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Showered in Coal: America's Total Coal Used for Showering

VOLUME OF COAL USED ANNUALLY TO HEAT WATER FOR SHOWERS IN THE USA |COAL ---- ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION TABLE CE2.1 HOUSEHOLD SITE FUEL CONSUMPTION IN THE U.s., TOTALS AND AVERAGES, 2009 309 м 3 м TOTAL ANNUAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMED BY US HOUSEHOLDS IS 1,286 BILLION KWH 9% ELECTRICITY IS USED FOR WATER HEATING = 25,724,115 TONNES OF CCOAL ----| |-- IKWH = 470 GRAMS COAL 44.8% USA GRID COMES FROM COAL POWERED ELECTRICTY 1 TONNE OF COAL = APPROXIMATELY 1 CUBIC METRE OF COAL W 00E ---- |---- W E6 ----| VOLUME OF COAL USED ANNUALLY TO HEAT WATER FOR SHOWERS IN THE USA |COAL ---- ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION TABLE CE2.1 HOUSEHOLD SITE FUEL CONSUMPTION IN THE U.s., TOTALS AND AVERAGES, 2009 309 м 3 м TOTAL ANNUAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMED BY US HOUSEHOLDS IS 1,286 BILLION KWH 9% ELECTRICITY IS USED FOR WATER HEATING = 25,724,115 TONNES OF CCOAL ----| |-- IKWH = 470 GRAMS COAL 44.8% USA GRID COMES FROM COAL POWERED ELECTRICTY 1 TONNE OF COAL = APPROXIMATELY 1 CUBIC METRE OF COAL W 00E ---- |---- W E6 ----|

Showered in Coal: America's Total Coal Used for Showering

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This chart shows the total coal used for heating shower water for all of the USA in one year. Water heating accounts for 9% of a household's electricity usage, in addition I have added 1 percent for t... he embodied energy used in water treatment, so this cube represents 10% of the total electricity consumption of American households which was 1,286 billion kWH in 2009 (EIA). It does not take gas hot water heating into consideration, so it is only relevant for households with electric hot water systems. Solar hot water systems are an easy and viable alternative to using so much coal for heating showers. Solar hot water is the 'low hanging fruit' of sustainability. Systems cost approximately $3,000 and pay themselves off in 3 to 5 years and most have financing plans available for those who are not able to pay the upfront cost. Most of America's coal is generated through the environmentally catastrophic method of mountain top removal, so all means of reducing load on the electricity grid, not only reduces carbon dioxide emissions, but also reduce the viability of new mountain top mines being opened. Morning showers create the largest peak demand on the electricity grid - these peaks in demand are the greatest driver of new coal power stations.