A dwelling-level investigation into the physical and socio-economic drivers of domestic energy consumption in England

The UK Government's Department for Energy and Climate Change has been investigating the feasibility of developing a national energy efficiency data framework covering both domestic and non-domestic buildings. Working closely with the Energy Saving Trust and energy suppliers, the aim is to develop a data framework to monitor changes in energy efficiency, develop and evaluate programmes and improve information available to consumers. Key applications of the framework are to understand trends in built stock energy use, identify drivers and evaluate the success of different policies. For energy suppliers, it could identify what energy uses are growing, in which sectors and why. This would help with market segmentation and the design of products. For building professionals, it could supplement energy audits and modelling of end-use consumption with real data and support the generation of accurate and comprehensive benchmarks. This paper critically examines the results of the first phase of work to construct a national energy efficiency data-framework for the domestic sector focusing on two specific issues: (a) drivers of domestic energy consumption in terms of the physical nature of the dwellings and socio-economic characteristics of occupants and (b) the impact of energy efficiency measures on energy consumption.

[1]  V. Ismet Ugursal,et al.  Modeling of end-use energy consumption in the residential sector: A review of modeling techniques , 2009 .

[2]  Tadj Oreszczyn,et al.  Changes in energy demand from low-energy homes , 2010 .

[3]  Sevastianos Mirasgedis,et al.  European residential buildings and empirical assessment of the Hellenic building stock, energy consumption, emissions and potential energy savings , 2007 .

[4]  Paul Ekins,et al.  Economic instruments to improve UK home energy efficiency without negative social impacts , 2006 .

[5]  A. Wright,et al.  Targeting household energy-efficiency measures using sensitivity analysis , 2010 .

[6]  P. Wyatt,et al.  A data framework for measuring the energy consumption of the non-domestic building stock , 2011 .

[7]  John D. Claxton,et al.  Complexities of Household Energy Consumption and Conservation , 1981 .

[8]  Tadj Oreszczyn,et al.  Milton Keynes Energy Park revisited: Changes in internal temperatures and energy usage , 2007 .

[9]  T. Crosbie,et al.  Energy-efficiency interventions in housing: learning from the inhabitants , 2010 .

[10]  G. Hitchcock,et al.  An integrated framework for energy use and behaviour in the domestic sector , 1993 .

[11]  Robert Everett,et al.  The Pennyland Project , 1985 .

[12]  Brian Norton,et al.  Real-life energy use in the UK: How occupancy and dwelling characteristics affect domestic electricity use , 2008 .

[13]  Sung H. Hong,et al.  The impact of energy efficient refurbishment on the space heating fuel consumption in English dwellings , 2006 .

[14]  A. Druckman,et al.  Household energy consumption in the UK: A highly geographically and socio-economically disaggregated model , 2008 .

[15]  Henk Visscher,et al.  The effect of occupancy and building characteristics on energy use for space and water heating in Dutch residential stock , 2009 .

[16]  R. Parker,et al.  Communities and Local Government , 2008 .