UK Home Energy Use

29/03/2017

Have you ever thought about how much energy a home uses? Housing energy is nearly a third of total energy use in the UK. When planning to build out housing developments of all sizes it is important to take into consideration how much estimated energy the houses will use. The average home energy consumption in the UK, at the time of the latest Energy & Climate Change’s Energy Consumption Report, shows the average household using 3,938 KWh of electricity and 12,962 kWh of gas a year.

The difference in outside temperature to inside the home during the winter months is one of the key factors for shaping the energy, mainly gas, we use in our homes. With the rise of technology and change in lifestyles we have also seen more appliances enter the home contributing to more energy use; although technology has also made energy consumption more efficient. There are now far more electric devices in homes such as flat screen TVs, washing machines, tumble dryers, hairdryers, computers, games consoles, audio systems, chargers and fridge freezers etc. The trend in use of these devices has and ever is increasing. We shouldn’t shy away from using energy but should look to decrease our wastage and for alternative clean sources.

This article by no means tackles the complexity of this question and various specialists are engaged when implementing development schemes. As this is a fairly multidimensional question with various factors affecting the outcome of the average home’s energy use we have touched on some of the key points from the Department of Energy & Climate Change’s United Kingdom housing energy fact file, Energy Consumption in the UK November 2016 report and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Digest of United Kingdom statistics 2016.

Photo: ESA/NASA

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