Household Environmental Behaviours - Energy Use 2024

Energy Statistics

The Environment Household Survey collects information on how households across Ireland interact with the environment, particularly in relation to energy use in the home.   

The questions aimed to further our understanding on fuels used for heating and cooking, installations in the home linked to energy efficiency, sentiment towards electric vehicles (EV) and patterns of EV charging, take up of residential electricity tariffs, generation and export of electricity and electricity usage patterns.  

A consultation process was carried out as part of the questionnaire design, and stakeholder feedback was incorporated to ensure the relevance of our outputs.

Survey Design

The data collection model was carried out in two phases. The first phase involved the issuing of letters of invitation to a representative sample of approximately 100,000 persons aged 16 years or over, asking if they would be willing to join a panel to participate in CSO surveys. Approximately 7,900 persons indicated that they would be willing to participate and provided contact details to the CSO for this purpose. The second phase involved the issuing of emails to these persons with a link to the online questionnaire. Participants were prompted to enter a unique identifier and access key to start the survey (CAWI data collection mode). A very small cohort, who indicated they wished to be contacted by phone only, were invited to take part via phone call (CATI data collection mode).

The achieved sample size for the questions on energy usage in the home was 3,916 respondents.

Reference Period

The survey was launched on 03 October 2024 and closed on 29 November 2024. Most of the questions in the Energy Section of the questionnaire were related to the respondent at the time they completed the survey. Some questions require recall of previous 12 months.

Survey Coverage

The Environment Household Survey data was collected from private households. Institutional households (e.g. nursing homes, barracks, boarding schools, hotels etc.) were not covered by the survey.

Results

To provide national population results, the survey results were weighted to represent the entire population of persons aged 16 years and over. The survey results were weighted to align with population estimates broken down by age group, sex and NUTS2 region. 

Design weights were calculated for all individuals in the initial sample. The design weights are computed as the inverse of the selection probability of the unit. The purpose of design weights is to eliminate bias induced by unequal selection probabilities. 

These design weights were then adjusted for non-response. This eliminated the bias introduced by discrepancies caused by non-response, particularly critical when the non-responding individuals are different from the responding ones in respect to some survey variable. Design weights are adjusted for non-response by dividing the design weights of each responding unit in the final/achieved sample by the (weighted) response probability of the corresponding group or strata. 

To obtain the final weights for respondents, after the previous steps were carried out, the distribution of respondents by NUTS2 region, sex and age was calibrated to the population based on the Labour Force Survey for Quarter 3 2024, using the R package Icarus. These individual weights are then aggregated up to calculate the various response levels for each question.

Some survey questions allow multiple selections as part of the response. For such questions, the summation of percentages across all possible responses may be greater than 100%.

Reliability of Estimates Presented

Estimates where there are fewer than 50 persons in a cell are too small to be considered reliable. These cells are presented with a double period (..) in the tables.

Aggregation

Aggregation of variable levels were occasionally required to ensure counts were sufficiently large to provide reliable estimates. Main fuel or energy source used to heat the home is presented in both its disaggregated and aggregated form in the tables presented in the release and the corresponding PxStat tables. See Table 7.1.

NUTS Regions

The regional classifications used in this release are based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. The composition of the regions at NUTS 2 level is set out in Table 7.2 below. See Information Note for Data Users: revision to the Irish NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 Regions for more information.

Urban or Rural Location

Areas are classified as Urban or Rural based on Census of Population 2022. The six-way urban/rural classification was aggregated to Urban locations (comprising Cities, Satellite urban towns, and Independent urban towns) and Rural locations (comprising Rural areas with high urban influence, Rural areas with moderate urban influence, and highly rural/remote areas). See Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics for more details.

Nature of Occupancy

Homes are classified by Nature of Occupancy based on Census of Population 2022. The five-way nature of occupancy classification was aggregated to Owner-occupied (comprising Own with mortgage or loan, and Own outright), Rented (comprising Rent, and Live here rent free) and other occupancy type nec (comprising Not stated).

Dwelling Type

Homes are classified by Dwelling Type based on Census of Population 2022. The six-way dwelling type classification was aggregated to Detached house (comprising Detached house), Semi-detached house (comprising Semi-detached house), Terraced house (comprising Terraced house), Flat/apartment in a purpose-built block (comprising Flat or apartment in a purpose-built block), and Other dwelling type (comprising Flat/apartment in a converted house or commercial building, and Bed-sit).

Acknowledgement

The Central Statistics Office wishes to thank the respondents for participating in the survey.