10 Key Insights from the SEAI’s Final Energy Balance for 2022
- Ireland’s energy demand in 2022 was 4.8% higher than in 2021
- This overall year-on-year increase was largely driven by a 20.1% increase in energy demand in the transport sector
- Oil remained the largest source of Ireland’s energy in 2022
- Over half of Ireland’s final energy demand (54.9%) was satisfied by oil products
- The transport sector was responsible for 71.4% of oil demand, with residential heating demand accounting for 16.4% of oil
- Despite Ireland’s final energy demand increasing in 2022, energy-related emissions were 1.8% lower than in 2021
- In 2022, heat demand was responsible for 35.9% of energy-related emissions, transport was responsible for 34.0% of energy-related emissions, and electricity was responsible for 30.1% of energy-related emissions
- In 2022, the four most significant sources of energy-related emissions were petrol and diesel used for road transport, electricity generation for commercial and public services, oil for home heating, and electricity generation for the residential sector
- Ireland’s energy mix contains more renewable energy than ever before. 2022 was the first year in which Ireland’s indigenous production of renewable energy (i.e. wind, hydro, biomass, ambient heat from heat pumps, etc.) exceeded our indigenous production of fossil fuels (i.e. natural gas, peat, etc.)
- Renewable electricity provided 62.6% of all renewable energy used in Ireland in 2022. The use of renewable electricity helped avoid 5.5 MtCO2 (metric tons of carbon dioxide) of emissions from fossil fuels last year
