Interviews

Radermacher: In 2004, the proportion of built-on land accounted for by private households was particularly high at 52 percent. The proportion of private households was also relatively high for consumption of energy (27%), water without a coolant (20%), emissions of carbon dioxide (23%), nitrogen oxide (16%), and volatile hydrocarbons (14%). On the other hand, the proportion for other air emissions was much lower. The share of waste produced (domestic waste) was 13 percent.

A full picture of private households’ use of the environment is obtained by also including indirect use of the environment resulting from the deployment of resources for manufacturing consumer goods inside and outside Germany. For example, in terms of energy use, indirect use by private households in 2003 was around 1.5 times greater than direct energy use. For carbon dioxide, indirect emissions by households in 2003 were twice as high as direct emissions. This is mainly due to emissions from power plants, which need to be assigned on a pro rata basis to electricity customers.

Radermacher: Around 70 percent of final energy consumed in private households is used for residential purposes, which equates to around 20 percent of the total energy consumed in Germany. Of this, 76 percent goes for heating alone and 11 percent is deployed to generate hot water. The remaining 13 percent is used for other process heat (mainly cooking), mechanical energy (electrical appliances) and lighting. However, including conversion losses in electricity and district heat generation produces a markedly different picture. The share of the district heating sector then falls to 61 percent while the share of the other sectors – hot water supply, other process heat, mechanical energy, and lighting – rises to a total of 39 percent.

Radermacher: Private household energy consumption for living purposes did not fall in the period 1995 to 2005, despite considerable savings success owing to enhanced appliance and heating technology. The main reason for this was the noticeable increase in the living space used (+13% from 1995 to 2004), which led to increased demand for heating energy, although consumption per square metre fell by 9 percent. The substantially increased number of electrical appliances also caused consumption to rise.

Radermacher: In the cooking, electrical appliances, and lighting application area, growth in consumption from 1995 to 2004 was particularly strong at 17.3 percent. This rise in consumption was due to high growth in the number of electrical appliances in households, which clearly more than cancelled out the significant effects of savings that were achieved through technical improvements in appliances in past years. In particular, private households have experienced strong growth in the provision of personal computers (+ 213% from 1993 to 2003), washer-dryers (+ 106%), dishwashers (+ 103%), microwaves (+ 93%) and video recorders (+ 61%). In contrast, energy consumption for generating ambient heat experienced only moderate growth of 2.8 percent. Energy use for producing hot water even fell slightly by 1.4 percent.

Radermacher: The share of all renewable energies in final energy consumption by private households doubled from 1995 to 2004 from 3.6 to 7.5 percent. In the period 1995 to 2005, the proportion of renewable energies in total electricity consumption rose from 4.7 to 10.2 percent. The share of renewable energy in primary energy consumption increased between 1995 and 2005 from 1.9 to 4.6 percent. Steps to boost heat insulation in buildings and improved heating and condensing technology have also helped make energy use for ambient heat much more efficient and thereby cut energy demand per square metre. In 2002, 4.7 petajoules of energy were used in private households through solar thermal technology and 3.7 petajoules with heat pumps. Both energy sources together thus had a share in 2002 of 0.3 percent of total final energy consumption in private households.

Radermacher: Forecasts are not within the Federal Statistical Office’s remit. However, the latest information on energy consumption for 2004 and 2005 shows that private households have responded to high price increases in heating energy and fuels with savings. Ongoing action to renovate buildings – which is financed with federal public funds – will also result in energy savings in the long term. Other major savings are possible by using more efficient electrical appliances and fuel-saving vehicles.

Walter Radermacher,
Vice-president of the German Federal Statistical Office