While residential gas demand continues to inch higher because the number of homes using natural gas is rising, gas use per home fell 22% from 1980 to 2001 and 6.4% between 1997 and 2001 because of greater efficiency of home heating equipment and appliances and customer conservation, according to a new report by the American Gas Association (AGA).

In 2001, gas use per home averaged about 83 Mcf compared to 89 Mcf in 1997 and 106 Mcf in 1980, AGA said in its report, titled “Patterns in Residential Natural Gas Consumption: 1997-2001.”

“Natural gas is the most popular home-heating energy in the United States, and the increased efficiency of natural gas furnaces and boilers was the most important factor in the decline in household natural gas consumption,” said Bruce McDowell, AGA director of policy analysis. Other factors include tighter, more energy efficient homes and a slight reduction in the number of gas appliances in average homes, he said.

According to the analysis, there was a decline in gas use per home in all regions of the country between 1997 and 2001. The Northeast lost 1.74 Mcf/year per home. The South and West lost 2.17 Mcf and the Midwest lost 4.31 Mcf. Space heating efficiency gas contributed almost half of the residential load loss. Water heating efficiency gas accounted for about 13%.

“This analysis shows that residential customers are continuing their efforts to reduce natural gas consumption,” AGA said. “For the Northeast, the average gas use per customers decreased about 3% (1997-2001). Residential gas use per customer dropped 8% for the Midwest, 6% for the South and 4% for the West.”

The report is available at AGA’s website www.aga.org.

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