The UK can enhance energy security through clean electrification

The report argues that clean electrification is essential for UK energy security, as the transition to electric vehicles and heat pumps significantly reduces overall energy demand and fossil fuel imports. It highlights that the UK's power sector has become more efficient as wind and solar displace coal and gas, and that electrification currently reduces fossil fuel demand four times more than the additional electricity demand it creates.

• The UK's power generation efficiency has improved as clean energy sources have replaced fossil fuels. The share of total input energy wasted fell from 60% in 2000 to 47% in 2023, meaning the energy needed to generate one unit of electricity decreased from 2.5 units to 1.9 units over that period.
• In 2023, the deployment of 1.5 million electric vehicles and 430,000 residential heat pumps, powered by nearly two-thirds clean electricity, reduced oil and gas consumption by 14 million barrels of oil equivalent, which represents 3.4% of the UK's annual net oil and gas imports.
• Electrified technologies are significantly more efficient than their fossil fuel counterparts. Electric cars convert 89% of electricity into useful energy compared to 20% for petrol engines, and heat pumps can generate over three times more heat than a gas boiler for the same energy input.
• Clean electrification currently reduces UK fossil fuel demand by four times more than the electricity demand it creates. In 2023, electric vehicles and heat pumps added 6.3 TWh to power demand, representing only 2% of the UK's total electricity demand.
• The combination of clean power and electrification leads to drastic reductions in fossil fuel use. Based on 2023 power mix data, a household using an electric car and heat pump burned an average of 5.3 MWh of fossil fuels, compared to 29 MWh for a household using a petrol car and gas boiler, an 82% reduction.
• Future electricity demand is expected to rise, with electric vehicles and heat pumps forecast to add 33 TWh of demand by 2030 (11% of 2023 total demand). However, primary input fuel demand is forecast to fall by an average of 0.8% per year in the 2020s and 1.2% per year in the late 2030s.

APA

Mayo, F., & Lee, U. (2024). The UK can enhance energy security through clean electrification. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/The-UK-can-enhance-energy-security-through-clean-electrification.pdf

Chicago

Mayo, Frankie, and Uni Lee. The UK can enhance energy security through clean electrification. Ember, 2024. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/The-UK-can-enhance-energy-security-through-clean-electrification.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mayo |first1=Frankie |last2=Lee |first2=Uni |title=The UK can enhance energy security through clean electrification |publisher=Ember |date=21 October 2024 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/The-UK-can-enhance-energy-security-through-clean-electrification.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mayo2024can, author = {Mayo, Frankie and Lee, Uni}, title = {{The UK can enhance energy security through clean electrification}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/10/The-UK-can-enhance-energy-security-through-clean-electrification.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }