Energy use by income – detailed disparities
- rpwills
- Jun 17
- 4 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 1-the lowest to 10 -the highest.
Summary
Detailed analysis of the data reveals some interesting points. Table 1 sets out energy use by the main components for each income decile. 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 (1.8). Energy use by those in the top three highest deciles use more energy on transport than the total energy used by those in the bottom three deciles – 110 GJ compared to 107 GJ or less.
Data and analysis
Table 1 sets out energy use by the main components for each income decile. 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 (1.8). Energy use by those in the top three highest deciles (8, 9, 10), use more energy on transport than the total energy used by those in the bottom three deciles (1,2,3), – 110 GJ compared to 107 GJ or less.
Table 1: Energy use by main component | ||||||||
Income | Housing | Transport | Food alcohol tobacco | Recreation & restaurants | Domestic | Health & Education | Other | Total |
Decile | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ |
10 | 36.7 | 186.4 | 9.1 | 16.7 | 14.0 | 4.9 | 11.3 | 279 |
9 | 30.9 | 144.2 | 8.4 | 11.4 | 12.1 | 3.6 | 9.5 | 220 |
8 | 31.4 | 119.2 | 8 | 9.8 | 10.4 | 3.2 | 8 | 190 |
7 | 30.8 | 95.8 | 7.5 | 8.4 | 8.8 | 2.8 | 6.6 | 161 |
6 | 29.0 | 83.6 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.5 | 2.3 | 6.2 | 144 |
5 | 30.0 | 76.9 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 2 | 5.7 | 136 |
4 | 30.8 | 60.6 | 6.8 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 1.9 | 4.7 | 117 |
3 | 31.1 | 51.9 | 6.6 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 1.7 | 4.8 | 107 |
2 | 32.0 | 48.6 | 6.3 | 5 | 4.6 | 1.5 | 4.0 | 102 |
1 | 31.9 | 49.1 | 6.2 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 100 |
Average | 31.5 | 91.6 | 7.3 | 8.1 | 7.95 | 2.52 | 6.5 | 155 |
Looking at the share of each component by decile illustrates the disparities. With housing, for top decile earners (10, it contributes 13.1% of total energy use but 31.9% for those in the lowest decile (1). Transport constitutes 66.8% of the decile 10 energy use but 49.1% for those in decile 1. Food, alcohol and tobacco make up 6.2% of energy use of those in decile 1 compared to 3.3% for those in decile 10. Recreation & restaurants accounted for 6% for those in decile 10 but was lower at 4.2% for those in decile 1. There were fewer differences in share for Domestic, Health & Education and Other.
Table 2: Energy use by main component - % share for each decile | ||||||||
Income | Housing | Transport | Food alcohol tobacco | Recreation & restaurants | Domestic | Health & Education | Other | Total |
Decile | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
10 | 13.1 | 66.8 | 3.3 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 100.0 |
9 | 14.0 | 65.5 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 1.6 | 4.3 | 100.0 |
8 | 16.5 | 62.7 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 4.2 | 100.0 |
7 | 19.2 | 59.6 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 100.0 |
6 | 20.2 | 58.2 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 4.3 | 100.0 |
5 | 22.1 | 56.8 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 5.2 | 1.5 | 4.2 | 100.0 |
4 | 26.4 | 51.9 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 100.0 |
3 | 29.2 | 48.7 | 6.2 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 4.5 | 100.0 |
2 | 31.4 | 47.6 | 6.2 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 100.0 |
1 | 31.9 | 49.1 | 6.2 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 100.0 |
Average | 20.2 | 58.9 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 1.6 | 4.1 | 100.0 |
If we look at the top three deciles – 8, 9 and 10 we find some interesting figures, which show the disproportionate share of resources used by the top earners. Overall, 44.3% of energy is consumed by this group. But they account for 49.1% of transport energy, 46.7% of Recreation etc, 46.4% of Health & Education and 45.9% of Domestic energy uses.
Table 3: Energy use - % share for each component by decile | ||||||||
Income | Housing | Transport | Food alcohol tobacco | Recreation & restaurants | Domestic | Health & Education | Other | Total |
Decile | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ | GJ |
10 | 11.7 | 20.3 | 12.4 | 20.6 | 17.6 | 19.4 | 17.5 | 18.0 |
9 | 9.8 | 15.7 | 11.4 | 14.1 | 15.2 | 14.3 | 14.7 | 14.2 |
8 | 10.0 | 13.0 | 10.9 | 12.1 | 13.1 | 12.7 | 12.4 | 12.2 |
7 | 9.8 | 10.5 | 10.2 | 10.4 | 11.1 | 11.1 | 10.2 | 10.3 |
6 | 9.2 | 9.1 | 10.2 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.1 | 9.6 | 9.2 |
5 | 9.5 | 8.4 | 9.5 | 8.4 | 8.9 | 7.9 | 8.8 | 8.7 |
4 | 9.8 | 6.6 | 9.3 | 7.2 | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.3 | 7.5 |
3 | 9.9 | 5.7 | 9.0 | 6.7 | 6.4 | 6.7 | 7.4 | 6.9 |
2 | 10.2 | 5.3 | 8.6 | 6.2 | 5.8 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 6.6 |
1 | 10.1 | 5.4 | 8.4 | 5.2 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.7 | 6.4 |
Average | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
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.
Domestic includes Furniture, clothing and communications.
Source
Gabittis, J., (14th December 2022), Richest people in UK ‘use more energy flying’ than poorest do overall, Carbon Brief.
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