The impact of the UK’s COVID-19 lockdowns on energy demand and emissions
File(s)Mehlig_2021_Environ._Res._Lett._16_054037.pdf (2.02 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Mehlig, Daniel
ApSimon, Helen
Staffell, Iain
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Around the world, efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic have profoundly changed human activity, which may have improved air quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. We investigated the impact of the pandemic on energy demand and subsequent emissions from electricity and gas throughout 2020 in the UK. The daily pattern of electricity demand changed in both lockdowns, with weekday demand shifting to that of a typical pre-pandemic weekend. Energy demand in 2020 was modelled to reveal the impact of the weather and the pandemic. The first lockdown reduced demand by 15.6% for electricity and 12.0% for commercial gas, whereas the second lockdown produced reductions less than half. Domestic gas demand did not change during the first lockdown, but increased by 6.1% in the second, likely due to increased domestic heat demand. The changes in demand for gas resulted in little change to overall gas consumption emissions during the pandemic. For electricity, large emission reductions occurred during the two lockdowns: up to 22% for CO2, 47% for NO¬x ¬, and 29% for PM2.5. Yet, the largest CO2 emission reduction for electricity in 2020 (25%) occurred before the pandemic, which happened during a warm and stormy spell with exceptional wind generation. These observations suggest that future similar changes in activity may result in little change for gas demand and emissions. For electricity, emission reductions through changes in energy demand are made possible by the generation mix. To enable further emission reductions in the future, the generation mix should continue to decarbonise. This will yield emission reductions in both times of lowered energy demand, but more importantly, during times of high renewable output.
Date Issued
2021-04-15
Date Acceptance
2021-04-15
Citation
Environmental Research Letters, 2021, 16 (5), pp.1-9
ISSN
1748-9326
Publisher
Institute of Physics (IoP)
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Environmental Research Letters
Volume
16
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd. As the Version of Record of this article is going to be / has been published on a gold open access basis under a CC BY 3.0 licence, this Accepted Manuscript is available for reuse under a CC BY 3.0 licence immediately. Everyone is permitted to use all or part of the original content in this article, provided that they adhere to all the terms of the licence https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/3.0
Copyright URL
Identifier
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abf876
Grant Number
NE/S013350/1
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-04-30