據油價網2021年5月17日報道，美國能源信息署（EIA）周一（5月17日）表示，盡管在去年的封鎖期間有更多的人待在家里工作或在線上學，但去年美國住宅能源消費量同比仍下降了4%。

　　EIA在其在新一期《月度能源回顧》報告中表示，去年冬季較溫暖的幾個月導致了供暖需求下降，這抵消了由于在家辦公和遠程教育而增加的零售用電。

　　由于許多人在家工作，即使限制放寬后仍繼續在家工作，去年美國住宅部分的用電量與2019年相比增加了2%。據EIA稱，夏季相對溫暖的溫度也有助于提高電力零售額，因為溫暖的天氣導致家庭空調用電量增加。

　　然而，EIA指出，更高的電力銷售完全被去年冬季較低的空間供暖需求抵消了，去年冬季比平時更溫暖，平均供暖天數(hdd)減少了15%。

　　與2019年前三個月相比，2020年1月、2月和3月的居民天然氣消費量下降了15%，石油消費量下降了17%，木材消費量下降了15%。EIA稱，由于空間供暖和水供暖是美國普通家庭最耗能的用途，它們占美國家庭能源使用的大約三分之二，因此空間供暖需求的降低導致去年美國住宅總能源使用總量下降了4%。

　　EIA的數據顯示，去年美國所有行業的能源消耗總量為93千萬億百萬英熱單位，比2019年下降了7%。

　　無論從絕對值還是從百分比來看，這都是美國有記錄以來最大的下降，主要是由于去年新冠肺炎疫情大流行給美國造成的確證和死亡人數。這使美國去年的能源消耗達到幾十年來從未見過的絕對水平。根據EIA的數據，美國能源消耗的第二大降幅是在2008年至2009年之間，當時美國的能源消耗在經濟衰退期間下降了5%。

　　李峻 編譯自 油價網

　　原文如下：

　　U.S. Residential Energy Use Fell In 2020 Despite Lockdown

　　U.S. residential energy consumption fell by 4 percent year over year in 2020, even though more people stayed at home to work or attend school during the lockdowns last year, the EIA said on Monday.

　　Warmer winter months of 2020 led to lower demand for space heating, which offset increased electricity retail consumption because of work-from-home and remote schooling, the administration said in its Monthly Energy Review.

　　Electricity consumption in the residential sector increased by 2 percent last year compared to 2019, as many people worked from home and continued to work from home even after the restrictions were eased. Relatively warm temperatures in the summer also helped higher electricity retail sales as warm weather led to increased consumption of electricity for air conditioning at homes, according to the EIA.

　　The higher electricity sales, however, were entirely offset by lower demand for space heating in the winter months of 2020, which were warmer than usual and had 15 percent fewer heating degree days (HDDs) on average, the EIA noted.

　　Compared to the first three months of 2019, residential consumption of natural gas fell by 15 percent, petroleum by 17 percent, and wood by 15 percent in January, February, and March 2020. Since space and water heating are the most energy-intensive uses in the average U.S. home, and they account for about two-thirds of U.S. home energy use, lower demand for space heating resulted in an overall 4-percent decline in total U.S. residential energy use in 2020, the EIA said.

　　Total U.S. energy consumption in all sectors to just 93 quadrillion BTUs, last year fell down by 7 percent from 2019, according to data from the EIA.

　　The decrease was the largest one on record—both in absolute terms and percentage terms, and can mostly be attributed to the toll that the pandemic took on the United States last year. This brings U.S. energy consumption in 2020 to absolute levels not seen in decades. The next largest decrease in U.S. energy consumption was between 2008 and 2009, when U.S. energy consumption fell 5 percent during the economic recession, according to the EIA.