Recent Trends in Residential Energy Use in OECD Countries and their Impact on Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Comparative Analysis of the Period 1973–1992

In the late 1970s and for most of the 1980s, residential energy use in the OECD underwent significant changes. Many of these changes were a result of more efficient energy use in response to higher energy prices, energy efficiency programs, and the appearance of new technologies for saving energy. This study analyzes these changes and the impact of energy use on carbon emissions in the residential sector for nine OECD countries for the period from 1973 to 1992. The major findings of this analysis are: (i) CO2 emissions per capita were lower in 1992 in almost all of the countries we studied; (ii) The two primary changes were improvements in energy efficiency and a decrease in the share of fossil fuels used for electricity and district heating production; (iii) The main source of growth in emissions from residential energy use was increased ownership of electric appliances, where, in spite of important improvements in energy efficiency, ownership grew so rapidly that electricity use (and subsequent emissions) increased; (iv) Changes in fuel mix, including both the changes in the share of fuels used in households and the share of fuels used to generate electricity and district heating, led to a decrease in emissions in the nine countries; (v) Increasing the efficiency of electric appliances and further reductions in the intensity of space heating are probably the key elements in a strategy to improve efficiency as a means to lowering CO2 emissions.