Czech households account for about 30 percent of the country’s total energy consumption. Most of their consumption, around two-thirds, is used for heating.
Water heating is another essential item. Households obtain most of their energy from renewable energy sources and natural gas.
This is based on research by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). The share of households in total energy consumption is similar to that of industry and services.
The CSO research, called Energo 2021, was carried out in the second half of last year. It used a sample of about 10 000 households. Possible changes in the share of energy consumption and its sources this year are not yet available to the Office.
According to the CSO survey, heating has long been the most oversized item in household energy use. Moreover, its share has been increasing slightly in recent years.
Last year, about two-thirds of households said they heated their homes to 22 degrees. Water heating is the second largest item at 16 percent, and families use about seven percent of their energy for lighting and running household appliances.
However, the equipment of households with large appliances has been increasing in recent years. According to the survey, about six percent of household consumption is for cooking, and the remaining two percent is for cooling and other uses.
Households currently get most of their energy from renewable sources, at over 30 percent. This is followed by natural gas with 26 percent, while power supplied by electricity accounts for less than one-fifth.
“In the last ten years, we have seen a shift away from coal-fired generation. While in 2010, households used most of their energy from gas, now it is from renewable sources. Most of it is fuelwood, but the number of households with installed photovoltaic panels and heat pumps is also growing,” said Radek Matějka, director of the CSO’s Department of Statistics on Agriculture and Forestry, Industry, Construction, and Energy.
Households draw heat mainly from heating plants, other central sources, and natural gas.
In both cases, the share is about 38 percent. About one-tenth of households use renewable sources for heating, especially firewood. Almost seven percent still use coal, while the remainder uses electricity.
“Approximately 20 percent of households use more than one heat source for heating. Sixty-five percent cite renewable energy sources as an alternative source, with firewood being the most common. A typical example is a family house and a combination of a gas boiler and a fireplace,” said Zbyněk Štěch, head of the CSO’s energy statistics department.
He pointed out that consumption is influenced, for example, by the technical condition and insulation of buildings, and the weather and indoor temperature also play a role.