Australian energy use increased in 2017-18, with natural gas a key contributor to this increase according to the latest edition of the annual Energy Account released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The data shows there has been a significant increase in natural gas extraction in recent years with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) now challenging uranium for second place in terms of energy exports.
“LNG accounted for 3,376 PJs of exported energy in 2017-18, an increase of 18 per cent year on year,” said the Director of the ABS Centre for Environment and Satellite Accounts, Jonathon Khoo.
“To put this into context, a single PJ could provide 46,000 Australian homes with electricity for 12 months.”
Renewable energy sources have been restructuring over the last decade, with solar and wind energy emerging as key contributors to Australia’s electricity generation mix.
“Solar and wind energy are now comparable to hydro power in terms of contribution to the energy portfolio of Australia. While their overall contribution is still small, it is growing rapidly.”
Household energy costs increased in 2017-18 from 2016-17.
“Average household energy costs rose 9 per cent to $5,269. Over the same period, however, household energy use remained stable with each Australian household using an average of 135 gigajoules of energy,” he said.
Further details can be found in the Energy Account, Australia, 2017-18 (cat. no. 4604.0) available as a free download from the ABS website www.abs.gov.au.