People spend the majority of their lifetime inside buildings, which
implies a large demand of energy in order to satisfy occupational
activities as well as thermal comfort. Fig. 1 shows the 2015 estimated
total energy consumption (includes electricity related losses) associated to the residential end-use sector for the U.S. and countries of
the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) and non-OECD countries [1]. Data is given on a relative basis
to the world consumption, as well as the national consumption when
compared to the other end-use sectors (commercial, industrial,
transportation). At the national level, the U.S. residential sector
consumes 21%, which is higher than the reference value of any of
the groups (world, OECD, and non-OECD). On the other hand, from
Fig. 1, it can also be noted that the residential sector of the U.S.
represents 17% of the world's residential energy consumption.
Beyond the high contribution of the residential end-use sector
on energy consumption, this sector ‘is largely an undefined energy
sink’ when compared to the other three end-use sectors [2]. Swan
and Ugursal [2] explain why the commercial, industrial, and
transportation sectors are better understood, and point out that
building characteristics, occupant behavior, privacy issues for
collection and sharing data, and prohibitive cost of sub-metering
are the factors that contribute to the ‘undefined’ cataloging of the
residential sector. This condition of the residential sector and the
substantial energy consumption of the sector in every country
support efforts aiming the understanding of energy use for the
sake of energy and emissions reduction.