Do something for our planet, print this page only if needed. Even a small action can make an enormous difference when millions of people do it!
Indicator Assessment
Total household electricity consumption in EU-28 has increased by around 32 % between 1990 and 2011, although consumption appears to have peaked in 2010 at which point the increase compared to 1990 was 39 %. The total electricity consumption of large appliances (washing machines, dish washers, refrigerators, freezers and dryers) has increased by only 6 % over the same time: improvements in energy efficiency of large household appliances have helped to reduce growth in energy consumption of these appliances, despite a significant increase in the stock of these appliances. The improvements in energy efficiency of other appliances (for example, TV sets, computers) have not been sufficient to offset the increasing stock of these appliances - electricity consumption of other appliances jumped 156 % over the period - and this is the main driver for the steady increase in the total household electricity consumption in the EU-28.
Total electricity consumption in households in the EU-28 has increased by around 32 % from 1990 to 2011, although consumption appears to have peaked in 2010 at which point the increase compared to 1990 was 39 %. Figure 1 illustrates that the majority of this increase is due to a rise in electricity consumption by appliances other than large appliances. Electricity consumption of five large household appliances (refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers and tumble dryers) has only increased by around 6 % over the same period, while energy consumption of other appliances has increased by around 156 % over the period. In fact, these other appliances are responsible for 67 % of the total increase in household electricity consumption between 1990 and 2011. The category other appliances includes home entertainment appliances, computers, phones and all types of electronic gadgets, but also air conditioning units (in fact, it includes all residential electricity use not explicitly included in one of the other categories). Increasing stocks, driven by fast technical development and decrease of prices of these goods seem to be the primary driver for the observed increase in household electricity consumption (EEA, 2014).
For all three selected appliances in Figure 2 (refrigerators, washing machines and TVs), energy efficiency has improved. However, this does not necessarily mean electricity consumption has decreased, as the numbers of appliances in households have continuously increased. For televisions, it is important to note that efficiencies per unit screen area have indeed improved; average screen sizes, however, have also increased, leading to an overall decrease in energy efficiency per average TV (International Energy Agency, 2008).
The energy efficiency of washing machines and refrigerators has increased by approximately 30 % and 33 % respectively between 1990 and 2011. These improvements have been consistent throughout the time period. The first Energy Labelling Directive, which was adopted in 1992, has contributed to these improvements, and similar developments are likely to be seen in other appliances covered by the Directive, such as freezers, air conditioning units etc. as well as light bulbs.
This indicator presents trends in consumption of electricity in households, and in the efficiency and stock of three key appliances in the EU-28. The use of electricity in households for different types of end uses is shown in figure 1, while figure 2 shows energy consumption, average specific energy consumption (efficiency) and total stock of key household appliances, and trends in total electricity consumption for all appliances in the EU28.
Figure 1 - Expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe)
Figure 2 - Expressed as indices of the values of the specific energy consumption of three types of household appliances, the stocks of those appliances and total household electricity consumption for all appliances, indexed to 1990.
The wish for a rapid transfer of new technology into buildings and appliances is the basis for the Ecodesign Directive which was amended in 2009 to include energy-related products such as windows and insulation materials. The Directive states that ‘In the interest of sustainable development, continuous improvement in the overall environmental impact of those products should be encouraged’. The EcoDesign Directive is supported by the Energy Labelling Directive that introduced an EU-wide energy labelling scheme for household appliances and is being expanded to other energy using products i.e. TVs (2010).
This indicator considers the extent to which any efficiency gains made through technological advancements in building design and appliances are offset by changing behaviour, for example, increased living space demand, and increased use and ownership of appliances. Although no policy with direct relevance to the building design and appliances has been identified concerning such rebound effects, the general need to ensure that consumption behaviour does not offset gains from technology is recognised in the Resource Efficiency Flagship’s call to ‘empower consumers to move to resource-efficient consumption to ….ensure that efficiency gains are not lost’.
The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe includes the area of Improving products and changing consumption patterns, which is of particular relevance to household appliances, including the milestone that by 2020 ‘citizens and public authorities have the right incentives to choose the most resource efficient products and services, through appropriate price signals and clear environmental information. Their purchasing choices will stimulate companies to innovate and to supply more resource efficient goods and services. Minimum environmental performance standards are set to remove the least resource efficient and most polluting products from the market.’
The EU’s 7th Environment Action Programme reinforces the objectives of the Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe, stating that ‘measures will be taken to further improve the environmental performance of goods and services on the Union market over their whole life cycle including measures to increase the supply of environmentally sustainable products and stimulate a significant shift in consumer demand for such products’, and that ‘targets for reducing the overall lifecycle environmental impact of consumption will be set, in particular in the food, housing and mobility sectors’.
No targets have been set.
Figure 1 comprises data for household electricity consumption disaggregated into six final use categories: space heating, water heating, cooking, lighting, large appliances (refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, dishwasher and tumble dryer), and other appliances (TV, air conditioning units, among others). Raw data was used for space heating, water heating, cooking, lighting and large appliances. The data for “other appliances” is calculated by subtracting the value for “lighting” and for “large appliances” from that for “total appliances and lighting”.
Figure 2 comprises seven trend lines indexed to 100 in 1990, the calculation of which are described below:
No gap filling is necessary for producing this indicator from the data extracted from the Odyssee database.
No methodology references available.
No uncertainty has been identified in the methodology used by the EEA to process the source data.
No uncertainty information has been provided by the publishers of the source data. However, it is reasonable to expect a level of uncertainty in the raw data on the disaggregation of electricity consumption.
This indicator only considers changes in stock and efficiency improvements of a few (though important) electrical appliances. Data on freezers and dishwashers is also available, but these have been omitted for the sake of clarity. It would be interesting to further disaggregate the “other appliances” category, but this is not currently possible.
This indicator uses total stocks of appliances, and data for average specific consumption based on average use patterns of that stock as a proxy for consumption. This assumption of average use patters does not allow for changes in use patters (changes in consumption behaviour) post-purchase.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/16.2-developments-in-energy-efficiency/assessment-1 or scan the QR code.
PDF generated on 26 Apr 2024, 10:23 PM
Engineered by: EEA Web Team
Software updated on 26 September 2023 08:13 from version 23.8.18
Software version: EEA Plone KGS 23.9.14
Document Actions
Share with others