See an overview of on energy use in Ireland broken down by fuel, sector and mode.
Annual energy flow
Oil,TPER,6948 Natural Gas,TPER,4315 Coal,TPER,1099 Peat,TPER,695 Non-Renewable Wastes,TPER,126 Wind,TPER,640 Hydo,TPER,59 Biomass and Other Renewables,TPER,648 TPER,Transformation losses,2709 TPER,TFC,11821 Transformation losses,Briquetting,14 Transformation losses,Natural Gas Own Use/Loss,50 Transformation losses,Oil Refining,91 Transformation losses,Electricity Transformation and Distribution Losses,2387 TFC,Net Electricity Exports,58 TFC,Agriculture & Fisheries,236 TFC,Commercial/Public,1392 TFC,Industry,2516 TFC,Residential,2609 TFC,Transport,5067
This graph shows the energy balance for Ireland in 2017.
Primary energy
On the left are the primary energy inputs to the Irish energy system. Primary energy includes the raw fuels that are used for transformation processes such as electricity generation and oil refining. The sum of all primary energy is the Total Primary Energy Requirement (TPER). Fossil fuels accounted for 91% of all energy used in Ireland in 2017.
Demand for energy
On the right are the sources of demand for final energy. Final energy includes the energy used directly in the different sectors such as transport, residential and industry. Final energy does not include energy lost during transformation processes such as electricity generation. The sum of all final energy used in all sectors is known as Total Final Consumption (TFC). Transport has been by far the largest source of energy demand in Ireland since 2000.
Also on the right is the energy that is lost during transformation processes such as electricity generation and oil refining. The electricity system has become much more efficient since 2000 but is still less than 50% efficient. This means that more than half of all the energy used to generate electricity is lost before it gets to the final customer.
Primary energy by fuel
Primary energy by fuel (Mtoe),Oil,Gas,Renewables,Coal,Peat,Wastes Non-Renewable,Electricity Imports 2000,7.86,3.06,0.24,1.81,0.8,0,0.01 2001,8.49,3.14,0.23,1.88,0.86,0,0 2002,8.39,3.33,0.26,1.75,0.89,0,0.04 2003,8.1,3.66,0.24,1.74,0.8,0,0.1 2004,8.68,3.65,0.28,1.8,0.58,0,0.14 2005,9.13,3.5,0.37,1.88,0.79,0,0.18 2006,8.95,3.97,0.43,1.63,0.76,0,0.15 2007,8.98,4.26,0.49,1.6,0.75,0,0.11 2008,8.9,4.52,0.59,1.41,0.87,0,0.04 2009,7.73,4.3,0.68,1.14,0.86,0.01,0.07 2010,7.29,4.71,0.68,1.23,0.76,0.01,0.04 2011,6.79,4.15,0.83,1.23,0.72,0.01,0.04 2012,6.25,4.04,0.82,1.49,0.79,0.05,0.04 2013,6.3,3.86,0.89,1.31,0.74,0.06,0.19 2014,6.25,3.73,1,1.23,0.78,0.07,0.18 2015,6.66,3.77,1.14,1.43,0.77,0.07,0.06 2016,6.91,4.25,1.13,1.37,0.73,0.07,0 2017,6.95,4.32,1.35,1.1,0.69,0.13,0
Primary energy by fuel 2017 (%),2017 Oil,47.82 Gas,29.7 Renewables,9.26 Coal,7.56 Peat,4.78 Wastes Non-Renewable,0.87 Electricity Imports,0
Primary energy peaked in 2008 and declined between 2008 and 2014, due to the recession. Following the recovery in the economy, primary energy returned to growth in 2015 and 2016 but remained flat in 2017.
Oil
Oil continues to be the dominant energy source and maintained a 48% share of primary energy in 2017. Consumption of oil increased by 0.5% in 2017 but remained 24% lower than in 2005. 2017 was a miler year than 2016 which resulted in lower oil use in the residential and commercial sectors. Oil is mostly used for transport, followed by heating.
Natural gas
Natural gas is the next largest energy source and accounted for 30% of primary energy in 2017. Most natural gas is used for generating electricity. It accounted for 51% of energy inputs to electricity generation in 2017.
Renewables
Total renewable energy increased by 19% during 2017. Hydro and wind increased by 1.6% and 21% respectively. Biomass use also increased by 13.2%. Renewable energy accounted for 9.3% of primary energy in 2017, up from 7.9% in 2016.
Final energy by sector
Final energy by sector (Mtoe),Transport,Residential,Industry,Services,Agriculture & Fisheries 2000,4.1,2.5,2.55,1.3,0.35 2001,4.39,2.64,2.52,1.35,0.36 2002,4.5,2.61,2.44,1.4,0.36 2003,4.55,2.72,2.44,1.54,0.37 2004,4.74,2.84,2.49,1.47,0.37 2005,5.08,2.94,2.63,1.57,0.38 2006,5.44,2.97,2.67,1.5,0.36 2007,5.72,2.9,2.58,1.59,0.34 2008,5.45,3.14,2.49,1.75,0.36 2009,4.86,3.08,2.19,1.53,0.31 2010,4.6,3.26,2.25,1.47,0.29 2011,4.43,2.83,2.21,1.33,0.28 2012,4.18,2.71,2.18,1.33,0.27 2013,4.35,2.75,2.22,1.29,0.25 2014,4.52,2.52,2.29,1.24,0.23 2015,4.79,2.66,2.37,1.28,0.22 2016,4.97,2.68,2.43,1.34,0.23 2017,5.07,2.61,2.52,1.39,0.24
Final energy by fuel 2017 (%),2017 Transport,42.87 Residential,22.06 Industry,21.29 Services,11.78 Agriculture & Fisheries,2
Looking at final energy spit by sector, transport has by far the largest share, accounting for 43% of final energy demand in 2017. Transport has been the sector that is most sensitive to the economy. Transport energy demand experienced the greatest reduction after the 2009 recession and has seen the greatest increase since 2012.
The next largest sources of energy demand are households and industry. They accounted for 21% and 22% of final energy use respectively in 2017.
Final energy by mode
Final energy by mode (Mtoe),Transport,Heat,Electricity 2000,4.1,4.97,2.04 2001,4.38,5.07,2.1 2002,4.5,4.94,2.18 2003,4.55,5.1,2.24 2004,4.74,5.19,2.3 2005,5.08,5.43,2.38 2006,5.43,5.29,2.48 2007,5.71,5.2,2.51 2008,5.44,5.45,2.61 2009,4.86,4.94,2.47 2010,4.6,5.09,2.46 2011,4.42,4.52,2.38 2012,4.17,4.42,2.37 2013,4.35,4.43,2.39 2014,4.52,4.21,2.4 2015,4.78,4.37,2.47 2016,4.96,4.49,2.54 2017,5.06,4.53,2.58
Final energy by mode 2017 (%),2017 Transport,41.58 Heat,37.23 Electricity,21.18
We split energy use into three modes: electricity, transport and heat. If electricity provides transport or heat (electric cars or showers), it is counted under electricity, and not under transport or heat. In this way the three modes are fully separate and add together to give the total energy use.
Transport remains the largest demand accounting for 42% in 2017. Heat is the next largest at 37%. Electricity accounts for the remaining 21%. As it is final energy, this does not include the energy losses from electricity generation.