Europe: The natural is the largest energy source for European households, accounting for 31.7 percent of final energy consumption in 2020, as per statistics published by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency.
The statistic is worrying, given Europe’s attempts to wean itself off Russian gas supplies. Suppose Europe wants to switch entirely away from Russian gas towards renewable energy. In that case, it will need to generate an additional 370 gigawatts of wind energy, as per to the Columbia University Climate School.
Moreover, households accounted for 27 percent of final energy consumption in the European Union. Of household energy expenditure, the majority was used for heating (62.8 percent).
Part of the decision to combat global warming involves decreasing the levels of standard heating within buildings and instead relying on heat pumps and solar panels. The government of Brussels plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 47 percent in 2030 through greater building and transport regulations.
Belgium is more reliant on gas for its residential needs than the European average. 38.9 percent of Belgium’s final energy consumption came from natural gas in 2020, over the European Union average of 31.7 percent. An alarmingly high amount of energy is used by Belgians to heat their homes. In total, 72.7 percent of energy is used to heat the homes in Belgium, the third highest in Europe.
Along with this, a disappointing share of energy came from renewable and bio fuels. In the European Union, an average of 20.3 percent of domestic energy consumption comes from renewable.
In Belgium, this figure is just 8.3 percent. The data reveals that the nation also uses the second-highest amount of energy from oil and petroleum products to generate household electricity.
Furthermore, Belgians predominantly use electricity for their cooking needs (68.6%) but heat their water (51.8%) and homes with gas (44.1%).
