Information, revealed by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), show domestic energy consumption increased from 37 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 1970 to 44 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2009.

The statistics, published in the latest chapter of the Social Trends, also show in 2008, 5.6% of all electricity consumption in the UK was from renewable resources.

This marked a considerable increase compared to 1990 when it was a lowly 1.7%, but the UK still lags behind the European Union’s average of 16.7%.

In 2008 UK households paid environmental taxes of £20.9 billion, more than half of the total collected in the UK, with the rest being paid by industry.

Other highlights in the report cover issues related to the environment such as emissions, pollution, environmental taxes, household waste recycling and attitudes to the environment.

Including the fact that recycling, composting or reuse of household waste has increased considerably in England from less than 1% in 1983/84 to 40% in 2009/10.

Luke Walsh

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