While the total energy consumption across society fell by 11 per cent between 2000 and 2019, the trend of lesser consumption continued further in many sectors last year.
This was revealed when Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released the newest statistics on energy consumption in the UK.
Main findings of the report were:
- Final energy consumption (excluding non-energy use) was 142.0 million tonnes
of oil equivalent (mtoe) in 2019, 1.4 mtoe (1.0 per cent) lower than in 2018, with all
sectors contributing to the decrease. On a temperature corrected basis, consumption
fell by 1.2 mtoe (0.8 per cent). - The industrial sector showed the largest decrease in consumption across the sectors,
from 22.9 mtoe in 2018 to 22.3 mote in 2019, a fall of 2.8 per cent. Consumption
decreased in all industry sub-sectors, except iron and steel where there was a 3.3 per
cent increase. The largest decrease in percentage terms was in the vehicle
manufacturing which fell by 5.0 per cent, followed by mechanical engineering which fell by 4.5 per cent. - In 2019, energy consumption in the transport sector fell by just 0.4 per cent to 56.7
mtoe; a decrease in petroleum consumption was offset mostly by an increase in
consumption in liquid biofuels. Over the longer term, consumption peaked in 2007 and
continued to fall until 2013; since then it has increased by 3.2 mtoe (5.9 per cent). - In 2019, domestic energy consumption decreased by 0.3 mtoe (0.8 per cent) to 41.3
mtoe when compared to 2018. On a temperature corrected basis, consumption was
almost unchanged compared to 2018 at 43.2 mtoe reflecting similar average
temperatures and heating degree days. Over the longer term, consumption has fallen by
12 per cent since 2000 despite a 14 per cent increase in the number of households and
a 13 per cent increase in the population. Over the same timeframe, per household,
consumption has fallen by 23 per cent. - In the service sector, energy consumption in the private commercial sector decreased by 0.7 per cent between 2018 and 2019 to 14.6 mtoe, in the public sector it fell by 2.1 per cent to 5.6 mtoe. Consumption in the agricultural sector increased by 1.4 per cent in 2019, to 1.5 mtoe.
- Over the longer term, total energy consumption fell by 17.4 mtoe (11 per cent)
between 2000 and 2019 (142.0 mtoe compared to 159.4 mtoe); and by 4.0 mtoe (2.8 per cent) since 1970 - Between 2018 and 2019, the energy ratio fell by 2.6 per cent, meaning that increased
efficiencies reduced the amount of energy needed to underpin each unit of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP, £1 million).
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