SR221 Energy use in New Zealand households - final HEEP report (2018)

This is the final report on the Household Energy End-use Project (HEEP). It brings together and updates material presented in previous reports, as well as providing new analysis.

HEEP was a multi-year, multi-discipline, New Zealand study that monitored all fuel types (electricity, natural gas, LPG, solid fuel, oil and solar used for water heating) and the services they provide (space temperature, hot water, cooking, lights, appliances etc) in a national random sample of 400 houses. Data collection was completed in 2005.

The report provides baseline information on the hows, whys, wheres and whens of energy use and the services provided. The report includes sections dealing with:

• the development of the Household Energy End-use Resource Assessment Model
• winter and summer temperatures
• a case study of Hamilton pensioner houses
• forecasting aggregate energy use based on household socio-economic variables
• fuel poverty
• hot water energy use
• wood and solid fuel heating
• LPG heater use
• effect of mandatory insulation on energy use
• heat loss and thermal mass
• appliance ownership
• standby and baseload electricity use
• faulty refrigeration appliances
• load factors
• domestic hot water
• ALF modelled energy use compared to actual energy use.

Sections also provide detailed background to the research design and methodology and publications resulting from the research.