Energy Statistics

Energy statistics and consumption data are of paramount importance. Energy consumption statistics and indicators allow for monitoring and analysis of energy consumption trends.

Energy Statistics

Statistics, data, analysis on resources, supply, and production of energy sources are usually available from national energy administrations, as well as from international bodies (please see links below). Ideally statistical data covers origins, uses and supply of all sources and carriers of energy, as well as transfers and transformations. When it comes to energy consumption statistics – consumption of energy by end-use sector and especially by end-use application – data can be patchy, hard to obtain and compare among others due to different definitions and coverage of end-use sectors across countries.

At the level of the entire economy, the key indicator to follow is the efficiency of energy use, otherwise known as energy intensity. It shows the amount of energy necessary to produce one unit of gross domestic product (GDP). Any change in energy intensity is due to the combined effect of a few factors, most importantly efficiency improvements, structural changes, increase in energy substitutions, and changing living standards.

Energy intensity belongs to the so-called top-down indicators, which allow the calculation of the amount of energy saved calculated using aggregated sectoral levels of energy consumption and savings as the starting point and adjusting for a number of extraneous factors such as degree days, structural changes, product mix, purchasing power parity, etc.

Other top-down indicators include energy used per square meter of housing space or energy per person-kilometre. In contrast a bottom-up system of measurement, attributes energy savings to concrete policies and measures delivering energy savings, i.e. to concrete projects and activities.

The links below provide statistics, data, and analysis on national energy sources: