ENEA SURVEY ON THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF ITALIAN HOUSEHOLDS Final Report - November 2011 -
INDEX Page 1. Introduction 2 2. Objectives 3 3. Activity 4 4. Questionnaire 4 5. Sample and data collection 6 6. Results 8 6.1 Households characteristics 8 6.2 Space Heating 9 6.3 Hot water 15 6.4 Air-conditioning 17 6.5 Appliances 19 6.6 Lighting 25 7. Conclusions 26
1. INTRODUCTION The European Commission, under the SECH project (Development of Detailed Consumption in Households) has promoted, among member countries and under the guidance of Eurostat, a series of surveys aimed at monitoring energy consumption in the residential sector. ENEA, on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Development, has been charged to run an investigation on energy end-use of Italian families. The investigation covers the objectives outlined by the technical specifications of the above mentioned project. The investigation led to the development of a questionnaire covering various areas of final energy use (space heating, air conditioning, hot water, lighting, appliances and heating systems, information on households and housing) and devoting special attention to the behaviors of these families in order to provide an accurate description of the key factors that determine their energy consumption behavior. For this project, ENEA has entrusted to FIRE (Italian Federation for Rational Energy Use) the task of preparing a survey aimed at obtaining the objectives of the SECH project. The work showed in this report is a test aimed at validating the efficacy and usability of the questionnaire. At the same time, little attention has been devoted to sample selection criteria and sizing. Although some results of this survey can be considered as reliable since they confirms previous results from the literature, ENEA, together with the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), has been charged to prepare a wider investigation on energy consumption in households with a different operati ng range and a more accurate sample selection. The present document describes in detail the methodology used and the technical-statistical findings of the above mentioned survey. 2
2. Objectives The purpose of this investigation was to carry out a survey on final energy use of Italian families. The information to be collected, contained in a questionnaire prepared by ENEA, were organized following the path indicated in Annex 1 (Technical specifications of the action). The overall data collected refers to the year 2011. More specifically, the study aimed to get information on the following aspects, the relevant ones according to the aforementioned Eurostat Recommended Coverage (contained in Annex 1): dwellings characteristics; households characteristics; fuel consumption (detailed by type); space heating; hot water; cooking; air-conditioning; appliances penetration of energy efficiency technologies; analysis of service demand for heating / cooling housing; penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES).
3. Activity FIRE (Federazione Italiana per l uso Razionale dell Energia) has been asked by ENEA to prepare a questionnaire to be submitted to business operators, energy managers and ENEA employees, to carry on a sample survey on a small set of users. The first step was to study some of the analysis already carried out by research institutes and universities. The review of the literature highlighted the disparity between the amount of data available for electric equipments and the scarce coverage of the thermal part. 4. Questionnaire The questionnaire, has been prepared in close cooperation by ENEA and FIRE taking into consideration the coverage required by Eurostat; it devotes many questions to the adjustment mode of heating systems. Once approved by ENEA, the questionnaire was managed and distributed by FIRE in electronic form. The questions are of three types: dichotomous (yes / no), that allow just one answer out of two or more options; multiple choice questions, that allow one or more responses among the options presented; open questions, that leave the possibility of incorporating open answers, mostly numerical. The questionnaire was divided into 5 main sections, plus an anonymous initial register, aimed at gathering information regarding the number of inhabitants, the housing surface, and the region. The sections are: 1. Households characteristic (incorporating some dwellings data); 2. Space heating: a description of the system and methods of temperature control; 3. Hot water: description of the installation; 4. Air conditioning: description of the installation and adjustment of the cooling mode; 5. Lighting: lamps type and operating hours / days; 6. Appliances: description of the home appliances and their main uses. In the next page follows the survey's tree, a representation of the questionnaire flow diagram (Figure 1). 4
Figure 1 Questionnaire path Personal Data Heating What type of heating system? Autonomous: management and regulation Centralized: management and regulation Hot water Air conditioning Appliances End The figure above shows that section 2 (heating) of the questionnaire is set in the following way: the compiler indicates the type of heating system in operation at his home (centralized or decentralized/independent) and, according to his/her response, one of two different sets of questions is selected. The two subsets of questions take into account the different technical characteristics of the two heating systems and behavioral differences in their use.
Due to the lack of available time, the questionnaire's readability has been tested on a limited sample of "non technical compilers" in order to check and correct press errors and to verify the clarity of the questions. This step does not necessarily ensure the perfect readability for a general audience. Some questionnaires were reviewed and interpreted by the interviewer to avoid misunderstandings regarding the use of some types of heating systems. In the heat sector, in fact, the definition of certain types of equipment and systems is not unique: there is an overlap of technical definitions, slang names, ancient names for technologies no longer in use that are improperly used to define completely new technologies. During the consistency check of responses, FIRE proceeded to correct some answers. 5 Sample and data collection Due to lack of time, it was not possible to proceed to the selection of a statistically representative sample of Italian households, in terms of: climatic zones, classes of income, numerical size of families, distribution between large cities, small cities and towns. The time and resources constraints have forced FIRE to send the questionnaire to groups of people potentially interested to respond. The sample includes: 1) ENEA employees, a population of about 3,500 people; 2) FIRE members and Energy Managers appointed in 2010, a population of about 3,000 people; 3) Employees of the Banca Intesa-San Paolo group: about 60,000 people. The questionnaires have been sent by e-mail. Employees of ENEA have been invited to fill in the questionnaire by means of an article that appeared in two editions of the internal newsletter. Later, the employees have received an additional call by the directors of each research center. FIRE members and energy managers have been contacted by email. In addition, a solicitation, issued on FIRE newsletter, renewed the invitation to participate to the survey. FIRE newsletter is also published on the website and is freely downloadable from anyone interested. The survey was opened on 28/03/2011 and remained active until 31/05/2011.. Employees of Intesa San Paolo have been involved by the internal energy manager who is a member of FIRE. The questionnaire has been sent through the internal newsletters and reached a remarkable group of people. The Corporate Social Responsibility unit of the bank supported FIRE in providing information on questionnaire compilation. They also asked to a small sub-sample of employees a feedback on the readability of the questionnaire. Employees have sometimes found not clear the terminology used in the questionnaire, confirming that it would have been more appropriate a face to face interview with the presence of a trained interviewer, thus offering the possibility of deepening issues of a technical nature. The total number of collected questionnaires amounted to 3,911, of which 661 only partially completed. This information was kept into account in calculating total final data. It is estimated that about 700 questionnaires are originated by ENEA, about 800 by FIRE and about 2400 by the Bank Intesa. 6
Numerical responses were controlled in order to delete outlier (for example, the housing surface had, in some answers, too many zeros so, for housing surfaces have been accepted values not exceeding 300 m 2 ). A similar process has been performed for questions regarding the number of inhabitants per dwelling and in general for any question that included an open numerical answer.
6. RESULTS It is worth nothing that the number of respondents varies for each question and percentages are calculated for the total respondents to the question itself. For each figure or table, the sample dimension is shown in a footnote. 6.1 Households characteristics The composition of the sample of households interviewed is shown in fig. 2: Figure 2 - Geographical composition of households in sample 1 12,12% Northern Italy 30,62% 57,26% Central Italy Southern Italy The figure shows a bias due to the higher number of respondents in Northern Italy. However, the sample dimension of respondents coming from Central and Southern Italy is sufficiently wide. The sample breakdown by dwellings characteristics is shown in fig. 3: Figure 3 - Type of dwelling in sample 2 0,24% 1,66% 13,79% Single family house Multi-family single house 9,27% Terraced house 54,61% 8,26% 12,18% Building with 2-4 apartments Building with more than 5 apartments Mobile home or precarious (caravans, campers, etc.) Other The figure highlights the predominance of multi-apartment buildings (in accordance with national data on the structural situation of the residential building stock). The houses are almost entirely owned by 1 3772 households. 2 3743 households. 8
households (98.75%) 3 and host an average of 3.1 occupants (in accordance with national statistics on building stock ownership) 4. Additional data collected: the average size of the houses surveyed is 126.4 square meters; the most frequent year of construction is 1950-1960. 6.2 Space Heating Regarding the type of system, the results reported show a clear predominance of autonomous systems on centralized systems. Figure 4 - Heating systems in sample 5 1,19% 24,71% Autonomous Centralized None 74,10% The two types of system have been analyzed separately, in the following sections. 6.2.1 Centralized heating systems The main features of such a system are summarized below. Figure 5 - Centralized heating system by type in sample 6 4,92% 6,38% Centralized to the individual building Centralized to more than one building Connected to a district heating network 88,70% 3 3720 households. 4 Ardi C., Perrella G. (2000), Dati ed analisi energetica del settore residenziale in Italia (1970/1998), ENEA. 5 3622 households. 6 894 households.
Centralized systems serve mainly a single building; it is interesting to note, however, the relevant presence of systems connected to district heating networks in the sample analyzed. Figure 6 - Centralized heating system by technology in sample 7 8,38% 0,45% Fixed heating 32,85% 58,32% Fixed heating with convector Surfaces (walls, floors, ceilings) radians Information not available Among the owners of houses with a centralized heating systems, it has also been identified the type (if any) of the auxiliary heating systems. Responses highlight a predominance of wood-fired boilers and heat pumps. Nonetheless, in the vast majority of the cases, auxiliary systems are not used. Figure 7 - Autonomous auxiliary heating systems by type in sample 8 5,19% 8,84% 2,36% 3,66% No auxiliary system Heat pump air conditioner Wood-fired boiler with manual loading Electric Heaters 79,95% Other Concerning the age of the systems and the type of fuel used, the survey has outlined the following situation: Figure 8 - Centralized heating system by age in sample 9 11,90% 6,06% 10,21% <2 years From 2 to 4 years From 5 to 9 years 32,32% 13,36% From 10 to 19 years > 20 years 14,25% Same age of the dwelling Information not available 11,90% 7 895 households. 8 848 households. 9 891 households. 10
Figure 9 - Centralized heating system by fuels in sample 10 0,88% 0,11% 10,83% 0,33% 16,80% 1,33% 2,32% 11,71% 13,92% 41,77% Methane / natural gas (direct use) without condensation Methane / natural gas (direct use) with condensation Methane / natural gas (heat pump) LPG Wood and other biomass Gas oil Electricity (direct use) Electricity (Heat pumps) Coal Other Methane (68%) electricity and diesel (17%) are largely predominant. At the same time, it is worth noticing the diffusion of condensing plants. Particular attention was paid to the behavioral aspects in the use of heating systems. In a sample of 891 respondents, 70% say that they know how to adjust the temperature and the duration of heating operation. Figure 10 - Centralized heating system by temperature control in sample 11 38,66% 12,78% 21,62% 26,94% Thermostatic valves Opening windows in hot weather No control the temperature other The satisfaction on the efficacy of the control systems is shown in the following figure. Figure 11 - Satisfaction about the temperature provided by centralized heating system in sample 12 8,44% 2,74% 5,92% Low Good 27,41% 55,48% High Too high Other 10 905 households. 11 939 households. 12 912 households.
6.2.2 Systems of autonomous heating The sample is characterized by a clear prevalence of fixed installations and by a relevant presence of systems based on radiant surfaces. Figure 12 - Independent heating system by type in sample 13 4,63% 5,57% 5,57% Fixed heating Fixed heating with convector 84,23% Surfaces (walls, floors, ceilings) radiative Another type of system Figure 13 - Independent heating system by technology in sample 14 12,50% 10,58% Heat pump air conditioner 22,60% Traditional wood-burning fireplace Fireplace without connection to the heaters 12,98% 15,38% Traditional wood-burning stoves Mechanical loading pellet stoves and other biomass 19,71% 6,25% Electric heaters Other Heat pumps cover almost one quarter of the auxiliary systems associated with autonomous systems. The role of systems based on the use of firewood and other biomass (approximately 54%) is important. The survey shows a large use of thermostats (circa 70% of the sample) for heating control: the rest is almost entirely explained by a manual adjustment of the temperature. 13 2854 households. 14 208 households. 12
Figure 14 - Independent heating system by temperature control in sample 15 7,34% 6,63% 0,35% on and off manually 18,66% with a room thermostat temperature level to 1 4,08% with a c-thermostat with 1 temperature level with a c-thermostat with 2 temperature level climate control with external probe 20,03% thermostatic valves 32,34% different thermostats for each room 10,56% Information not available Figure 15 - Independent heating system by fuel in sample 16 1,85% 9,18% 1,04% 2,72% 0,00% 1,88% methane / natural gas (direct use) without condensation methane / natural gas (direct use) with condensation methane / natural gas (heat pump) 4,91% LPG Wood and other biomass 2,86% Gas oil Electricity (direct use) 23,84% 51,71% Electricity (Heat pumps) Coal Other Almost 80% of autonomous heating systems are fuelled by natural gas. The role of biomasses and LPG is relevant as well. Biomasses, in particular, account for 10% of energy consumption in autonomous heating systems. The data are in accordance with previous surveys on biomass use in households and show a likely underestimation of biomass consumption in official statistics. The major part of the sample of autonomous systems has an average age of less than 20 years, in accordance with the expectations. 15 3135 households. 16 2974 households.
Figure 16 - Independent heating system by age in sample 17 14,04% 1,49% 9,15% <2 years 6,31% 15,35% From 2 to 4 years From 5 to 9 years From 10 to 19 years > 20 years 28,38% 25,28% Same age of the dwelling Information not available 17 2678 households. 14
6.3 Hot Water Concerning the mode of hot water production system, the sample gives the following results: Figure 17 - Hot water systems by type in sample 18 5,28% 14,29% 5,12% 1,05% 0,32% 7,72% with autonomous boiler (heating and hot water) autonomous boiler (hot water only) Solar thermal Electric water heater with a centralized system for the building 66,23% by connecting to the district heating network no heat water Boilers represent more than 80% of the surveyed systems, a large majority relating to systems that also provide home heating. The presence of solar thermal systems is relevant too. The fuels used are distributed as follows: Figure 18 - Hot water systems by fuel in sample 19. 1,64% 1,35% 4,55% 1,00% Methane / natural gas 4,52% electricity (direct use) 8,37% LPG gas oil wood / other biomass 78,57% solar other Methane accounts for almost 80% of fuels used for water heating. The direct use of electricity covers the 8% of the total. The use of solar energy is noticeable too. 18 3731 households. 19 3715 households.
The most diffused size for water heaters is between 25 and 80 liters. Figure 19 - Hot water systems by water heaters size 20 14,54% 13,83% small medium (25-80 litres) big (> 80 litres) 71,63% 20 282 households. 16
6.4 Air-conditioning The air conditioning systems found in the sample are distributed as follows: Chart 20 - Air conditioning systems by type in sample 21 33,06% air conditioning system set for individual rooms mobile air conditioning systems for individual rooms autonomous system for my home 51,40% 9,42% 2,26% centralized system for more apartments I have one but do not use No system 3,52% 0,34% The systems surveyed are in major part reversible heat pumps (77%) 22, while the following figures show age and control systems of A / C systems of the sample. Figure 21 Air conditioning systems by age in sample 23 0,33% 2,10% 10,48% 17,69% 38,34% 31,06% <2 years From 2 to 4 years From 5 to 9 years From 10 to 19 years > 20 years Same age of the dwelling 21 3578 households. 22 1238 households. 23 1526 households.
Almost all the air conditioning systems are less than ten years old, an average age that is below that of heating systems. Fig. 22 shows that thermostat control is used only in one quarter of the systems while the most diffused air conditioning control mode is the on/off remote control. Figure 22 - Air conditioning systems by temperature control in sample 24 14,46% 1,95% 8,36% On/off remote control Always on with thermostat With thermostat Other 75,23% 24 1639 households. 18
6.5 Appliances About 80% of the sample considered 25 declared to own a refrigerator with integrated freezer and about 71% of another sample 26 declared to own one or more separate freezers. Figure 23 - Refrigerators by age in sample 27 21,84% 30,41% 3,96% 2,04% 0,49% 17,60% 23,67% <2 years From 2 to 4 years From 5 to 9 years From 10 to 19 years > 20 years Same age of the dwelling Information not available As for washing machines, 99% of the sample 28 said to own one. Information on age and usage patterns are shown in the following Figures: Figure 24 - Washing machines by average loads per week 29 and age of in sample 30 2,56% 0,83% 0,22% 11,12% 7,11% 20,14% 15,32% 1 16,97% 2-3 4-5 6-7 >7 33,49% 31,98% 32,82% 27,43% <2 years from 2 to 4 years from 5 to 9 years from 10 to 19 years > 20 years Same age of the dwelling Information not available For what concerns dishwashers, 76% of the sample 31 declared to own one. Information on age and usage patterns are shown the following results. 25 3798 households. 26 3204 households. 27 3279 households. 28 3277 households. 29 3236 households. 30 3237 households. 31 3276 households.
Figure 25 - Dishwasher by average loads per week 32 and by age in sample 33 26,45% 10,06% 11,94% 1 2-3 2,49% 19,61% 1,64% 0,24% <2 years 20,21% from 2 to 4 years from 5 to 9 years 4-5 from 10 to 19 years 6-7 > 20 years 26,01% 25,53% >7 31,28% 24,54% Same age of the dwelling Information not available About 80% of the households interviewed did from 2 to 7 washing loads per week. The age of the owned washing machine is under 20 years for 94% of the sample. Cooking equipment has been classified by type: Figure 26 - Cooking equipment by type in sample 34 4,87% 2,44% 18,20% 45,76% Gas stoves Electric oven Microwave oven Oven Other 28,73% Electric stoves and ovens cover about 70% of the sample. Microwaves play a significant role with approximately 20% of the observations on the sample. 32 2495 households. 33 2494 households. 34 7004 households. 20
Figure 27 - Stoves 35 and oven 36 by fuel in sample 6,76% 0,88% 0,15% 1,40% 1,04% 0,36% 4,95% Methane 16,59% 87,27% Electricity LPG Wood Other 80,62% Methane Electricity LPG Wood Other Natural gas is the predominant fuel used for stoves 80% and it is also relevant for ovens (circa 20%). More than 80% of ovens are fuelled by electricity. Figure 28 - Electric oven by age in sample 37 7,06% 3,06% 0,58% 13,69% 28,86% 17,32% <2 years From 2 to 4 years From 5 to 9 years From 10 to 19 years > 20 years Same age of the dwelling Information not available 29,44% Almost all electric furnaces are less than 19 years old, with over 60% below 9 years. 35 3417 households. 36 3369 households. 37 3302 households.
Turning to black appliances: Figure 29 - Number of TV sets in sample 38 8,92% 4,70% 19,33% 26,93% 0 1 2 3 >3 40,12% Figure 30 - TV sets daily use in sample 39 7,91% 4,88% 30,26% 56,95% <1 2-4 5-8 >8 Figure 31 - Number of PCs in sample 40 17,35% 5,53% 29,99% 47,13% 0 1 2 >2 38 3275 households. 39 3073 households. 40 3274 households. 22
Figures from 29 to 31 show that 95% of the families interviewed own at least one television and that it is used mainly for 2-4 hours a day (60% of the sample). About 50% of the families own at least one PC working for 2-4 hours a day (50% of the sample). About 40% of the families own at least a console for videogames in use for less than one hour a day (about 75% of the sample). Figure 32 - PC daily use in sample 41 6,41% 14,59% 30,86% <1 2-4 5-8 >8 48,14% Figure 33 - Number of console video games in sample 42 8,28% 1,65% 0,64% 31,00% 58,43% 0 1 2 3 > 3 Figure 34 Console video games daily use in sample 43 1,18% 0,28% 23,09% 75,45% <1 2-4 5-8 >8 41 3091 households. 42 3274 households. 43 1438 households.
Home theater DVD / blue ray HI-FI Fax Answering machine Charging phones Charging rechargeable batteries Phon Sstraightener Steam iron Dryer Robot Vacuum cleaner System for steam cleaning floors Emergency lamps Other Figure 35 - Various appliances 44 74,42% 78,66% 77,73% 73,97% 39,10% 39,42% 47,40% 39,61% 18,40% 16,99% 16,52% 21,69% 20,92% 8,88% 4,80% 0,64% Figure 35 shows the absolute number of the owners of the various applications indicated. It is possible to highlight the wide diffusion of home-theater and HI-FI systems, HI-FI, hair dryers and irons in the samples observed. 44 Multiple choice question, percentage on 3772 households. 24
6.6 Lighting Figure 36 Average number of lamps by type in sample 45 8,31 8,87 5,38 4,16 2,44 Incandescent Compact fluorescent Fluorescent tube Halogen LED Figure 37 Average operating hours by type of lamps in sample 46 <1 1-4 4-12 >12 1036 1050 935 923 628 639 324 16 141 445 387 342 319 268 178 58 88 25 23 20 Incandescent Compact fluorescent Fluorescent tube Halogen LED Figures 36 and 37 show a good penetration rate of energy saving light bulbs (over 40% of the sample), and their higher average utilization. The presence and use of LED bulbs is also relevant. 45 Samples of different size. 46 Samples of different size.
7. Conclusions The survey provides current data about end-use of energy in Italian households. The analyzed sample is not representative of the Italian population, but it is a good base for future more detailed studies on the various issues covered in the analysis. The use of a computerized tool allows the researcher to reach a wider sample of users, but it has drawbacks: first of all, only PCs and the Internet users are met, leaving out a relevant part of citizens; another important factor is the little attention that is sometimes given to newsletters and notices by mail. Moreover, as already noted, it is difficult to explain some technical definition for equipments. All of this confirms the need for face to face interviews with an interviewer that can guide the respondent in understanding the answers and help to respond in the most appropriate way. The survey results show a delay in the management of centralized heating systems in Italy: only one third of respondents is able to adjust the temperature properly. Results also show that centralized systems that exploit new technologies for thermal management are still a small percentage of the total. The situation improves for autonomous systems, which naturally lead the user to pay more attention to consumption. Air conditioners and heat pumps show an increase in the penetration in most recent years. The sample also shows a wide penetration and a limited daily use for most of the electronic devices (settop box, game console, routers and wi-fi, etc.), that are switched on in the stand-by mode for most of the time. It would be interesting to deepen the appliances' section trying to understand which factors affect the purchase of the various energy classes of appliances, and to understand which behaviors affect the standby energy consumption mode. 26
List of figures 1 Questionnaire path 5 2 Geographical composition of households in sample 8 3 Type of dwelling in sample 8 4 Heating systems in sample 9 5 Centralized heating system by type in sample 9 6 Centralized heating system by technology in sample 10 7 Autonomous auxiliary heating systems by type in sample 10 8 Centralized heating system by age in sample 10 9 Centralized heating system by fuels in sample 11 10 Centralized heating system by temperature control in sample 11 11 Satisfaction about the temperature provided by centralized heating system in sample 11 12 Independent heating system by type in sample 12 13 Independent heating system by technology in sample 12 14 Independent heating system by temperature control in sample 13 15 Independent heating system by fuel in sample 13 16 Independent heating system by age in sample 14 17 Hot water systems by type in sample 15 18 Hot water systems by fuel in sample 15 19 Hot water systems by water heaters size 16 20 Air conditioning systems by type in sample 17 21 Air conditioning systems by age in sample 17 22 Air conditioning systems by temperature control in sample 18 23 Refrigerators by age in sample 19 24 Washing machines by average loads per week and age in sample 19 25 Dishwasher by average loads per week and by age in sample 20 26 Cooking equipment by type in sample 20 27 Stoves and oven by fuel in sample 21 28 Electric oven by age in sample 21 29 Number of TV sets in sample 22 30 TV sets daily use in sample 22 31 Number of PC in sample 22 32 PC by daily use in sample 23 33 Number of console video games in sample 23 34 Console video games daily use in sample 23 35 Various appliances 24 36 Average number of lamps by type in sample 25 37 Average operating hours by type of lamps in sample 25
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