The total amount of electricity used to the city of Santa Barbara customers by Southern California Edison Company. The figures that are presented represent the dual sector of the city, residential and non-residential. All figures are given in gigawatt hours, one gigawatt is equal to one thousand megawatts and one lighting bolt is approximately equal to 1.2 gigawatts. The data that was obtained came from Southern California Edison at their Santa Barbara office. Up until now all information regarding electricity usage was deemed confidential.

Over the past twenty-five years Americans have become more and more dependent on electricity for their everyday survival. Everything appliance that Americans use in their everyday lives require electricity and this trend does not seem to be stopping anytime soon. Electricity is a demanding product that many human beings have become reliant on in their daily lives. Electricity production has multiple impacts on both the local environment as well as the global environment. Resource depletion is becoming one of the largest problems that both our state and our nation have to overcome.

Since the year 1990, the city of Santa Barbara has increased their usage of electricity from 450 gigawatt/hours of electricity to 493 gigawatt/hours in the year 2000. This increase in electricity usage is mainly due to the increase in electrical appliance in both residential and non-residential environments. However, in the year 1996 electricity usage was at 515 gigawatt/hours, which is 22 gigawatt/hours more then in the year 2000. There has been a steady decrease in electricity usage throughout the city of Santa Barbara after an all time high peak of 528 gigawatt/hours between the years of 1996 and 1998. This decrease in electricity usage can be best explained by conserving electricity by many non-residential consumers, because of increased electricity rates and residential consumers buying and using more energy saving appliances.