Energy use by income – the disparities

Energy use can be used as a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions.  The more energy used the higher the level of emissions. 

 

"The analysis of data from 2019 highlights “significant inequalities” in energy use across the country. Those in the top 10% of incomes used nearly three times as much energy in a year as people in the bottom 30%. This was particularly true for transport. Car journeys and flights taken by the richest British people – especially “white, wealthy middle-aged men” – used more energy that year than 60% of the population got through in total." [Gabittis, 2022].

  

Analysis

The table sets out energy use in Gigajoules per adult equivalent.  The top and bottom deciles are shown with the average  - based on the mean for the 5th and 6th deciles. For all categories of use, those in the highest income group use more energy than the other groups.  Those in the top income decile use as much energy for flying as the total energy use of those in the bottom income decile.

 

	10	Mid	1
Housing	36.7	29.5	31.9
International Flights	91.5	33.25	20.1
Domestic flights	10.3	1.9	1
Car	57.9	32.1	18.6
Public transport	21.2	10.4	7.8
Other transport	5.5	2.6	1.6
Food alcohol tobacco	9.1	7.25	6.2
Recreation, culture & package holidays	11.6	4.4	2.2
Restaurants & hotels	5.1	2.8	2
Furniture	10.2	5.25	2.5
Health	2.6	1.95	1.3
Education	2.3	0.85	0.8
Clothing & footwear	3	1.45	0.8
Communication	0.8	0.6	0.4
Other	11.3	5.95	3.7
Total	279.1	140.25	100.9
	100.0	50.3	36.2

 

 

 

The table below shows energy use for those in the highest income group and the mid group with those in the bottom decile.  The most affluent use 10.3 times as much energy on domestic flights as those in the lowest decile, 5.3 times on Recreation, culture and package holidays and 4.6 times as much on International flights.

 

	10	Mid
Housing	1.2	0.9
International Flights	4.6	1.7
Domestic flights	10.3	1.9
Car	3.1	1.7
Public transport	2.7	1.3
Other transport	3.4	1.6
Food alcohol tobacco	1.5	1.2
Recreation, culture & package holidays	5.3	2.0
Restaurants & hotels	2.6	1.4
Furniture	4.1	2.1
Health	2.0	1.5
Education	2.9	1.1
Clothing & footwear	3.8	1.8
Communication	2.0	1.5
Other	3.1	1.6
Total	2.8	1.4

 

 

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).

 

Source

Gabittis, J., (14th December 2022), Richest people in UK ‘use more energy flying’ than poorest do overall, Carbon Brief.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/richest-people-in-uk-use-more-energy-flying-than-poorest-do-overall/