- Name
- Energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and gross domestic product (GDP)
- Indicator purpose
- A proxy of the efficiency with which an economy can use energy to produce economic output.
- Abstract
- Energy intensity is defined as the energy supplied to the economy per unit value of economic output. Energy intensity is an indication of how much energy is used to produce one unit of economic output.
- Contact organization / person
- Energy Unit
- Unit of measure
- Percentage (%)
- Other characteristics
- Energy intensity is measured in terms of primary energy and gross domestic product. A lower ratio indicates that less energy is used to produce one unit of output.
- Classification used
- Total energy supply, as defined by the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES), as made up of production plus net imports minus international marine and aviation bunkers plus-stock changes. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the measure of economic output. For international comparison purposes, GDP is measured in constant terms at purchasing power parity.
- Disaggregation
- Disaggregation of energy intensity could provide further insights into progress towards energy efficiency. At present it is only feasible to calculate such sector disaggregation for the following sectors – industry, residential, transport, agriculture, households.
- Key statistical concepts
- This indicator is based on the development of comprehensive energy statistics across supply and demand for all energy sources – statistics used to produce a national energy balance. Internationally agreed methodologies for energy statistics are described in the “International Recommendations for Energy Statistics”. Once a national energy balance is developed, the indicator can be obtained by dividing total energy supply over GDP.
- Recommended uses
- This indicator can be used to measure the energy supplied to the economy per unit value of economic output. The Energy Unit and other organizations and stakeholders can assist in:
Reducing energy consumption in operations, including through using heating and cooling technology, efficient lighting, efficient electrical appliances and fuel-efficient vehicles. Choosing or building energy-efficient buildings and obtaining a sustainability certification for buildings.
Creating new business models to deliver energy efficiency technologies including reducing the energy requirements of their products and services or providing products and services that help their customers to improve energy efficiency or reduce energy requirements.
Tracking and reporting energy usage, reduction and intensity over time.
Working with suppliers to reduce energy consumption and promoting energy efficiency
Adopting cost-effective standards of technologies in building and industry and sharing these practices.
- Other comments
- All the metadata shown in this document was gathered from United Nation Statistics Division. The metadata was extracted from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/.
- Baseline
- 4100 btu/GDP (2016)
- Target 2020
- 5% improvement in energy efficiency
- Target 2030
- 20% improvement in energy efficiency
