Energy use by income – components of the transport sector
- rpwills
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Energy use can be used as a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions. The more energy used the higher the level of emissions. Income deciles run from 1the lowest to 10 the highest.
Summary
Detailed analysis of the data reveals some interesting points. Energy use is clearly linked to income, the higher someone’s income the higher the amount of energy consumed. The average energy use is 155 gigajoules but those in deciles one to six use less than this while those in the top decile use nearly twice as much (1.8T). Those in the top three highest deciles use more energy on transport than all the energy used by those in the bottom three deciles – 110 GJ compared to 107 GJ or less.
As a share of total energy use transport energy use falls according to income.
International flights are the largest component of transport energy use followed by car use.
Flights and cars constitute the largest element of the transport total and for the four highest income deciles account for half or more of total energy use. On average, these two elements contribute to 84.3% of the total transport energy use and 49.7% of all energy use. The data clearly illustrates the dominance of flights and cars in energy use.
Analysis
Table 1 sets out energy use and its proportion of total energy use by income decile. As stated previously energy use is highest amongst higher earners and declines according to income. The same applies to energy used for transport although here it is higher for decile 1 than 2. As a share of total energy use it also falls according to income.
Table 1: Transport use and share | ||
Income | Transport | |
Decile | GJ | % |
10 | 186.4 | 66.8 |
9 | 144.2 | 65.5 |
8 | 119.2 | 62.7 |
7 | 95.8 | 59.6 |
6 | 83.6 | 58.2 |
5 | 76.9 | 56.8 |
4 | 60.6 | 51.9 |
3 | 51.9 | 48.7 |
2 | 48.6 | 47.6 |
1 | 49.1 | 49.1 |
Average | 91.6 | 58.9 |
Table 2 shoes transport energy use by component. International flights are the largest component followed by car use.
Table 2: Transport GJ | ||||||
Income | International Flights | Domestic flights | Car | Public transport | Other transport | Transport total |
Decile | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ |
10 | 91.5 | 10.3 | 57.9 | 21.2 | 5.5 | 186.4 |
9 | 65.1 | 5.4 | 53.8 | 15.8 | 4.1 | 144.2 |
8 | 53.4 | 3.9 | 45.0 | 13.5 | 3.4 | 119.2 |
7 | 41.8 | 3 | 39.8 | 8.4 | 2.8 | 95.8 |
6 | 33.9 | 1.9 | 34.1 | 11 | 2.7 | 83.6 |
5 | 32.6 | 1.9 | 30.1 | 9.8 | 2.5 | 76.9 |
4 | 23.5 | 1.5 | 23.9 | 9.4 | 2.3 | 60.6 |
3 | 19.5 | 1.3 | 19.8 | 9.4 | 1.9 | 51.9 |
2 | 18.9 | 1.2 | 18.1 | 8.6 | 1.8 | 48.6 |
1 | 20.1 | 1.0 | 18.6 | 7.8 | 1.6 | 49.1 |
Average | 40.0 | 3.1 | 34.1 | 11.5 | 2.9 | 91.6 |
As table 3 indicates, flights and cars constitute the largest element of the transport total and for the four highest income deciles account for half or more of total energy use. On average, these two elements contribute to 84.3% of the total transport energy use and 49.7% of all energy use. The data clearly illustrates the dominance of flights and cars in energy use.
Table 3: Flights and cars | ||||||
Income | International Flights | Domestic flights | Car | Flights & cars | Flights & cars | Total share |
Decile | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | % | % |
10 | 91.5 | 10.3 | 57.9 | 159.7 | 85.7 | 57.2 |
9 | 65.1 | 5.4 | 53.8 | 124.3 | 86.2 | 56.5 |
8 | 53.4 | 3.9 | 45 | 102.3 | 85.8 | 53.8 |
7 | 41.8 | 3 | 39.8 | 84.6 | 88.3 | 52.6 |
6 | 33.9 | 1.9 | 34.1 | 69.9 | 83.6 | 48.6 |
5 | 32.6 | 1.9 | 30.1 | 64.6 | 84.0 | 47.7 |
4 | 23.5 | 1.5 | 23.9 | 48.9 | 80.7 | 41.9 |
3 | 19.5 | 1.3 | 19.8 | 40.6 | 78.2 | 38.1 |
2 | 18.9 | 1.2 | 18.1 | 38.2 | 78.6 | 37.5 |
1 | 20.1 | 1 | 18.6 | 39.7 | 80.9 | 39.7 |
Average | 40.0 | 3.1 | 34.1 | 77.3 | 84.3 | 49.7 |
Notes
Energy footprints of British households in 2019 by income grouping, where 1 is the lowest income 10% of the population and 10 is the highest income 10%. Footprints are measured in gigajoules (GJ) per “adult equivalent”, which is based on dividing the energy use of a household by the number of people, accounting for the fact that children contribute less. Chart made by Tom Prater for Carbon Brief using Highcharts. Source: Baltruszewicz et al. (2022).
Data from the original source has been reworked to create the additional data analysis.
Source
Gabittis, J., (14th December 2022), Richest people in UK ‘use more energy flying’ than poorest do overall, Carbon Brief.