ConfusedAboutEnergy.co.uk

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Overall Household Energy Use

E-mail Print
User Rating: / 11
PoorBest 

It is important to get overall household energy use into perspective to understand where to cut costs and when to invest in new equipment.

The first pie chart shows the major components of energy use in the average UK house. Heating your home clearly dominates, followed by heating water. Electrical appliances and cooking are relatively low energy use in your house. (It should be noted that in reality when considering the inefficiencies of power generation that the actual energy use of electrical appliance is higher),

 The second chart shows the relative costs assuming that Gas is used to cook, heat the house and heat the water. The cost contribution from electrical appliance is higher than the "in house" energy use; this is simply because electricity is much more expensive per kWh than gas.



Energy use in the average UK household



Energy cost assuming heating, hotwater and cooking are all gas fuelled

The conclusions are apparent; to really save some money where you live the first focus should be on heating, hot water and insulating against heat loss. Most of this area of the site compares the various heating and water options, and looks at insulation. The objective is to help to inform choice on what is best to do in your circumstances, to save money and sensibly invest.



 
Comments (2)
Charts
2 Wednesday, 09 February 2011 23:32
Hi Felix
The charts I did myself in excel
The data for the charts comes from "energy consumption in the UK" a DTI document. What is the department called now, Berr, BIS, it changes on a monthly basis and I can't find the docs anymore! I have a printout and should be able to find the PDF, if you send me your e-mail, I'll send it.
Cheers
Richard
1 Monday, 07 February 2011 19:04
could you let me know the source of the pie charts and also the date the information is related to?

it is amazing how i tried for an hour to get this information from the UK government website and they have nothing!!!

Add your comment

Your name:
Your email:
Subject:
Comment:

Site Guidance

All calculations on this site are based on current fuel prices they are checked regularly are automatically updated and were last changed on:-
19th February 2013
For complete clarity, all calculation using current fuel prices are coloured red.
The costs calculated based on these fuel prices should be regarded as 'good estimates', given that fuel prices vary in different parts of the county and at different time of the year.
The calculations also have different levels of accuracy depending on the nature of the calculation. For example calculating the energy use of a known power output TV is very easy compared to calculating the effect on energy savings when insulating a cavity wall.

Android Phone App

android energy app

We now have a bit of fun energy calculator app for android phone, click the link to find out more. Link to app

Site Symbols

Icons are also used throughout the site to indicate the level of saving or the relative cost implications associated with an choice you might make, or a tip you read or related to how your house is currently configured. These icons below.
pence lowest priority
£ 10+ Think twice, perhaps you should focus elsewhere first
£ 100+ Worth doing
£ 1000+ Focus your effort here to save as much money as possible

In some areas there are some substantial investments you may choose to make, in sections describing these we indicate with two icons, thumbs up or down, if the investment is a good one. Payback in less than 15 years is regarded as reasonable, but longer that that poor. These icons are below.
less than 15 years to payback investment
More than 15 years to payback the investment

Site Units

The main units used in this site are in the table below, For a complete explanation of any of these Wikipedia is an excellent resource.

Unit Name Detail
W Watt Unit of Power
kW Kilowatt 1000 watts
kWh Kilowatt hour Measure of Energy
L Litre Measure of Volume

Best Investment table

Measures to reduce fuel bills ROI*
Lagging 1
Loft Insulation 1.9
Cavity Wall Insulation 2.2
Underfloor Insulation 4.2
Solid Wall Insulation 15.1
Solar Hot Water 34
Double Glazing 55.6

*ROI is the time it takes in years to return the investment in fuel savings for an average gas heated 3 bed semi-detached house. The table assumes no government incentive schemes are used.

Renewable Energy Measures ROI**
Heat Pumps
- Replacing Electric
4 to 8
Heat Pumps
- Replacing LPG
15 to 30
Wind Power 14 to 55
Solar Photovoltaics 24 to 64

**ROI is the time it takes in years to return the investment in electricity savings. The table assumes no government incentive schemes are used.

World Power Production

This is the best world enery graphic and simulation tool we have come across so we have put it on the home page! Wish we had done it.

world power generation graph coal oil gas solar wind nuclear biomass

Electrical Energy Cost Calculator

Power (Watts)
Time (Hours)

Comments, category: "Household Energy Use"


Copyright © 2013 confusedaboutenery.co.uk All Right Reserved
picture of a dik dik