Household Environmental Behaviours - Energy Use 2024

Main fuel or energy source used to heat homes

A key focus of the survey was to identify what was the main fuel or energy source people used to heat their home. In summary, natural gas was identified as the main fuel or energy source for heating for 33% of people. Kerosene was the main fuel or energy source for heating for 26% of people, electricity for 8%, heat pumps for 7% and a further 7% used diesel/gas oil as their main fuel or energy source for heating (See Figure 2.1).

Demographic and Geographical Variations

There were notable differences in main fuel or energy source used for heating the home depending on the location of the respondent. For example, 48% of urban dwellers used natural gas as their main fuel or energy source for heating with 18% using kerosene, 17% using electricity or heat pumps, 5% using diesel/gas oil and 3% using wood logs or wood pellets/wood chips. In contrast, for rural dwellers, 41% of people used kerosene, 13% used electricity or heat pumps, 11% used diesel/gas oil, 9% used peat, 9% used wood logs or wood pellets/wood chips and 5% used natural gas (See Table 2.1, Table 2.2 and Figure 2.2).  Aggregating across solid fuels, 21% of those in rural dwellings relied on solid fuel as their main fuel or energy source for heating compared with 7% of urban dwellers (See Table 2.2). 

Natural gas was the main fuel or energy source for heating for over half of people in the Eastern and Midland Region with 25% reporting the same in the Southern Region.  The number of respondents in the Northern and Western Region using natural gas was too low to provide a reliable estimate.  In contrast, kerosene was the main fuel or energy source for heating for 43% of people in the Northern and Western Region, compared with 31% in the Southern Region and 14% in the Eastern and Midland Region.

Dwelling Type

Natural gas was more commonly reported as the main fuel or energy source used for heating in terraced houses, at 54%, and semi-detached houses, at 47%, than detached houses, at 15% (See Table 2.1 and Figure 2.3).  Kerosene, diesel/gas oil or liquid petroleum gas were the main fuel or energy source used for heating for half of those living in detached houses compared with 30% in semi-detached houses and around 20% of those in terraced houses (See Table 2.2). For over 40% of those living in flats or apartments, electricity was the main fuel or energy source used for heating.  The usage of electricity as the main fuel or energy source for heating was much lower for other dwelling types.

Supplementary Heating

Respondents were surveyed on whether they used any additional heating to heat their home. In total, around seven in ten people reported having some form of supplementary heating. This figure was higher for rural dwellers, at around 85%, than urban dwellers, at around 60%. 

In terms of types of additional heating, stoves were reported by 32% of people as an additional heat source, open fires by 21%, and plug-in electric heaters by 16% with 29% of people reporting having no additional heat source (See Table 2.3). Half of all people reported having either an open fire or a stove as an additional heat source (some people report having both).  This figure differed between rural and urban locations with 70% of rural dwellers reporting having an open fire or a stove as an additional heat source compared with 39% of urban dwellers.  Stoves were much more common in rural areas with 52% of rural dwellers reporting having a stove as an additional heat source compared with 21% of urban dwellers (See Figure 2.4).

People were also surveyed about the fuels used in these additional heat sources. For open fires, the survey found that 69% of people with open fires as an additional heating source used wood as a fuel, 62% used coal, and 32% used peat. Peat usage in open fires varied regionally with 48% of those relying on open fires as an additional heat source in the Northern and Western Region using peat as a fuel compared with 19% in the Southern Region and 32% in the Eastern and Midland Region. Nationally, this equates to just under 7% of all people using peat on open fires as a source of additional heating (See Table 2.4). The breakdown regionally for wood, coal and peat use in open fires as an additional heat source is presented in Figure 2.5. 

Wood was the most popular fuel among those using stoves as an additional heat source with most of these people using wood logs and much fewer numbers using wood pellets. Peat was used more by those residing in the Northern and Western Region with 43% of those relying on a stove as an additional heat source using peat as a fuel.  In comparison, this figure stood at 11% for the Southern Region and 20% for the Eastern and Midland Region.  This equates to 17% of people in the Northern and Western Region using peat in a stove as an additional heat source compared with around 4% in each of the Southern, and Eastern and Midland Regions (See Table 2.5). 

Portable room heaters were reported as being used by 7% of people as an additional heat source.  Fewer people, at 5%, reported using decorative effect fires as an additional heat source.  Overall, 8% of people reported using electric portable room heaters or electric decorative effect fires as an additional heat source (See Table 2.6).