Why It Matters
Energy (Electricity) Consumption
Summary
We have calculated the amount of electricity consumed in a given area.
Definition
| Datasets | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Postcode Average Electricity Consumption | Quantifies the average electricity consumption in KWh per household in the postcode |
| Borough Average Electricity Consumption | Quantifies the average electricity consumption in KWh per household in the borough |
| London-wide Average Electricity Consumption | Quantifies the average electricity consumption in KWh per household in London |
| Postcode Deviation from London-wide Average Electricity Consumption | Tells you how much your selected postcode’s average electricity consumption deviates from the London average |
| Z-score of Postcode Average Electricity Consumption | Tells you how many standard deviations above the London average your selected postcode’s electricity consumption is |
| Postcode Energy Use Intensity | Tells you the electricity consumption in KWh per square foot in your selected postcode |
| Harmonised Score of Postcodes Energy Use Intensity | A rank score that lets you know your selected postcode’s Energy Use Intensity compared to other postcodes in London. The closer the score is to 100 the higher the Energy Use Intensity of the postcode. |
| Quartile of Postcode Energy Use Intensity | Tells you the quartile your selected postcode’s Energy Use Intensity falls within. |
Why the metric matters from commercial inhabitant’s perspective?
It’s important for a commercial resident to know how much electricity they are likely to consume as of course the more one uses, the more one will have to pay. High electricity consumption could be an indicator of poor insulation in a building, meaning electrical heating has to be used more and for longer than it would in a building that is better at trapping heat. It could also be indicative of inefficient lighting, as well as perhaps meaning there’s a high chance that any cooking facilities are powered by electricity rather than gas. This would all factor into business costs and the commercial unit’s ability to create a comfortable, warm environment for customers in the winter months.
Beyond just cost there’s a strong environmental incentive to consume less electricity, which could factor into the business practices of the company on both a personal level or as a means of attracting customers through demonstrating one’s green credentials.
Why the metric matters from the residential inhabitant’s perspective?
The concerns of a residential inhabitant regarding their consumption of electricity are almost identical to those of a commercial inhabitant. Cost is a huge factor and the higher the consumption the higher the electricity bill.
Again the green incentive to consume less electricity is a strong one, as many become more environmentally conscious and search for ways that they can personally help prevent climate change.
General Commentary
The UK generates its electricity by a number of different means, which allows for a degree of security of supply should one mode fail. The sources of the country’s electricity production as of 2020 consist of:
- Gas (34.5%)
- Wind (24.8%)
- Nuclear (17.2%)
- Imports (8.4%)
- Biomass (6.5%)
- Solar (4.4%)
- Hydro (1.6%)
- Coal (1.6%)
- Storage (0.5%)
Electricity is supplied to homes and businesses via the National Grid, which delivers 50 Hz AC, and 240 volts to consumers, and since 2019 over half of this power has been produced from renewable sources. The country is dedicated to producing all of its energy from clean sources by 2035, a third of which is predicted to come from nuclear power.
Wind power is the biggest source of renewable energy in the UK due to the country possessing some of the world’s best wind resources thus ranking it 5th in the world in 2018, but despite it being an island, hydroelectric power isn’t a major source of energy in the UK. That said, there are a number of experimental projects underway to attempt to harness the country’s abundant tidal resources.
Trivia
The major draw on energy in the UK, and likely elsewhere in the world, is heating and lighting, which accounts for over a quarter of all electricity usage.
History
Ever since Benjamin Franklin’s kite was struck by lightning in 1752, people have been keen to try harnessing electricity to power their lives. Michael Faraday discovered the electric generator by passing a magnet through a copper wire in 1831, Thomas Edison demonstrated the first incandescent electric bulb in 1879 and only a few years later during the 1880s Nikola Tesla and others developed the three phase power system.
It wasn’t long before these rudimentary inventions grew into fully fledged power stations, with Neptune Bank Power Station opening in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1901, becoming the largest integrated power system in Europe by 1912. The Energy Supply Act of 1926 outlined the need to integrate all of the UK’s fragmented supply system and led to the creation of the Central Electricity Board who built a 4,000-mile grid of (mostly) overhead cables, connecting 122 power stations.
Each region was initially supplied by a small number of local stations with more distant stations linked in case of an emergency, but on the 29th October 1937 a team of night-time engineers made the unauthorised decision to try and parallel all regional grids. Luckily their experiment paid off and the National Grid was formed, becoming fully operational by 1938.
Britain’s grid provided 9 million people with electricity in 1938 and its pioneering interconnectedness proved crucial during the Second World War, allowing rural South Wales to power London when the capital’s power stations were damaged in the Blitz. It was nationalised in 1947 and new improved stations built, adopting the dramatic advances in generator technologies throughout the 20th century.
Despite these advances, practically all 20th century power was generated using coal and oil, with nuclear beginning to emerge from the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak of 26% of the nation’s power in 1997. The late 90s also saw the Dash for Gas with the development of technologies able to withdraw cheap and efficient natural gas from the North Sea. Soon gas became the major source of power, reaching its peak in 2002, before declining as renewable energy sources began to improve.