Overall energy consumption fell by 2.5%

Bern, 22.06.2010 - Switzerland’s overall energy consumption in 2009 fell by 2.5% compared to 2008. The main reasons for the fall in consumption were the warmer weather and the weak economy.

Switzerland's final energy consumption in 2009 of 877,560 terajoules (TJ) was 2.5% below that recorded in 2008. Just to recap: In 2008, as a result of positive developments in the economy and the cold weather the final energy consumption rose by 4.1% to 899,880 TJ, the highest overall national energy consumption ever recorded. In the last 10 years declines in energy consumption have been noted four times: 2007 (-2.7%), 2006 (-0.4%), 2002 (-2.2%) and 2000 (-0.9%).

Less heating oil, petrol and electricity consumed

There was a clear drop in consumption of the combustibles extra-light heating oil (-3.9%) and gas (-4.0%). While the consumption of petrol (-2.7%) and aviation fuel (-4.1%) dropped, sales of diesel oil climbed by 1.6%. The current trend of substituting petrol with diesel fuel has thus continued unabated. Use of heavy fuel oil for heating (-27%) declined markedly while use of petroleum coke increased (+14.7%). Electricity consumption fell by 2.1%.

Increased consumption of renewable forms of energy

Once again increased use was made of energy from wood (+2.1%) and from other renewable sources (+6.5%), however the increases were not as sharp as in 2008. With respect to the other renewable energies there was a marked decline in the consumption of biofuels (-28.6%) whereas the volume of biogas used remained practically the same as in 2008. Above average growth was seen in the field of solar heating (+13.2%) and use of ambient heat (+8.6%) in 2009. Use of district heating (-0.7%) remained practically constant. Less Industrial waste (-12.6%) and coal (-6.4%) were used to provide energy than in 2008.

Warm weather and the weak economy

The most significant reasons for the drop in energy consumption over 2008 were the warmer weather and the economic downturn. Compared to 2008, the number of heating degree days fell by 4.9% and gross domestic production declined by 1.5%. Both factors compensated for the increased consumption that would have resulted from the 1.1% growth in the population mean and the 0.5% increase in the number of motor vehicles.

The Swiss Overall Energy Statistics 2009 will be released in print and on the Internet at the beginning of August 2010. Until then the initial summary is available at www.bfe.admin.ch.


Address for enquiries

Marianne Zünd, Head of Communication SFOE, 031 322 56 75 / 079 763 86 11



Publisher

Swiss Federal Office of Energy
http://www.bfe.admin.ch

https://www.admin.ch/content/gov/en/start/documentation/media-releases.msg-id-33840.html