Jo and Tim have just had a paper on mapping household energy consumption published in Energy Research and Social Science. The paper is another output from the MOT (Motoring and vehicle Ownership Trends in the UK) project www.MOTproject.net.
The paper takes new datasets from the Department for Transport and Department of Energy and Climate Change and uses it to map and analyse patterns of energy use from domestic gas and electricity and from private vehicle use.
Then, based on identified inequalities in energy consumption and spatial structural determinants, it poses the question “Can we identify the difference between ‘energy decadence’ and ‘high energy need’?”
Highlights
• Analysis of new UK datasets based on over 70 million domestic energy meters and vehicle odometers.
• New spatial analyses of household direct energy consumption, through gas, electricity and private car use.
• Investigation of high energy consuming areas in terms of ‘choice’ or ‘need’.
• Assessment of greater capabilities of high energy consumers to reduce energy consumption.
• Recommendations for policy to target high energy consumers on the basis of principles of equity and justice.
The paper is open access.
Chatterton, T., Anable, J., Barnes, J. and Yeboah, G. (2016) Mapping household direct energy consumption in the United Kingdom to provide a new perspective on energy justice. Energy Research & Social Science. ISSN 22146296 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2016.04.013
Abstract:
Targets for reductions in carbon emissions and energy use are often framed solely in terms of percentage reductions. However, the amount of energy used by households varies greatly, with some using considerably more than others and, therefore, potentially being able to make a bigger contribution towards overall reductions. Using two recently released UK datasets based on combined readings from over 70 million domestic energy meters and vehicle odometers, we present exploratory analyses of patterns of direct household energy usage. Whilst much energy justice work has previously focussed on energy vulnerability, mainly in low consumers, our findings suggest that a minority of areas appear to be placing much greater strain on energy networks and environmental systems than they need. Households in these areas are not only the most likely to be able to afford energy efficiency measures to reduce their impacts, but are also found to have other capabilities that would allow them to take action to reduce consumption (such as higher levels of income, education and particular configurations of housing type and tenure). We argue that these areas should therefore be a higher priority in the targeting of policy interventions.
