Activity and efficiency trends for the residential sector across countries

The residential sector is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for almost a quarter of global energy consumption and a fifth of CO2 emissions in 2019. Since 2000, residential consumption has grown at a sustained rate of 1%/year, driven by the development of emerging economies, despite stagnation in developed countries. To understand these trends, this paper analyses the trajectories of key indicators of activity and efficiency in this sector, for emerging and developed regions, as well as for major consuming nations, mainly China, United States, European Union, Russia, India, Japan and Brazil. Despite data limitations, meaningful cross-country comparisons are presented for fuel mixes, energy services and dwelling types. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for a third of residential consumption and will grow rapidly as increasing wealth in emerging economies allows for satisfying the thermal comfort demand. Economic development will naturally increase housing size and equipment level and reduce household size, and could close the per capita consumption gap between developing and developed regions. In the meantime, politicians should focus on decarbonising the energy mix and promoting energy efficiency, while citizens focus on energy conservation to avoid irreversible environmental damage.

GONZALEZ-TORRES Maria;  PÉREZ-LOMBARD Luis;  CORONEL Juan;  MAESTRE Ismael;  BERTOLDI Paolo; 

2023-02-28

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA

JRC130598

0378-7788 (online),   

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778822005990,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130598,   

10.1016/j.enbuild.2022.112428 (online),