Man is using more and more energy – both in total and per person. Higher living standards and greater expectations in terms of comfort and convenience are the main factors increasing the use of energy. Global use of energy has doubled since 1965, with an annual rate of increase of about 1–2 % at present. The following pages present a selection of figures and data on energy use, both world wide and in Sweden.
The world
Fossil fuels dominate world energy sources, making up over 80 % of supply in total. At 33 %, oil is the largest energy source, followed by coal at 26 % and natural gas at 21 %. Renewable energy sources deliver 13 % of energy supply, and nuclear power delivers about 6 %. There are major differences in energy use between regions, both in per capita use and in terms of the type of energy source. These differences depend on factors such as availability of energy in different countries, economic development, infrastructure and climate. Any imbalance between supply and demand for some particular type of energy in one region spreads rapidly to affect the whole world.
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Sweden
Effective use of energy in Sweden in 2007 amounted to 404 TWh, or 624 TWh in total if we also include distribution losses, supplies of bunker oil for maritime traffic and losses in nuclear power production. Industry is using essentially the same amount of energy today as in 1970, while the residential and service section has slightly reduced its use of energy. Energy use in the transport sector, on the other hand, has increased by about 87 % since 1970, and continues to be dominated by oil products. The most important energy carriers for the residential and service sector are electricity and district heating, while energy use in industry is dominated by electricity and biofuels.
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Energy use in the residential and service sector
The residential and service sector – which consists of homes, holiday homes, commercial premises excluding industrial premises, agriculture, the construction sector, street lighting, effluent treatment plants and electricity and waterworks – uses about 35 % of Sweden’s total final energy use, or about 143 TWh. The number of residential buildings in the country is increasing: in 2006, there were almost 4.5 million dwelling units, which is an increase of about 40 % since the 1970s. However, total energy use has remained relatively constant, despite the increase in the number of dwelling units.
58 % of the energy use in the sector is met by renewable energy. The increasing proportion is due to the expansion of district heating, powered by a high proportion of renewable energy. It is primarily apartment buildings that are being converted to district heating, while in the detached house sector it is the use of heat pumps or biofuels that is increasing.
Increasing use of electricity, particularly in commercial premises
Electricity use in the residential and service sector has increased since 1970, with electricity for domestic purposes accounting for the greatest increase in commercial premises, having risen from 8.4 TWh in 1970 to over 30 TWh in 2006. The reason for this increase is to be found in new requirements such as better lighting and comfort cooling.
On average at 62 kWh/m² (excluding heating) electricity use is lowest in schools, as compared with 78 kWh/m² in health care premises and 102 kWh/m² in offices.
Heating, including domestic hot water
81 TWh of energy in 2006 were used for space heating and domestic hot water production, equivalent to 60 % of total energy use. Of this, 42 % (34 TWh) were used in detached houses, 32 % (26 TWh) in apartment buildings, and 26 % (21 TWh) in office buildings, commercial premises and public premises.
A third of detached houses are heated by electricity. Of them, over half are heated by direct electric heating, with the remainder being heated by waterborne electric heating. Mixed heating systems (i.e. in combination with electric heating) are common in detached houses, with about 40 % of them having such systems in 2006. The commonest combination was that of biofuels and electricity, used in over 23 % of detached houses.
The use of heat pumps has increased substantially in recent years, so that one in three detached houses had heat pumps in 2006. On the other hand, only 10 % of detached houses are heated by district heating.
District heating is the commonest form of heating in apartment buildings. In 2006, about 76 % of apartment building floor area was heated by district heating alone. 10 % of the area was heated by combinations with heat pumps. In total, apartment buildings use 22 TWh of district heating, 1.5 TWh of electricity heating, 1.5 TWh of oil, 0.3 TWh of gas and 0.2 TWh of biofuels.
District heating is also the commonest form of heating in office buildings, commercial premises and public premises, having a coverage of 59 %.
High oil prices leading to conversion
The high prices of oil have driven the trend towards reduced use of energy and a change to electricity, district heating and biofuels. (At the same time, the change to electricity and district heating results in an increase in conversion and transmission losses in the country’s entire energy system.) In addition to these changes, actual energy conservation measures such as additional insulation of buildings or replacement of windows have resulted in reduced use of energy.
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