{"id":327020,"date":"2025-12-20T20:11:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T20:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/327020\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T20:11:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T20:11:31","slug":"united-kingdom-energy-country-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/327020\/","title":{"rendered":"United Kingdom – Energy Country Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many of us want an overview of how much energy our country consumes, where it comes from, and if we\u2019re making progress on decarbonizing our energy mix. This page provides the data for your chosen country across all of the key metrics on this topic.<\/p>\n

In the selection box above you can also add or remove additional countries and they will appear on all of the charts on this page. This allows you to compare specific countries you might be interested in, and measure progress against others.<\/p>\n

In the energy domain, there are many different units thrown around \u2014 joules, exajoules, million tonnes of oil equivalents, barrel equivalents, British thermal units, terawatt-hours, to name a few. This can be confusing, and make comparisons difficult. So at Our World in Data we try to maintain consistency by converting all energy data to watt-hours. We do this to compare energy data across different metrics and sources.<\/p>\n

We will continue to update our data and charts with the latest global and country figures, typically on an annual basis.<\/p>\n

See all Energy data for the United Kingdom<\/a><\/p>\n

When comparing the total energy consumption of countries, the differences often reflect variations in population size.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s useful to look at differences in energy consumption per capita.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the average energy consumption per person each year.<\/p>\n

A few points to keep in mind when considering this data:These figures reflect energy consumption \u2014 that is the sum of all energy uses including electricity, transport and heating. Many people assume energy and electricity to mean the same, but electricity is just one component of total energy consumption. We look at electricity consumption later in this profile.These figures are based on primary energy consumption, given by the \u2018substitution method\u2019. See our explainer on the different metrics used to measure energy<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

How much total energy \u2014 combining electricity, transport and heat \u2014 does the country consume each year?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows primary energy consumption for the country each year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Electricity is often the most \u2018visible\u2019 form of energy that we rely on day-to-day; it keeps our lights, TVs, computers and internet running.<\/p>\n

How much electricity is generated per person?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows per capita electricity generation.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

These figures reflect electricity generation, which is one component of total energy consumption. People often use the terms \u2018electricity\u2019 and \u2018energy\u2019 interchangeably, but it\u2019s important to remember that the amount of electricity we use is just one part of our total energy demand.<\/p>\n

Like total energy, the amount of electricity a country generates in total is largely reflected by population size, as well as the average income of people in the given country.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart displays the total amount of electricity generated by the country in a given year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where do countries get their energy from: coal, oil, gas, nuclear power or renewables? It\u2019s usually some combination of some, if not all, of these sources.<\/p>\n

But the energy mix \u2014 the balance of sources of energy in the supply \u2014 is becoming increasingly important as countries try to shift away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources of energy (nuclear or renewables including hydropower, solar and wind).<\/p>\n

These interactive charts show the energy mix of the country.<\/p>\n

One is presented as a stacked area chart, allowing us to see a full breakdown of the sources of energy in the supply. The line chart shows the percentage of total energy supplied by each source.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have become the dominant energy source for most countries across the world.<\/p>\n

But the burning of fossil fuels \u2014 coal, oil, and gas \u2014 is responsible for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions. They are also a major source of air pollution, which is responsible for at least five million premature deaths every year.<\/p>\n

For both climate change and human health, we want to transition away from fossil fuels. But how quickly are we making progress on this?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of energy that comes from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

More charts on fossil fuels<\/p>\n

To reduce CO2 emissions<\/a> and exposure to local air pollution, we want to transition our energy systems away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources.<\/p>\n

Low-carbon energy sources include nuclear and renewable technologies.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart allows us to see the country\u2019s progress on this. It shows the share of energy that comes from low-carbon sources. We look at data on renewables and nuclear energy separately in the sections which follow.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Low-carbon energy can come from nuclear or renewable technologies. How big a role do renewable technologies play?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of energy that comes from renewables.<\/p>\n

A few points to note about this data:Renewable energy here is the sum of hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, modern biomass and wave and tidal energy.Traditional biomass \u2014 the burning of charcoal, crop waste, and other organic matter \u2014 is not included. This can be an important energy source in lower-income settings.More charts on renewable energy<\/p>\n

Nuclear energy \u2014 alongside renewables \u2014 is a low-carbon energy source. For a number of countries, it makes up a large share of energy consumption.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of energy that comes from nuclear sources.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When looking at longer historical data it can be difficult to see how the energy mix is changing from year-to-year. Are we adding more renewables than fossil fuels? Are we in fact reducing our consumption of coal or oil?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the change in primary energy consumption from these sources each year. A positive figure means the country consumed more energy from that source than the previous year; a negative means it consumed less.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where do countries get their electricity from: coal, oil, gas, nuclear power or renewables? It\u2019s usually some combination of some, if not all, of these sources.<\/p>\n

But the electricity mix \u2014 the balance of sources of electricity in the supply \u2014 is becoming increasingly important as countries try to shift away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources of electricity (nuclear or renewables including hydropower, solar and wind).<\/p>\n

These interactive charts show the electricity mix of the country.<\/p>\n

One is presented as a stacked area chart, allowing us to see a full breakdown of the sources of electricity in the supply. The line chart shows the percentage of electricity supplied by each source.<\/p>\n

A point to keep in mind when considering this data:<\/p>\n

Electricity is just one component of total energy \u2013 the other two being transport and heating. The electricity mix should not be misinterpreted as the breakdown of the total energy mix. We look at the importance of this difference here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have become the dominant electricity source for most countries across the world.<\/p>\n

But the burning of fossil fuels \u2014 coal, oil, and gas \u2014 is responsible for around three-quarters<\/a> of global greenhouse gas emissions. They are also a major source of air pollution<\/a>, which is responsible for at least five million premature deaths every year.<\/p>\n

For both climate change and human health, we want to transition away from fossil fuels. But how quickly are we making progress on this?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of electricity that comes from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

More charts on fossil fuels<\/p>\n

To reduce CO2 emissions<\/a> and exposure to local air pollution, we want to transition our electricity away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources.<\/p>\n

\u2018Low-carbon electricity\u2019 includes nuclear and renewable technologies.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart allows us to see the country\u2019s progress on this. It shows the share of electricity that comes from low-carbon sources. We look at data on renewables and nuclear power separately in the sections which follow.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Low-carbon electricity can come from nuclear or renewable technologies. How big a role do renewable technologies play?<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of electricity that comes from renewables.<\/p>\n

A few points to note about this data:Renewable electricity here is the sum of hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, modern biomass and wave and tidal power.Traditional biomass \u2013 the burning of charcoal, crop waste, and other organic matter \u2013 is not included. This can be an important source in lower-income settings.More charts on renewable electricity<\/p>\n

Nuclear power \u2014 alongside renewables \u2014 is a low-carbon source of electricity. For a number of countries, it makes up a large share of electricity production.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows the share of electricity that comes from nuclear sources.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Energy is a large contributor to CO2 and the burning of fossil fuels accounts for around three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>. So, reducing energy consumption can inevitably help to reduce emissions. However, some energy consumption is essential to human wellbeing and rising living standards.<\/p>\n

Energy intensity can therefore be a useful metric to monitor. Energy intensity measures the amount of energy consumed per unit of gross domestic product. It effectively measures how efficiently a country uses energy to produce a given amount of economic output. A lower energy intensity means it needs less energy per unit of GDP.<\/p>\n

This interactive chart shows energy intensity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Energy intensity \u2014 shown in the chart above \u2014 is one important metric to monitor whether countries are making progress in reducing emissions. The other key part of this equation is carbon intensity: the amount of CO2 emitted per unit of energy.<\/p>\n

We can reduce emissions by (1) using less energy; and\/or (2) using lower-carbon energy.<\/p>\n

This metric monitors the second option. As we transition our energy mix towards lower-carbon sources (such as renewables or nuclear energy), the amount of carbon we emit per unit of energy should fall.<\/p>\n

This chart shows carbon intensity, measured in kilograms of CO2 emitted per kilowatt-hour of energy generated.<\/p>\n

Cite this work<\/p>\n

Our articles and data visualizations rely on work from many different people and organizations. When citing this profile page, please also cite the underlying data sources. This profile page can be cited as:<\/p>\n

Hannah Ritchie (2025) – \u201cEnergy\u201d Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/profile\/energy\/united-kingdom’ [Online Resource]<\/p>\n

BibTeX citation<\/p>\n

@article{owid-profile-energy-united-kingdom,
\n author = {Hannah Ritchie},
\n title = {Energy},
\n journal = {Our World in Data},
\n year = {2025},
\n note = {https:\/\/ourworldindata.org\/profile\/energy\/united-kingdom}
\n}\"OurReuse this work freely<\/p>\n

All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license<\/a>. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.<\/p>\n

The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution.<\/p>\n

All of our charts<\/a> can be embedded in any site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of us want an overview of how much energy our country consumes, where it comes from, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-327020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}