Handling with energy

The trend of decreasing energy consumption in households between 2010 and 2022 indicates a positive attitude of the population towards efficient energy use. However, since 2017, a negative trend has been observed, particularly in households' awareness of their own energy consumption and in their consideration of more efficient use. With three-quarters of households in 2022 rating their energy consumption as medium to very high, a significant potential for reducing energy consumption in this sector is suggested.

While the declarative attitude of Slovenian households towards the environment and efficient use of energy is improving, the ratio between environmentally aware and unaware households remains unchanged. This is evident from their environmentally oriented behaviour and actual efficiency in energy use. The results of the Slovenian Energy Efficiency Survey – REUS indicate a great potential for reducing final energy consumption in households through the development of environmentally oriented behaviour and positive habits in energy use.

Research from the European Barometer (EBS) since 2008 has continuously testified to the high awareness of Slovenians about climate changes. Despite fluctuations in perception, for the majority – over two-thirds – climate change represents a very serious problem. Since 2015, we have observed a gradual increase in this awareness, which has surpassed three-quarters of respondents in the latest measurements. According to the most recent data from the REUS 2022 study, more than 80% of households recognize the severity of climate changes, confirming a high level of concern among the population.

The car remains the primary mode of transportation, regardless of the distance or purpose of the trip, while the use of public transport does not show a significant increase. The main barriers to using public transport are poor accessibility, inadequate timetables, a lack of connections, and difficult access. Time inefficiency is also a significant issue. However, there are reasons for optimism, as households are increasingly open to using public transport and car-sharing.

Although a quarter of the newly registered personal cars in Slovenia are electric or hybrid, their share among all personal vehicles is only around 3%. This is due to the fact that households rarely decide to purchase new cars, resulting in a high average age of cars over 10 years, and it will take a long time for our vehicle fleet to become less energy-intensive. Slovenia ranks in the bottom quarter of European countries by the share of first registrations of new personal electric vehicles.

The vast majority of registered personal vehicles are still powered by conventional fuels (petrol and diesel). The proportion of vehicles with alternative propulsion systems has doubled from 2019 to 2022, yet it remains very small.

The results of the Energy Efficiency Survey of Slovenia (REUS) 2021 show that 61 % of Slovenian households rarely or never use public transport. Depending on the type of settlements, the largest share of households that use public transport live in Ljubljana and Maribor, as well as in the Obalno-kraška region. A good tenth of those households that use public transport, has used public transport in the recent week, while a fifth of households used public transport in the recent month.

The results of the Energy Efficiency Survey of Slovenia - REUS show that the share of Slovenian households that are ready to start using or increase their use of public transport over the next 12 months remains quite small – a trend has not significantly changed during the 2011-2019 period. The data show that almost a tenth of households are ready, while a quarter of households are considering the option, while more than two thirds are not ready to start using or to increase their use of public transport.

The analysis of results of the Energy Efficiency Survey of Slovenia for the public and service sector (REUS JSS 2020) indicates that less than a tenth of organisations from the public sector and less than a fifth of office-based companies from the service sector (e.g. banks, post offices and other administrative and office premises) believe that energy consumption in their business premises is either low or very low.

The large majority of organisations from the public sector and office-based companies (e.g. banks, post offices and other administrative and office premises) believe that increased energy efficiency of business premises is very important. About three quarters of organisations in both sectors think about using the energy more efficiently. For about a third of organisations from both sectors, which think about the efficient energy consumption, its main purpose is to decrease the quantity of energy used in their business premises.