The social distribution of energy consumption
The social distribution of energy consumption
CSE's new study for Defra examines in detail the distribution of energy consumption by household income - and reveals key issues for new policy proposals such as the Supplier Obligation
29 August 2007
CSE has undertaken groundbreaking new analysis to reveal the distribution of energy consumption and related carbon dioxide emissions by household income.
The analysis has confirmed a link between household income and household energy consumption. For example, the poorest tenth of the population are causing less than half of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the richest tenth from energy use in their homes.
However, the analysis also revealed a significant proportion of lower income households — as many as 1 in 10 of all households — which have emissions as high as many richer households.
CSE's research team, with valuable input from Angela Druckman of the RESOLVE programme at University of Surrey, reviewed fuel expenditure and payment method data from the national Expenditure and Food Survey (2004-05). This was then combined with detailed data on fuel prices at the time of the household survey, enabling the energy consumption (and hence carbon emissions) to be calculated for each of the nearly 7,000 households in the survey. Income and other demographic and household data collected in the EFS can then reveal more about the relationships between household emissions and other factors.
Joshua Thumim, CSE's Head of Research, said "It is really important to understand more about the social distribution of energy consumption and carbon emissions and how this is affected by different policies designed to address carbon emissions. This initial analysis opens the way to much more detailed modelling in future of policy options to reveal how their costs and benefits impact on different types of household."
The work was carried out as part of a larger study by CSE for Defra on the potential social impacts of the proposed Household Energy Supplier Obligation. The report of this study — including the distribution analysis — has now been published and can be downloaded from this site at www.cse.org.uk/pdf/pub1085.pdf.