ENERGY INTENSITY



MAIN FINDINGS

• The energy intensity of Australian industries declined by 1% between 2008-09 and 2009-10.
• Australia's most energy intensive industries in 2009-10 were Manufacturing (9,600 GJ/$m), Transport (8,291 GJ/$m) and Mining (5,651 GJ/$m).
• The energy intensity of the Agriculture industry increased by 3% between 2008-09 and 2009-10.
  

ENERGY INTENSITY

The energy intensity of an industry is a measure of the energy consumed to produce one unit of economic output. The unit of measure used in the following graphs and commentary for each industry is gigajoules of energy consumed per million dollars of Industry Gross Value Added (GJ/$m IGVA). A high energy intensity figure does not necessarily imply that an industry is using energy inefficiently. Most industries engaged in physical transformation of raw materials will use more energy than service industries.

Differences in energy intensity between industries reflect different production processes and the share of energy within the production input mix. This is demonstrated in the energy intensity graph below; the Manufacturing industry is the most energy intensive industry within the Australian economy, followed by Transport and Mining. The Commercial and services industries, such as Retail, Health and Education, are non-energy intensive industries.


The table below presents data on energy consumption, industry gross value added and energy intensity by industry. Energy intensity of the Australian economy decreased by 1% from 2,650 GJ/$m in 2008-09 to 2,613 GJ/$m IGVA in 2009-10. This is generally reflected in a decrease in the energy intensity of most Australian industries between 2008-09 and 2009-10. For example, energy use in the Water supply and waste services industry declined by 5%, while IGVA rose 5%. This resulted in an energy intensity decrease of 9%. Equally, energy use in the Commercial and services industry declined by 1%, while IGVA rose 2%, resulting in energy intensity falling by 3%.

The energy intensity of the Manufacturing, Mining and Construction industries was relatively unchanged between 2008-09 and 2009-10. In contrast, energy use in Agriculture increased by 1.7% between 2008-09 and 2009-10, while IGVA decreased by 1.2%. This resulted in an energy intensity increase of 3%.

Energy Intensity, by industry - 2008-09 and 2009-10
	2008-09			2009-10
	Energy use	IGVA(a)	Energy intensity	Energy use	IGVA(a)	Energy intensity
Industry	PJ	$m	GJ/$m IGVA	PJ	$m	GJ/$m IGVA
Agriculture(b)	107	29 109	3 676	109	28 764	3 783
Mining	519	90 507	5 736	543	96 105	5 651
Manufacturing	1 041	106 363	9 787	1 034	107 707	9 600
Water supply and waste services(c)(d)	22	9 332	2 342	21	9 786	2 129
Construction	144	95 292	1 527	144	95 804	1 529
Transport	531	63 885	8 330	544	65 392	8 291
Commercial and services	433	661 113	651	429	677 380	636
Total	2 797	1 055 601	2 650	2 824	1 080 963	2 613
(a) Industry Gross Value Added
(b) Includes Forestry and fishing
(c) Includes Water supply, sewerage and drainage services and waste collection, treatment and disposal services
(d) Excludes Electricity supply and gas supply
Note: One petajoule (PJ) = 1,000,000 gigajoules (GJ)

Describing changes in energy intensity between individual years does not imply a structural change in the way an industry uses energy. These changes in energy intensity between years may reflect 'one-off' changes in production processes, or short term changes in the level or mix of energy products consumed. We can only begin to consider structural impacts attributable to changes in the pattern of energy consumption of an industry over a longer time period. More detailed analysies of changes in energy intensity over time can be found in 'Energy Account Australia 2008-09' and 'End use energy intensity in the Australian economy'.