Slide 13 of 30
- The share of homes using oil heat has gradually fallen from 31.0 percent in 1972 to 15.3 percent in 1996. The number of homes using oil heat has fallen by 23 percent.
- From 1973 to late 1980 -- after the Arab oil embargo and the subsequent increase in the price of oil heat-there was a moratorium on building new homes with natural gas heat in many northern regions. As a result, the decline in oil heat was somewhat slower than it would have been.
- Oil heat was also displaced by electric heat, which is more readily available in outlying suburban areas where most new homes are built. In addition, there has been a slightly higher population growth in the Southern and Western regions of the United States, where electric home heating (and cooling) is a frequent choice.
Source: Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Review 1997, DOE/EIA-0384(97). (Washington, DC, July 1998), Table 2.6.
Note: Oil heated homes can use either heating oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for forced air furnaces, hot water central heating, or small portable kerosene heaters.
