DECC Datasets – Energy Consumption in the UK
Article Type: News From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 14, Issue 2
The UK Department of Environment and Climate Change has published a set of data about energy use in all sectors – transport, industry, services and housing. This internet publication brings together statistics from a variety of sources to produce a comprehensive review of energy consumption and changes in efficiency, intensity and output in the UK since the 1970s, with a particular focus on trends since 1990. Cambridge Architectural Research helped produce the housing data, which includes: a massive switch from coal to gas use for heating homes – 39 per cent of housing energy came from coal in 1970, against 24 per cent from gas; while in 2011 just 1 per cent of housing energy came from coal, and 65 per cent from gas; an increase of 45 per cent in electricity use in homes from 1970 to 2011; total energy use per household has been surprisingly stable, apart from significantly lower energy use in 2009 and a spike in 2010 due to the cold winter; average SAP ratings (a measure of standardised energy efficiency) improved from 17.6 in 1970 to 55.0 in 2010; nearly a quarter of homes now have condensing boilers; 75 per cent of homes now have home computers,compared to 93 per cent with microwaves and 39 per cent with dishwashers.
