0.840 0.058 5.214 0.053 0.010 4.419 72.981 52.427 125.174
1993 0.020 24.655 46.735 0.980 0.060 4.902 0.056 0.010 3.709 81.117 58.044 139.171
1994 0.023 25.179 43.405 0.854 0.030 4.563 0.052 0.016 3.520 77.626 56.609 137.251
1995 0.024 25.920 44.120 0.513 0.021 4.913 0.056 0.016 3.520 79.087 60.559 139.662
1996 0.003 26.412 49.207 0.659 0.021 6.594 0.059 0.016 3.656 86.611 61.485 148.112
1997 0.225 27.257 46.950 0.525 0.040 5.297 0.063 0.015 2.839 83.196 63.219 146.429
1998 0.000 27.843 40.882 0.376 0.054 7.012 0.065 0.016 2.523 78.755 64.563 143.334
1999 0.000 27.055 40.529 0.447 0.036 7.174 0.074 0.015 2.589 77.904 62.338 140.258
2000 0.000 28.477 42.587 0.643 0.045 7.304 0.074 0.014 2.788 81.918 66.359 148.291
2001 0.014 29.474 47.446 0.473 0.059 6.821 0.079 0.014 2.782 87.148 67.014 154.175
2002 0.017 30.558 44.189 0.396 0.017 8.269 0.079 0.013 2.824 86.349 70.441 156.804
2003 0.016 30.204 42.498 0.506 0.025 7.468 0.103 0.013 2.972 83.792 68.663 152.467
2004 0.007 29.878 38.960 0.561 0.031 6.559 0.112 0.012 3.046 79.154 68.988 148.155
2005 0.006 31.763 38.331 0.515 0.038 7.090 0.128 0.018 2.277 80.148 74.330 154.496
2006 0.011 31.709 36.336 0.592 0.014 6.030 0.148 0.025 2.019 76.859 74.506 151.390
2007 0.012 33.259 39.288 0.307 0.035 7.020 0.179 0.031 2.178 82.278 79.360 161.668
2008 0.000 33.264 42.825 0.291 0.015 9.364 0.214 0.036 2.391 88.364 78.867 167.268
2009 0.000 32.847 40.631 0.212 0.015 8.286 0.266 0.040 2.285 84.542 76.004 160.587
2010 0.000 34.484 40.290 0.166 0.018 8.375 0.300 0.051 2.232 85.865 79.521 165.438

Sources:State Energy Data Report.  Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC.  Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

Notes:  Totals may not equal the sum of the components due to independent rounding.

1 The solar data includes small amounts of solar thermal and photovoltaic energy consumed by the commercial sector that cannot be separately identified.

The table and graphs were updated on January 22, 2013.  Typically, there are one to two years between updates.