The JRC’s Institute for Energy will publish its Electricity Consumption and Efficiency Trends in the Europe Union report on Monday, presenting the results of an in-depth survey conducted on electricity consumption across the EU-27 for 2007, focusing on commonly used applicable and equipment. It also includes the main findings of the first preparatory studies for implementing the Eco-design Directive, which provides EU-wide rules for the design of energy-using products.
Renewable Energy Magazine has obtained advance details of the results of the report prior to its release on Monday, which show that over the period 2004-2007, the EU’s energy and electricity consumption trends in the residential sector remained stable. For the first time since 1990, the final electricity consumption in 2007 was lower than in the previous year in this sector and almost constant in the tertiary sector.
Despite this positive news, global electricity end-use consumption rose (4.46%), although only at about half the rate of economic growth (8.23%), as opposed to 2006 when it grew at a similar percentage to overall GDP (10.8%).
In 2007, final energy consumption was also down (1.31%) compared to 2004, with the biggest fall in the residential sector (7.12%).
Biggest consumers in the home
According to the JRC’s findings, electric heating, cold appliances, lighting and water-heating systems consume the most electricity in the home. Overall electricity consumption amounted to 800.72 TWh in the EU residential sector.
Information and communication technologies are becoming increasingly important consumers of energy, accounting for up to 13% in the residential sector in 2007, compared to just 2% in 2004.
Stand-by still a problem
Stand-by consumption represented 5.9% of electricity consumption in EU homes in 2007 – almost the same as computers and dishwashers combined – and therefore offers an excellent opportunity for energy saving, once the EU eco-design regulation obliging manufacturers to remove stand-by options from their appliances comes into effect.
Other important savings can be achieved in domestic lighting, which could drop by 46% by 2020 of current consumption due to the recent EU eco-design regulation phasing out incandescent lamps.
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