Energy consumption fell by 5 percent last year

Final energy consumption fell to 1,066 petajoules (PJ) in 2022, which corresponds to a decrease of 5 percent compared to the previous year. Austrian households in particular proved to be economical, reducing their energy consumption by 15 percent. According to Statistics Austria, energy use in industry has increased slightly. Aside from private households, the decline was primarily reflected in road traffic (-5 percent to 302 PJ) and services (-3 percent to 106 PJ). Household consumption fell to 278 PJ, primarily due to the lower use of heating energy sources, according to the statisticians in a press release on Tuesday. Consumption in industry rose slightly (+1 percent). However, the use of air traffic has increased significantly, with 26 PJ showing an increase of 50 percent compared to 2021.

The lower energy requirement was also noticeable in the various energy sources. The use of hard coal and coke in iron and steel production fell by 4 percent to 56 PJ, and petroleum products were also used less due to the decline in traffic and in private households. For example, the use of extra-light heating oil in households fell by a good 14 percent to 35 PJ. In addition to the reduced demand in private households as a heating energy source (-18 percent to 55 PJ), natural gas was also used to a lesser extent in industry for the generation of process heat (-7 percent to 107 PJ).

Renewable energy consumption also fell

Consumption of renewable energy sources fell by 7 percent to 181 PJ compared to the previous year. The decline can also be seen in the use of firewood (20 percent to 54 PJ) and wood pellets (-17 percent to 18 PJ). In the overall economy, petroleum products accounted for the largest share of final energy consumption in 2022 at 36 percent, followed by electrical energy (22 percent), gas (17 percent) and renewable energy sources (17 percent).

In addition to the lower use, 4 percent less energy was also produced in this country last year. This is particularly evident in the case of the fossil energy sources natural gas and crude oil, whose production fell by 6 percent and 8 percent, respectively, to 22 PJ each. In contrast, high growth rates were recorded in the use of ambient heat through heat pumps (+10 percent to 20 PJ) and electrical energy from photovoltaics (+36 percent to 14 PJ).

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