§ Mr. David Howellasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he will publish a table covering the years 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983, respectively, showing the total savings in United Kingdom primary energy consumed over this period, with the figures adjusted for movements in gross domestic product so as to demonstrate the actual energy saving per unit of output; and whether he will give his assessment of the main reasons for any energy savings shown to have occurred over the period.
§ Mr. Peter Walker[pursuant to his reply, 22 February 1984, c. 553–54]: The headings to the table contained in 583W my original answer were incorrectly printed in Hansard. The answer, which now includes information for 1983, is as follows.
1980 over 1979 1981 over 1980 1982 over 1981 1983 over 1982 1983 over 1979 (a) Change in primary energy consumption (i) million tonnes of coal equivalent (mtce) -22.1 -11.9 -3.6 +1.9 -35.7 (ii) percentage -6.3 -3.6 -1.1 +0.6 -10.2 (b) Change in primary energy consumption per unit of GDP at 1980 prices and at factor cost (i) tonnes of coal equivalent (tec) per £m of GDP -70.0 -49.0 -51.5 -44.6 -205.1 (ii) percentage -4.0 -3.0 -3.2 -2.9 -12.4 Over this period there was a rise of 2.5 per cent. in gross domestic product, and consequently the decline in primary energy consumption per unit of GDP was not fully reflected in the actual fall in consumption, as the difference between rows (a)(ii) and (b)(ii) in the table demonstrates. Of the 12.4 per cent. fall in energy consumption per unit of GDP between 1979 and 1983, a small part is due to the more efficient conversion of primary energy into final form, rather under one third represents the changing structure of the economy associated with the declining share of manufacturing industry in GDP during this period and the balance of about 8.5 per cent. mainly reflects improved energy efficiency.