As electric vehicles further attempt to replace conventional combustion engines to reduce fossil fuel usage, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is exploring what would happen to the U.S. economy if electrification took hold across the U.S. In its 108-page document titled “Electrification Futures Study: End-Use Electric Technology Cost and Performance Projections through 2050,” the NREL named residential and commercial buildings as the largest primary energy consumers in the country.
“The residential and commercial buildings sectors, which in aggregate comprise 39 quads, or 40 percent of total primary energy consumption, account for the largest share of primary energy consumption in the United States,” stated the study. “Nonetheless, the combined sectors account for the smallest share 29 percent or 20.8 quads of total final energy consumption. This difference arises from the fact that the residential and commercial buildings sectors are the most electrified of the consuming sectors — electricity makes up 43 and 61 percent of total final energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors respectively. The remaining share of final energy consumption is comprised of a mix of fossil fuels — natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or propane), and distillate fuel — as well as a small amount of district heat or steam within the commercial buildings sector. "