Figures: EU electricity consumption

A report issued by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows that energy efficiency measures - such as labelling and minimum energy efficiency standards -together with national policies and incentives are contributing to stabilize electricity consumption in the European Union (EU). For the first time since 1990, final electricity consumption decreased in EU households from 806.5 TWh in 2006 to 800.7 TWh in 2007. Cold appliances (refrigerators and freezers) have contributed to this decrease since the energy efficiency index of cold appliances sales improved continuously between 1993 and 2007, reaching a remarkable 44% energy improvement over 14 years. In 2007, cold appliances were the second largest electricity consumer in EU households (122.0 TWh; 15.3%) representing around 191 million refrigerators and 84 million freezers. Electric heating was the largest consumer (18.8%) while air conditioning was the 12th largest consumer (17.0 TWh; 2.1%). In the tertiary sector, the electricity consumption was almost constant in 2007 (760.4 TWh) in comparison with 2006 (757.3 TWh). Whilst indoor lighting in commercial buildings was in 2007 the largest electricity consumer (21.6%), commercial refrigeration was 4th (65.8 TWh; 8.7%) and air conditioning was 10th (21.6 TWh; 2.8%). http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/downloads/jrc_091130_newsrelease_electricity_en.pdf