What Consumes the Most Energy in Your Home, in One Graphic

On a monthly basis, every household receives invoices for energy consumed for activities such as heating, cooking, and hot water usage. But which bill usually accounts for the largest part of your monthly utility bill? For most U.S. households, that’s an electricity bill. Electricity prices have been on the rise, making now a good time to take a look at what you’re spending your energy on.

Once you know where your biggest energy expenditures are, you can then take steps to help save energy and money each month. We’ll show you the appliances that are using the most energy in your home according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), and give you some tips on how to save.

What Consumes the Most Energy in a House

The above graphic is a breakdown of information taken from the EIA Annual Energy Outlook Report from 2025, Residential Sector Key Indicators and Consumption, showing in one chart how much of the energy you use each month is going toward each common appliance in the home. The EIA makes projections on energy usage based on data gathered from different regions. They gather the average consumption of electricity as well as fossil fuels in each area, and track how much of these are being used in various regions, as well as by the expenditure of various household appliances. They measure the amount of energy used in quads, which is a unit used for describing the quantity of national and world energy resources. It equals ​​1 quadrillion British thermal units (BTUs). We calculated the percentage of total energy consumption by end use. 

As you can see, the biggest single source of energy consumption by far in the home is tied to heating, which uses more than 30% of the energy consumed. This is followed by “Other Uses”: a mixture of smaller appliances that are not listed in the other sections (electric and electronic devices, heating elements, motors, outdoor grills, natural gas and propane-fueled lights, pool heaters, spa heaters, and backup electricity generators). These appliances on their own do not make a significant enough impact to be noted, although in total they represent 27.7% of the energy use. 

Beyond space heating and other uses, space cooling takes the next biggest piece of the pie, at more than 12.4%, followed by water heating, which uses 12% of the energy consumed. Refrigeration, clothes drying, lighting, furnace fans and boiler circulation pumps, and other related equipment make up the next tier of energy consumption. Finally, things like televisions, cooking, computers, freezers, clothes washers, and dishwashers account for the rest. 

As you can see, while many appliances don’t make a big impact on your daily energy consumption on their own, together they can add up to a significant amount. 

Residential Energy Use by Fuel Type 

While the overall breakdown offers a helpful snapshot of total energy consumption, understanding your home’s energy profile requires a closer look at how each specific fuel type is used. The following section break down residential energy use by the most common fuel types, showing what powers everything from your heater to your lights.

What Uses the Most Electricity in a Home

In terms of electricity alone, space cooling (air conditioning) is the largest single use, accounting for 18.3% of total residential electricity consumption. This is followed by a broad category labeled “other uses,” which represents 36.1% in total. This includes a group of small electrical loads, such as electronic devices, heating elements, pumps, motors, spa and pool heaters, and backup generators, that individually don't use much energy but together add up to a significant share. Other notable electricity consumers include:

• Space heating: 11.2%

• Water heating: 8.8%

• Refrigeration: 6.7%

• Clothes dryers: 3.7%

What Uses Gas in a House

Natural gas is primarily used for space heating, which accounts for 63% of total residential gas consumption. The next largest use is water heating, at 21.1%. Beyond these two major uses, natural gas also fuels:

• Cooking appliances (e.g., stoves and ovens): 1.6%

• Space cooling (in some HVAC systems): 1.2%

• Clothes dryers: 0.8%

• Other gas-powered appliances like motors, outdoor grills, natural gas–fueled lights, and backup generators: 12.4%

What Uses Propane in a House

Propane is most commonly used in rural or off-grid areas, and like natural gas, its main residential use is space heating, which accounts for 70.2% of total propane consumption. Other residential uses of propane include:

• Water heating: 11.4%

• Cooking: 2.1%

• Other Uses: 16.3% (includes gas-fueled lights, generators, grills, pool and spa heaters, and small appliances)

While propane use serves similar purposes to natural gas, it plays an especially important role in areas without access to natural gas pipelines. 

What Uses Fuel Oil in a House

Distillate fuel oil, commonly known as home heating oil, is primarily used in areas without access to natural gas. The vast majority of its residential use goes toward space heating, which accounts for 86.5% of total consumption. Water heating is the next major use at 8.0%, while other uses, such as backup generators or small appliances, make up the remaining 5.5%. This type of fuel is more common in older homes and colder regions, particularly in the Northeastern U.S.

How to Save Energy at Home

While energy bills are not expected to decrease this year, there are steps you can take to lower your consumption. This in turn will result in lower bills, lower emissions, and even a more comfortable home by controlling temperatures appropriately. Once you have identified the biggest sources of your energy expenditures, you can take steps to lower them. 

Space Heating and Cooling

Heating and cooling interiors is one of the biggest sources of energy consumption in most homes. Thankfully, there are also many ways that you can decrease your consumption in this area, while making your home more comfortable year round.

Start with an energy audit ($250 on average), which can help you identify more closely the biggest sources of energy consumption. As every home is different, an energy audit indicates specifically what your home requires. During the audit, you’ll find most of the places energy transfer is occurring between the interior and exterior of your home. This can help you determine the best places to focus on to reduce consumption and avoid unnecessary energy waste.

In most cases, there are several areas where you’ll see the biggest results. The first is with insulation, which will optimize your heating and cooling efforts. Many homes do not have enough insulation, and adding it to your exterior walls can really help. The cost to fully insulate a home can range from $4,406 to $8,017, depending on the type. 

Make sure you also take the time to seal up any gaps around windows, doors, and other penetrations in your walls. This can be as simple as caulking gaps, or as complex as fully weatherstripping your home. The total cost for weatherstripping is roughly $350.

If your windows are very old, updating them to newer, energy efficient versions may help as well. If you can feel cold air a few inches away from your window in the winter, then an upgrade  is recommended. The average cost to update your windows is $6,408 to $11,659, depending on how many windows you are updating, and what size and materials you choose. 

As for heating and cooling systems, newer appliances can be over 98% efficient, which means they optimize their energy use so that you’ll be more comfortable for less money. The average cost of a new furnace installation is $2,372 to $4,414, while the cost of a new cooling system is $2,769–$5,038​. 

Note that now you can opt for the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. This tax credit can potentially cover 30% of eligible energy-saving upgrades. This is very promising if you are looking to implement such modifications. Some of the projects covered by this credit include upgrading windows, conducting an energy audit, and installing new appliances that meet certain energy-efficiency requirements.

Water Heater and Appliances

Your water heater and other major appliances like your clothes dryer and refrigerator are another big source of energy consumption, and you have options and ways to save here as well. First, consider switching to a tankless water heater. While standard water heaters heat your water continuously, tankless heaters work on-demand, only heating what you use, so they consume less energy. These cost between $2,500 and $4,500 to install for a whole house tankless water heating system.

Next, make sure that any new appliance you install is Energy Star certified. Appliances like your clothes dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and washing machine are all available in Energy Star rated models. This means that they use less energy than standard models. While a single appliance may not make a major difference to your monthly bills, by upgrading them all one by one, you will notice a significant drop in energy costs month to month. Energy Star rated appliances may cost more than standard models, but things like size, style, and color can also impact costs, so it’s possible to find Energy Star rated appliances that cost the same as standard options as well. On average, an Energy Star rated appliance uses between 10 and 40% less energy which means that even if they do cost more, they tend to pay for themselves in a short period of time. 

Smaller Improvements and Habits That Can Also Help

In addition to the changes mentioned, there are many other things you can do to help save money. Consider switching your light bulbs for smart options that can sense when you’ve left the room. This will help eliminate wasted electricity. Smart thermostats can also help you save by adjusting to your habits so you use less energy to heat and cool your home when you aren’t there.

Other small things you can do that add up include making sure to shut off the water and lights when you aren’t actively using them, using smart plugs for all of your appliances to reduce electricity, and reducing your dependence on major appliances. Line drying your clothes when it’s nice out can help you cut down on electricity costs for example. 

If you can’t afford to update your windows, consider winterizing them each year with plastic to help cut your heating costs, and cover them with insulating blinds in the summer to help keep the sun from warming your home’s interior as well. 

Identify What Consumes Most to Make Good Improvements

Saving energy is good for your wallet and for the environment. The first step to taking control of your energy bills is to have an understanding of where and how you consume energy on a regular basis. Once you know what appliances are using the most energy in your home, you can start making changes to help reduce your environmental impact at the same time as making big savings over time. Use this information to help you identify the biggest sources of energy consumption in your home, and start taking control of your home’s energy usage, and your energy costs.

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