Heating consumption per m² and per dwelling
- Heating consumption per m2 and per dwelling (with climatic corrections) has decreased since 2000 in EU MS thanks to the implementation of stricter building codes, combined with financial incentives to promote the thermal retrofitting of existing dwellings and the adoption of more efficient heating systems (e.g. gas condensing boilers, heat pumps, pellet boilers). The reduction in heating consumption per m2 was 1.4%/year on average in the EU between 2000 and 2022. It was above 2%/year in 6 EU MS (The Netherlands, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia).
- The reduction in heating consumption per m2 has slowed down significantly since 2014 at EU level (-0.6%/year) and in 10 MS, including some of the largest EU countries (Germany and France). This trend can be attributed to several factors, including a decrease in new construction projects that typically exhibit high energy efficiency performance: construction rate has decreased by 32% since the financial crisis and represents only 0.9% of the existing housing stock each year (i.e. only 9% of the new stock after 10 years). The spread of efficient heating systems (condensing boilers, heat pumps) has also slowed down, and the number of renovation projects is also comparatively lower, although it is difficult to gather consolidated data on this matter.
- Since 2019, there has been a very rapid decline in the heating consumption per m2 in 7 countries (by more than 5%/year in Bulgaria, Denmark, Latvia and Poland; and between 3 and 4%/year in Ireland, Lithuania and The Netherlands). This is probably explained by the very steep price increases. At EU level, there has been an acceleration compared to the period before. For the other countries, the situation is quite diverse.
- Significant differences between countries from less than 5 koe/m2 in countries with warmer climate, such as Bulgaria, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal and Malta to around 15 koe/m2 in Czechia, Estonia and Romania, due to less efficient homes and space heating technologies and a large use of biomass.
Heating consumption per m²
Note: Heating consumption includes ambient heat consumption.
Heating consumption per dwelling
Note: Heating consumption includes ambient heat consumption.
- Until 2014, the energy consumption per dwelling has generally decreased less than the energy consumption per m2 because of an increase in the average size of dwellings (-1.4%/year over 2000-2014 at EU level for the consumption per dwelling vs -1.9%/year for the consumption per m2, which means that the dwelling size has increased by 0.5%/year). This means that, until 2014, around 30% of the progress in energy efficiency for heating at EU level has been offset by the increase in dwelling size. This has been particularly important in the less developed Member States (e.g. Romania, Lithuania). This size effect has become negligible since 2014 at EU level and in the most developed MS as the average size of dwellings has remained almost stable. It is still significant in Eastern European countries, which had smaller dwellings.
Variation of consumption per m² VS per dwelling: effect of change in dwelling size (2000-2014)
Note: Energy consumption at normal climate.
- Specific consumption of space heating increases as the central heating rate rises. However there are large differences between countries for high central heating rates: Sweden and Finland have the best performance among the EU countries well equipped with central heating, their specific consumptions for space heating are twice lower than that of Luxembourg.
Space heating consumption of households per m² at european average climate (2022)
Note : Space heating energy consumption includes ambient heat consumption.
