Louisiana’s Energy Consumption Could be Costing You
The weather in Louisiana can be crazy, to say the least. One of the only things that keeps us from going crazy because of the weather is the wonderful invention of air conditioning and home heating. But running air conditioners and heaters can get expensive, which might explain our energy consumption problem.
- Almost all electricity in Louisiana is made with natural gas
- Nuclear is the second largest source of electricity in Louisiana
- Louisiana residents consume more power than half of US states
Louisiana is the 6th Least Energy Efficient State
A new study has placed Louisiana as the 6th worst state when it comes to how much we spend per year on energy. Louisiana was in the bottom half of states for our electricity and gas consumption.
The excuse of our weather can't be used to explain away why we use so much power because states with similar climates like Florida and Texas were ranked as the 13th and 18th worst states. But other southern states had problems with energy consumption as well, Mississippi was ranked the 4th worst, Alabama as the 2nd worst, and South Carolina as the least energy efficient state.
The study ranked each state based on how much electricity was used per day compared to the number of degree days. A degree day is a measurement of the difference between the daily low and high temperatures to help specialists assess heating and cooling needs. A degree day is not a real day though, they can measure any amount of time not just a single day.
For example, Shreveport has an annual average of 2,368 cooling-degree days, or the days someone would want to turn on the air conditioner to cool the house, and 2,264 heating-degree days.