The UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has published statistics on the UK’s energy production and consumption.
The department released four keypublications under the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2018:
- Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2018
- UK Energy in Brief
- Energy Flow Chart
- Energy Consumption in the United Kingdom
This infographic details the UK’s energy production, transformation and consumption in 2017.
Energy Consumption
The UK’s primary energy consumption continued on its downward trends from the last ten years, falling by 1.2% in 2017, down 0.3% on a temperature-adjusted basis.
Why?
This decline was due in part to the UK’s switch in energy generation from coal to renewable energy sources.
Energy consumption by sector
- Industrial sector – 1.6% increase
- Chemicals sub-sector – 7% increase
- Construction – 5.9% increase
- Food, drink, and tobacco – 3.5%
- Vehicles sub-sector – 2.9% increase
- Transport sector – 0.9% increase
- Agricultural sector – 3.4% increase
- Private commercial sector – 1% decrease
- Public sector – 1.7% decrease
Domestic energy consumption
Domestic energy consumption decreased by 3.7%, reflecting warmer average temperatures particularly during the heating season. Temperature-corrected, however, domestic energy consumption saw a 0.3% increase.
Since 2000, energy consumption has fallen by 14%. Thishas occurred even though the number of households has increased by 15% and the population has increased by 12%. Thismeans that, per household, energy consumption has fallen by 26%.
Energy Sources
Coal going cold
Coal output fell to a record low level, down by 27% in 2017 to a low of 3 million tonnes – a third of its 2015 levels. In 2015 coal’s share of the UK’s energy generation was 22%, declining to 9% in 2016, and then to 7% in 2017.
Why the decrease?
- One of the UK’s biggestsurface mines is under maintenance and has not produced coal since April 2017.
- Also, the higher carbon price for coalmeant that gas production was favoured over coal production as coal generation became more expensive than gas.
The rise of renewable energy
2017 marked a record high of renewable energy generation!
Risein renewable energy generation:
- Energy from solar sources rose by 11%
- Energyfrom hydro sources rose by 10%
- Onshore wind capacity increased by 18%
A number of records were set in 2017:
- Coal output was at a record low
- Electricity from the UK’s renewable energy sources reacheda record 29.3% of total electricity generation.
- The share of low-carbon electricity generation increased from 45.6% to 50.1%.
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Source:
GOV.UK: UK energy in brief 2017
