182 – SPEED: Data Challenge
Household Energy Expenditure and Consumption Patterns in the United States
Joyance Meechai
The Pennsylvania State University
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, this study researches variations in energy expenditure and consumption patterns in the United States. The Economist released a data tool comparing energy consumption by state, illustrating that energy usage varied widely. Inspired by this data tool, this project aims to investigate the relationship between household energy expenditure and usage patterns with not just geographic location, but also with sociodemographic characteristics. This study begins with a cluster analysis to group households by characteristics including housing size, number of cars, and education level. After identifying these clusters, analyses of variance are performed for differences in energy consumption patterns among the clusters. Additionally, the chi-square test is used to study associations between energy type use with other defining variables such as geographical region and housing tenure. In the face of climate change, there is a call for energy conservation goals. With this study, we seek to discover what factors are associated with certain energy use patterns, and by extension, affect the environment.