Energy consumption and activity patterns: An analysis extended to total time and energy use for French households

Household lifestyles, and activity patterns in particular, greatly influence household energy use. In this paper we analyse the disparities in current activity patterns and related energy consumptions and expenditures of households, for a comprehensive set of everyday activities covering 24 h. Thanks to detailed data on energy consumption by end use, we are able to allocate the total of household energy consumptions to the appropriate activities. We comment on average energy and expenditure intensities of time uses of the total population as well as of income, household-composition and housing-type subgroups. Income, an obvious driver of energy and expenditure intensities, is revealed to influence time use as well. Household composition and housing type are also associated with substantial variations in activity patterns and in the energy and expenditure intensities of activities, even within a given income group. Indeed, sometimes the variations associated with income are smaller than the variations associated with other variables. We therefore underline the importance of household disaggregation in household energy analyses, to properly account for such disparities.