Analysis of fuel and energy transition in Lithuanian households sector and its sustainable development in compliance with the EU policy

The article provides the analysis of fuel and energy transition in Lithuanian households sector and its sustainable development after the integration of Lithuania into the European Union (EU) and covers the period 2005-2012. Lithuania has limited quantity of indigenous energy resources and is depended from the import of energy resources, such as natural gas, petroleum and hard coal. Up to the year 2009 about 70-80% of electricity was produced from Ignalina NPP. At the end of 2009, according to the requirements of EU, Ignalina NPP was closed. Lithuania's energy dependence on the imports of fuel increased remarkably from 503% in 2009 to about 82% in 2010-2012 and considerably exceeded the EU average 54%. The share of renewable and indigenous energy sources in gross inland fuel and energy consumption increased from 14.7% in 2009 to 19.5% in 2012. About 40.4% of RES and indigenous energy belonged to households sector and 44.9% were transformed in Combined Heat and Power (CHP), and only 14.7% belonged to industry and other sectors. In article, the sustainable development of Lithuanian and European households were overviewed and recent analysis of Lithuanian households sector was carried out. Dwellings were sorted by the year of construction. Distribution of households by dwelling type and heated area was assessed. Final fuel and energy consumption and distribution by different consumer groups were shown. In 2009-2012 final fuel and energy consumption of Lithuanian households comprised about 65 PJ or 33% of all final consumption. Household's energy consumption by different energy sources was disclosed. In 2012 about 36.5% of household's energy consumption belonged to solid biofuels and about 31.7% to heat energy. Electricity consumptions of households and electricity prices for household consumers were indicated and comparisons with EU-27 countries were made. Lithuanian RES flows diagram was constructed and RES share for households was revealed. The reduction of greenhouse gases emissions in Lithuania and other European countries was indicated. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.