Press Statement

Preasráiteas

29 October 2020

Go to release: The Census of Population from an Environment Perspective 2011 and 2016

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 October 2020) published The Census of Population from an Environment Perspective. The report analyses previously published data from the 2011 and 2016 Censuses with a focus on questions of relevance to the environment. These include central heating fuel, travel to work patterns, car ownership, and water supply and waste water systems. These questions are analysed from a socio-economic perspective including household composition, principal economic status, general health of the household reference person, and socio-economic group.

Senior Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division Gerry Brady commented: ‘The Census is the most complete data source on households and the information it collects that is of relevance to the environment has increased in interest as people spend more time at home during the pandemic.

Looking at the data, we found that households where there was a change in occupants between the 2011 and 2016 Censuses of Population were more likely to have changed from using solid fuel central heating. Around 38% of households using coal in 2011 were using coal in 2016 in households where there was a change in occupants. In contrast, 61% of households using coal in 2011 were using coal in 2016 in households where there was no change in occupants.

This suggests that house sales, a change in the household composition, and major renovation work are likely to be factors behind a change in the central heating system.

Higher proportions of households using peat in 2011 continued to use it as their central heating fuel in 2016. Where there was a change in occupants, 48% of those households still used peat while 73% of households with the same occupants in 2011 and 2016 used peat in both Censuses.

The county with the highest proportion of occupied private households using coal was Wexford at 15% in 2011 and at 16% in 2016. Donegal had similar high figures for coal at 12% in 2011 and 15% in 2016.

In 2016, farms of 50 hectares or more were more inclined to use oil (66%), while peat was used by 28% of farms under 20 hectares.’

Further commenting on factors that influence heating choices, Mr Brady said: ‘Period of construction, type of central heating fuel, building type (detached, purpose-built apartment, etc.) and location all combine to determine the energy efficiency of households. Old detached rural households typically require much more heating for the occupants to keep themselves warm than a mid-floor recently built apartment. Such households are less well-insulated and lose heat more quickly.

Around 16% of dwellings built during the period 2011-2016 used electricity as the main source of heating reflecting the movement towards more purpose-built apartments, while oil was the most used fuel for households built before 1945 and gas for those built between 1946 and 1960.

We found that almost two-thirds of occupied detached houses used oil as their central heating fuel in 2016 (63%). In 2016 the percentage of occupied semi-detached households using oil was 35%. This rate dropped to 22% for terraced houses and to 3% for purpose-built apartments. Electricity was the main central heating fuel for 47% of purpose-built apartments.’

Analysing the data by household makeup, Mr Brady said: ‘Factors such as whether people in the household are working and their general health and age determine the amount of heating that is required to keep a home adequately warm in colder periods.

Looking at household makeup and its influence on heating source, households with students as the reference person were far more likely to use electricity as their main central heating fuel (29% in 2011 and 31% in 2016) while households where the reference person was retired were much more likely to use oil as their main central heating fuel (49% in 2016). Households headed by women were more likely to use natural gas (38% in 2016 compared with 31% for a male reference person) whereas households with a man as the reference person had a higher proportion using oil (43% in 2016 compared with 38% for women).

Households where the reference persons had mobility difficulty inside the dwelling used higher proportions of coal and peat than other households in both 2011 and 2016. It was also noted that 9% of households where the reference person was in poor health used coal central heating in 2016.

Around 46% of occupied private households with no central heating in 2016 were occupied by one person while 36% of occupied households using electricity in 2016 were occupied by one person. Some 30% of occupied private households that had no central heating in 2011 also had no central heating in 2016.’

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