Electric energy consumption
form of energy consumption that uses electric energy
Electric energy consumption is energy consumption in the form of electrical energy. Approximately one-fifth of global energy is consumed as electricity: for residential, industrial, commercial, transportation and other purposes. The global electricity consumption in 2022 was 24,398 terawatt-hours (TWh), almost exactly three times the amount of consumption in 1981 (8,132 TWh). China, the United States, and India accounted for more than half of the global share of electricity consumption. Japan and Russia followed with nearly twice the consumption of the remaining industrialized countries.
While power is measured in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW), energy consumption is typically measured in watt-hours (Wh) or kilowatt-hours (kWh), following the fundamental relation:
E = P × t
{\displaystyle {\text{E = P × t}}}
where E is energy, P is power, and t is time.
Overview
Electric energy is most often measured either in joules (J), or in watt hours (W·h).
1 W·s = 1 J
1 W·h = 3,600 W·s = 3,600 J
1 kWh = 3,600 kWs = 1,000 Wh = 3.6 million W·s = 3.6 million J
Electric and electronic devices consume electric energy to generate desired output (light, heat, motion, etc.). During operation, some part of the energy is lost depending on the electrical efficiency.
Electricity has been generated in power stations since 1882.
The public source identifies “Electric energy consumption” as form of energy consumption that uses electric energy. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Electric, energy and consumption.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29954. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2022, 1981 and 1882.
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This entry incorporates text from “Electric energy consumption” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.