Domestic energy consumption and social living standards : a GIS analysis within the Greater London Authority area

Abstract

People’s everyday needs are expressed in demands for goods and services. These demands are directly related to the production processes and the use of resources, including energy resources. Domestic energy consumption depends on the weather conditions, the energy performance of the building, and fuel prices. The domestic energy consumption and its related CO2 emissions are closely related to the lifestyle and values, changes in technology, residents’ preferences, geographical factors and socio-economic conditions of the residents. Households restrained by socio-economic situation use less energy due to the amount of financial resources which can be allocated for this purpose.
The objective of this thesis was to investigate using Geographic Information System (GIS) whether there is a correlation between CO2 emissions from domestic fuel use and the socio-economic condition of residents. The results of this study showed that economically disadvantaged households tend to have lower CO2 emissions compared to economically viable households. Detached houses have been found the most energy inefficient of the household types, because these houses have a larger wall area and more windows than any other similar sized household type. Also the study shows that the private rented properties have the lowest uptake of energy efficient measures among the different tenure types, because although the owner pays the installation cost they do not benefit from lower energy bills.
The UK’s energy efficiency policies were designed to install energy efficiency measures in isolation from the socio-economic conditions of the households. The spatial analysis carried out in this study makes it possible to combine knowledge of socio-economic condition of the household, tenure and the type of houses to identify geographically the areas which should be prioritized. The methodology developed in this study makes it possible to combine all the necessary elements to benefit the work of the policy makers and energy companies responsible for installing energy efficiency measures and most importantly help to identify the most vulnerable people.
In conclusions the most deprived areas with high energy demand should be prioritised for the installation of the energy efficiency measures. Whereas the least deprived areas with high energy demand can be prioritised for behavioural change campaigns such as switching of lights if not need it, heating just the rooms’ people live in, etc. Additional to the behavioural change campaigns local government could use council tax bands in a combination with an Energy Performance Certificates for each household to create a charge for the council tax based on the amount of energy used. This will encourage reducing the energy use by behaviour change and/or installing energy efficiency measures.

Abstract

Popular science
Domestic energy consumption depends on the weather conditions, how energy efficient a building is and the price of fuel. There is a direct relationship between domestic energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with an increase in energy use resulting in an increase in emissions. Domestic energy consumption and CO2 emissions are closely related to a number of factors including the lifestyle and values, changes in technology and residents’ preferences.
The objective of this thesis was to investigate using Geographic Information System (GIS) whether there is a correlation between CO2 emissions from domestic fuel use and the socio-economic condition of residents. GIS is a computer-based program that supports the analysis of spatial and geographical data.
The results of the GIS analysis carried out for this study show that households in more disadvantaged socio-economic situations use less energy due to the amount of financial resources they have available to spend on energy use.
These economically disadvantaged households have lower CO2 emissions compared to economically advantaged households. However the UK’s energy efficiency policies were designed to install energy efficiency measures in isolation from the socio-economic conditions of the households.
The results also show that the high energy consumption in households with higher incomes is the effect of careless behaviour. In addition the study shows that private rented properties have the lowest uptake of energy efficiency measures among the different tenure types, because although the owner pays the installation cost they do not benefit from lower energy bills.
The GIS analysis performed in this study enables the identification of the locations of households with high/low energy use for different socio-economic situations.
The spatial analysis carried out makes it possible to combine a knowledge of socio-economic condition of the household, tenure and the type of houses. This allows areas to be classified as either areas where energy efficiency measures are required for “fuel poor” households or areas where behaviour change is required to reduce energy usage in economically advantaged households.
The outcomes of this study can also be used to support the energy efficiency schemes introduced in the UK to reduce the CO2 emissions from the domestic sector.

• author: Griffin, Agnieszka
• supervisor: Harry Lankreijer
• organization: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
• course: GISM01 20122
• year: 2014
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• keywords: energy efficiency measures, domestic energy consumption, index of multiple deprivation, CO2 emissions, Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), GIS
• publication/series: LUMA-GIS Thesis
• report number: 28
• language: English
• id: 4438367
• date added to LUP: 2014-06-18 12:36:14
• date last changed: 2014-06-18 12:36:14