Energy Consumption of Households

District heat was able to increase its share from 6.9% (2003/2004) to 9.9% (2009/2010) continuously while natural gas and electricity kept their shares.

In opposition to that, fuel oil lost significant market shares since 2003/2004. Its share declined from 24.9% to 20.3% (2007/2008) and at least to 19.0% in 2009/2010. With shares clearly below 2% coal played a minor role during the last 10 years.

Taking into consideration the fuels used for space heating exclusively one can see a strong shift from oil between 2003 and 2010 – its share declined by 7.0% from 31.9% to 24.9% - to district heating and biofuels. District heat increased by 4.3% from 7.3% to 11.6% and the biofuels grew by 2.9% from 20.0% to 30.9%. The share of renewable heat (ambient and solar heat) showed an increase from 1.1% to 2.7% while natural gas (some 24%) and electricity (some 4.5%) remained rather constant during this period.

Gas journal 2006

A study on domestic natural gas consumption conducted in 2006 showed annual consumption results as follow: space heating 12.80 m³ (= 128.34181 kWh) by square meter, water heating 127 m³ (= 1 274.24193 kWh) and cooking 11 m³ (= 108.67838 kWh) by person und year.

Electricity- and gas journal 2008 – Electricity and gas consumption as well as energy efficiency of Austrian households

The “Electricity- and gas journal 2008“ describes a widespread collection of data on the electricity- and gas consumption in Austria. On the basis of household interviews, the inventory of electrical appliances and its use was levied. Furthermore the households measured their specific electricity consumption of relevant appliances in use. Households connected to the natural gas grid also reported data concerning the consumption of natural gas for cooking, water heating and space heating. With this data the specific power consumption of “categories of consumption” such as space heating, water heating, lighting or large domestic appliances and entertainment electronics was calculated.

The report of the “Electricity- and gas journal 2008“ includes the evaluation of the equipment of electrical appliances and the electricity- and gas consumption based on the categories of consumption. Additional information on age, size and energy efficiency category of the existing appliances was analysed and incorporated into the calculation of the specific power consumption.

Washing machines are notably younger compared with fridges or stoves. Some 35%of the washing machines are younger than 5 years, in contrast to 25% of the fridges or stoves. Tumble dryers are clearly the youngest category of appliances - barely half of them are younger than 5 years. Despite the fact that only 14% of households are equipped with tumble dryers, a high growth potential is to be expected. 8.6% of electricity is spent on lighting. Light bulbs still dominate - they represent 51% of the existing lamps in households, currently just 7% are energy saving lamps. Due to replacing the light bulbs with more energy efficient lamps, potential savings can be expected.

Based on readings of the electricity meters, for an average household in 2008 an overall power consumption of 4 417 kWh was calculated. Substantial “categories of consumption” are electricity use for space heating (20.5%) and water heating (17.1%). Large domestic appliances as well as fridges and freezers together spend 30% of the power consumption. The “stand-by-consumption” amounts to 4.2% of the power consumption of the households.

During the winter period the electricity consumption averages 14.4 kWh per day. Therefore it is about 50% higher than during the summer period with 9.7 kWh. In winter, distinctly more electricity is spent on heating, circulating pumps, lighting and drying laundry.

Modelling of electricity consumption in private households in Austria according to type of usage

Within this project a method for linking data records relating to electricity consumption in private households from different surveys (Household Energy Consumption 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010 surveys with the Electricity and Gas Journal 2008) by means of statistical matching was developed.

In addition to information about the heating system, overall electricity consumption, electricity consumption for space heating, water heating and cooking, the model also included socio-economic criteria (number of individuals in the household and legal relationship to the dwelling), property-related criteria (age of property, living area, number of dwellings in the property) and regional criteria (urban versus rural regions).

The data records were linked for the period 2003 to 2010 and a forecast was made for 2011. Time series were generated from this data for the specific uses of power in private households.