Energy Consumption Changes Due to COVID-19: Residential Use Increases, Non-Residential Use Decreases

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] It has been revealed that the energy consumption of residential buildings such as apartments increased due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). This is attributed to the increased time spent at home due to remote work and other factors.

On the 3rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it has received national approval for the expanded and reorganized "Building Energy Consumption Statistics," which was previously the "Residential Building Energy Consumption Statistics."

Through this expansion and reorganization, it is now possible to produce energy consumption statistics for all buildings, including non-residential ones, in addition to residential buildings.

According to a comparison of energy consumption in the second quarter of this year with the same period last year following this expansion, changes in building energy consumption due to the spread of COVID-19 were confirmed.

During the COVID-19 spread period, energy consumption in residential buildings increased by 2.4%, whereas non-residential buildings saw a decrease of 11.6%.

According to the newly approved statistics, the total energy consumption of all buildings was found to be 33,155,000 TOE. The consumption by purpose, region, and energy source such as electricity, city gas, and district heating is as follows. TOE is a unit of energy consumption, where 1 TOE equals 10 million kcal.

By purpose, residential buildings such as apartment complexes (41.7%) and detached houses (16.6%) accounted for about 60% of the total. Non-residential buildings were recorded in the order of neighborhood living facilities (15.2%), office facilities (5.9%), and educational and research facilities (5.1%).

By region, the Seoul and Gyeonggi areas accounted for about half (49%) of the total energy consumption.

For energy sources in residential buildings, city gas accounted for more than half (53%) of the total, followed by electricity (37%) and district heating (10%). For non-residential buildings, electricity had the largest share (72%), followed by city gas (25%) and district heating (2%).