Indicator Assessment

Final energy consumption intensity

Indicator Assessment

Prod-ID: IND-123-en

Also known as: ENER 021

Published 30 Apr 2012 Last modified 11 May 2021

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Topics: Energy

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Over the period 1990-2009, the EU-27 final energy intensity has decreased by 26% at an annual average rate of 1.6%/year. From 2005 to 2009, decoupling of economic growth from final energy consumption was more rapid and resulted in a faster energy intensity reduction of 2.2%/year: since 2005, decoupling was the most successful in the agriculture and industrial sectors where the energy intensity has decreased by respectively 3.3%/year and 3.1%/year. In the tertiary and transport sectors the final energy consumption intensities have decreased by 2.4%/y and 0.5%/y since 2005. In the households sector, the final energy consumption per capita decreased slightly (-1%/year over 2005-2009), due to counterbalancing effects: larger and more numerous dwellings, greater ownership of electrical appliances on the one hand, energy efficiency improvements on the other hand. In non EU-EEA countries, the final energy intensity has decreased by 8.3% or 0.5%/year over the period 1990-2009.

Variation of final energy intensity in EU and EEA countries, 1990-2009

Note: The figure shows the variation of final energy intensity (the ratio between the final energy consumption and the GDP) in EU and EEA countries

Data source:

Final energy consumption from Eurostat, GDP based on 2010 Spring Forecasts, DG ECFIN, European Commission

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Index of final energy intensity and energy intensity by sector, EU-27

Note: Index of final energy intensity and energy intensity by sector, EU-27. Final energy intensity or final energy consumption intensity refers to the ratio between the final energy consumption and the GDP

Data source:

Eurostat (historical data) http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ . GDP is based on 2010 Spring Forecasts, DG ECFIN, European Commission and is expressed in Euro at 2000 market prices

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Final energy intensity[1]

From 1990 to 2009, the final energy intensity of the EU-27 decreased by 26% at an annual average rate of 1.6%. Since 2005, the energy intensity mainly decreased in the agriculture and industrial sectors by respectively 3.3%/year and 3.1%/year. In the tertiary and transport sectors the final energy consumption intensities decreased by 2.4%/year and 0.5%/year since 2005. In the households sector, the final energy consumption per capita decreased slightly (-1%/year). Improvements in final energy intensity were influenced both by structural changes in the economy, such as a shift from industry towards services and, within industry, to less energy-intensive processes, and by energy efficiency improvements. In the household sector, improvements in the efficiency of electrical appliances and measures targeting the buildings’ envelope helped to slow down the growth in final energy consumption (see ENER016 and for energy efficiency in the household sector see ENER022).
In 2009, the GDP decreased by 4.3% and the final energy consumption dropped by 5.2%, which resulted in a decrease of 1% in the final energy intensity of the EU-27. In 2009, the final energy intensity was 25.9%, lower than in1990.
Trends are very different among countries: final energy intensity decreased by more than 4%/year since 1990 in Estonia, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania, between 2 and 4%/year in Czech Republic, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Norway, Ireland and Luxembourg, mainly due to energy efficiency progress and restructuring in industry. . .
In the non EU EEA member countries, the final energy intensity decreased by 8.3 % over the period 1990 to 2009, at an annual average rate of 0.5 %: GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.5% while final energy consumption increased by an average annual rate of 2 %. Therefore, in these countries, there is a slower pace of decoupling between final energy consumption and economic growth, mainly due to developments in Turkey. Over the period 2005-2009, the intensity decreased slightly faster, by 0.6%/year. In 2009, the economic crisis led to a strong reduction in the final energy intensity in non EU EEA member countries (-2.1%): the final energy consumption dropped much faster than the GDP (5.1% compared to 3%).
From 1990 to 2009, the final energy consumption of the EU-27 has increased by 0.2 %/year. During the same period, CO2 emissions from fuel combustion have decreased by 13.4% (- -35.8% in manufacturing industries and construction, -15% in residential, tertiary and agriculture but + 20.8% in transport. The CO2 emissions of industrial process have also decreased by 30.8% since 1990 (EEA, 2011b). In 2009, the economic crisis induced a significant decrease in CO2 emissions from the energy industry (-8%) and from the manufacturing industries and construction (-15.5%). An important decrease was also observed in industrial process (-17.1%).

Between 1990 and 2009, the emissions of other air pollutants decreased more significantly: SO_x (-80 %), CO (-62 %), NMVOCs (-55 %) and NO_x (-44 %) (EEA, 2011a).

[1]Final energy intensity or final energy consumption intensity refers to the ratio between the final energy consumption and the GDP.

The final household energy consumption has grown almost at the same pace as the population since 1990 (average annual rate of 0.4 % for the population compared to 0.3 % for the energy consumption). As a result, the final energy intensity in the households sector, measured by the ratio “energy consumption divided by population” has only increased moderately by 1.6 % between 1990 and 2009, i.e. at an average annual rate of 0.1%. This trend resulted from counterbalancing effects: increased comfort levels on the one hand, energy efficiency improvements on the other hand (see ENER 022). The final energy consumption intensity in the households sector is also closely linked with climatic conditions, as the major part of the energy is used for space heating (for details on energy efficiency improvements in the household sector see also ENER 022)[1]. An opposite trend can be observed over the period 2005-2009 with a decrease of the consumption per capita by 1%/year (the same for the year 2009), reflecting larger energy efficiency improvements and also, in some countries, comfort restrictions by households due to income reduction.

[1]Please note that figures presented in this indicator are not directly comparable with the figures presented in the ENER 022. Most of the trends presented in ENER 022 refer to consumption adjusted from climate to make more realistic comparison between countries to avoid climatic variations and influence (in particular to compare Nordic and Southern countries).

Between 2005 and 2009, the energy intensity in the industrial sector decreased by 12%, at an annual average rate of 3.1 %. Over the same period of time, the gross value added of the industrial sector increased by 8%, at an annual average rate of 2.1 % and the final energy consumption of industry declined over 1990-2009 by 18.1%, at an annual average rate of 1.4%. In 2009, the economic crisis had a large impact on the industrial sector. While the total GDP of the EU-27 decreased by 4.3% between 2008 and 2009, the gross value added of industry dropped by 12.1%. The drop in the energy consumption of the industrial sector was even greater (14.7%). As a consequence, the energy intensity of industry decreased by 2.9% in 2009.
This energy intensity decrease is mainly due to energy efficiency improvements in the industry (see also the ODEX in ENER025) and to a lesser extent to a shift towards less energy-intensive industries.

From 2005 to 2009, energy intensity of the service and agricultural sectors declined by 2.4 %/year and 3.3%/year respectively. Therefore, there is for both sectors a significant decoupling of energy consumption from the gross value added. During this period, the gross value added for the services and agriculture sector increased by 6% and 3.5% respectively, at an average annual rate of 1.5 % and 0.9%. The energy consumption of services increased by 3.3 % (0.8%/year); the energy consumption of agriculture (and fisheries) decreased by 9.5% (2.5%/year).
In 2009, the gross value added of the EU-27 services sector decreased for the first time since 1995 (-2.2%). The decrease of energy consumption was less significant (-1.4%), which implied a 0.8% increase of the final energy intensity of the services sector. In the same time, the gross value added of the agriculture sector increased by 1.7% whereas energy consumption dropped by 2.3%. As a result, the final energy intensity of agriculture decreased by 4.9% in 2009.
The reduction in energy intensity in services is the result of counterbalancing drivers: energy efficiency, on the one hand, and increase in comfort and in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in offices, on the other hand. The underlying factors explaining the energy efficiency improvement include increase in insulation and in heating equipment. For agriculture, the main drivers are energy efficiency improvements and increase in productivity.

Between 2005 and 2009, some progress was made in decoupling the energy consumption in transport from economic growth, albeit much less noticeable than what can be observed in industry or service sectors. During this period of time, the final energy consumption intensity decreased by 2%, at an average annual rate of 0.5 %.

The decrease of the energy intensity in transport is due to different factors: on the one hand this is due to energy efficiency increase, improvement in trucks management of transport operations (load factor) ; on the other hand these benefits have been partially offset by modal shifts to more energy intensive modes of transport (increase in air traffic and in the use of cars instead of public transport and the increasing use of trucks instead of rail or inland waterways for good transportation increased). In 2009, the energy consumption in transport decreased by 2.7%; GDP decreased by 4.3% due to the financial and economic crisis. As a result, the energy intensity of the transport sector decreased by 1.6% in 2009.

Supporting information

Indicator definition

Final energy consumption covers energy supplied to the final consumer for all energy uses. It is calculated as the sum of final energy consumption of all sectors. These are disaggregated to cover industry, transport, households, and services and agriculture.

Total final energy intensity is defined as total final energy consumption (consumption of transformed energy such as electricity, publicly supplied heat, refined oil products, coke, etc, and the direct use of primary fuels such as gas or renewables, e.g. solar heat or biomass) divided by gross domestic product (GDP) at constant 2000 prices. The GDP figures are taken at constant prices to avoid the impact of inflation, base year 2000.

Household energy intensity is defined as household final energy consumption divided by population.
Transport energy intensity is defined as transport final energy consumption divided by GDP at constant 2000 prices.
Industry energy intensity is defined as industry final energy consumption divided by industry Gross Value Added at constant 2000 prices. This excludes final energy consumption and gross value added from construction.
Services energy intensity is defined as services final energy consumption divided by services Gross Value Added at constant 2000 prices. Value added of services is the sum of 3 value added :

G_H_I : Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods; hotels and restaurants; transport, storage and communication,
J_K - Financial intermediation; real estate, renting and business activities and
L_TO_P - Public administration and defence, compulsory social security; education; health and social work; other community, social and personal service activities; private households with employed persons

Units

Final energy consumption is measured in 1000 tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) and GDP in million Euro at 2000 market prices. Energy intensity is measured in tonnes of oil equivalent per million Euro (GDP or GVA), except in the case of household energy intensity which is measured in tonnes of oil equivalent per 1000 people

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Historically, economic growth influenced final energy consumption in the end-use sectors, particularly transport, industry and services. Final energy consumption of households is driven by disposable income (a function of economic growth), population, the number of households and size of the dwellings. The indicator measures to what extent there is a decoupling between final energy consumption in various sectors and these drivers. A decoupling of final energy consumption from economic growth indicates a reduction in environmental pressures from energy production and consumption due to avoided supply of energy.

Scientific references

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

In Europe there are two prevailing objectives: to continue generating economic growth (the Lisbon Agenda) while, at the same time protecting the environment and ensuing security of energy supply. Achieving these goals simultaneously requires decoupling the economic growth from energy-consumption. This indicator shows the extent to which this is happening (or not) for the four main sectors (for definitions for each sector please see the “Methodology” section): households, services and agriculture, industry and transport. Relative decoupling occurs when energy consumption grows, but more slowly than the underlying driver. Absolute decoupling occurs when energy consumption is stable or falls while the driver grows.

A shift towards absolute decoupling would indicate that pressures on the environment from energy production and consumption are decreasing (because of avoided energy supply) but the magnitude of the impact depends both on the total amount of avoided energy consumption as well as the implications for the energy mix (in other words which fuels have been used less because of the reduction in final energy consumption).

Policy context

Proposal for a directive on energy efficiency (COM(2011) 370 final). On 22 June 2011, the European Commission proposed a new set of measures in order to meet the EU’s 2020 energy efficiency target.

A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 (COM(2011) 112 final). Presents a roadmap for action in line with a 80-95% greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2050.

Energy Efficiency Plan 2011 (COM(2011) 109 final). Proposes additional measures to achieve the 20 % primary energy saving target by 2020.

Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20 % reduction in greenhouse gases and a 20 % share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020.The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents:

Directive 2009/29/ECof the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community.
Directive 2009/31/EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide.
Directive 2009/28/EC of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01).
Directive 2008/101/EC of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/EC so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas Emission allowance trading within the community
Regulation (EC) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂emissions from light-duty vehicles

Energy Services Directive; Directive 2006/32/EC. Sets out clear mandatory targets for annual energy intensity improvements at Member States’ level and for the share of energy efficient public procurement for the period 2006-2012. For the same period, strong incentives were given by the Directive for Member States to ensure that suppliers of energy offer a certain level of energy services.

Second Strategic Energy Review; COM(2008) 781 final. Strategic review on short, medium and long term targets on EU energy security.

Eco-Design Directive; COM(2008) 778 final/2. Directive on intensification of existing regulation on energy-efficiency of products.

Energy Performance Buildings Directive; Directive 2002/91/EC. The Member States must apply minimum requirements as regards the energy performance of new and existing buildings, ensure the certification of their energy performance and require the regular inspection of boilers and air conditioning systems in buildings.

Energy Performance Buildings Directive (recast); Directive 2010/31/EU. Strengthens the energy performance requirements of the 2002 Directive.

Targets

No targets have been specified

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

Geographical coverage:
The Agency had 32 member countries at the time of writing of this fact sheet. These are the 27 European Union Member States and Turkey, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. No 2007-2009 data available for Iceland (Iceland do not appear on the graphs)

Temporal coverage:
1990-2009

Methodology and frequency of data collection:
Data collected annually. Eurostat definitions and concepts for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/nrg_quant_esms.htm

Methodology of data manipulation:
The coding (used in the Eurostat New Cronos database) and specific components of the indicators are:

Total final energy intensity: final energy consumption 101700 divided by the gross domestic product, conducted from the Eurostat datasheets (b1gm Gross domestic product at 2000 market prices mio_eur_clv2000 )
Household energy intensity: Final energy consumption households 102010 divided by PJAN Population by sex and age on 1. January of each year.
Transport energy intensity: Final energy consumption transport 101900 divided by B1GM GDP and main components - Constant 2000 prices.
Industry energy intensity: Final energy consumption industry 101800 divided by the gross value added for industry conducted from the Eurostat datasheets (NACE C_D_E Total industry GVA)
Services energy intensity : Final energy consumption Services and Others 102035, 102040 divided by the gross value added of services (Wholesale and retail trade, Financial intermediation; Public administration and defence : NACE G to P)
Agriculture energy intensity : Final energy consumption Agriculture, fisheries 102030, 102020 divided by the gross value added of agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing –NACE A_B

The gross value added (GVA) for Industry, Agriculture and Tertiary and GDP are not available in Eurostat for all the countries before 1995. GDP before 1995 has been calculated with GDP growth rate published by country by the World Bank (Reference World Development Indicators 2011). GDP for EU-27 is the sum of countries.

Average annual rate of growth calculated using: [(last year / base year) ^ (1 / number of years) –1]*100.

Methodology for gap filling

When the percentage of change was not available for a particular year, the European Commission's annual macroeconomic database (Ameco) was used as data source. The figure for the missing year is estimated on the basis of the annual growth rate from Ameco.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

The sectoral breakdown of final energy consumption includes industry, transport, households, services, agriculture, fisheries and other sectors. To be consistent with projection data, the indicator aggregates agriculture, fisheries and other sectors together with the services sector. The inclusion of agriculture and fisheries together with the services sector is however questionable given their divergent trends.

Because the main focus of the indicator is on trends, energy intensity is presented as an index. It should be noted that the final energy intensities between sectors, and also the total final energy intensity, are not directly comparable, because as described above, the definitions of energy intensity within each sector not identical. The indicator serves to highlight the evolution in energy intensity within each sector.

Data sets uncertainty

Data have been traditionally compiled by Eurostat through the annual Joint Questionnaires, shared by Eurostat and the International Energy Agency, following a well established and harmonised methodology. Methodological information on the annual Joint Questionnaires and data compilation can be found in Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statistics. http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_SDDS/en/nrg_quant_esms.htm

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified

Data sources

World development indicators
provided by The World Bank
Annual national accounts (nama10)
provided by Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)
Energy statistics (Eurostat)
provided by Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)

Other info

DPSIR: Driving force
Typology: Descriptive indicator (Type A - What is happening to the environment and to humans?)

Indicator codes

ENER 021

Frequency of updates

Updates are scheduled once per year

EEA Contact Info info@eea.europa.eu

Permalinks

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Permalink to latest version: IND-123-en

Older versions

11 Aug 2011 - Final energy consumption intensity

14 Sep 2010 - Final energy consumption intensity

27 Nov 2008 - EN21 Final Energy Consumption Intensity

22 May 2007 - EN21 Final Energy Consumption Intensity

Geographic coverage

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom

Temporal coverage

1990-2009

For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/final-energy-consumption-intensity-1/final-energy-consumption-intensity-assessment-3 or scan the QR code.

PDF generated on 18 Apr 2024, 10:22 PM

Dates

First draft created:

02 Apr 2012, 12:06 PM

Publish date:

30 Apr 2012, 02:06 PM

Last modified:

11 May 2021, 11:47 AM

Topics

Topics: Energy