Australian energy use increased in 2015-16, but also became more efficient according to the latest edition of the annual Energy Account released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Total net energy use increased by 5 per cent in 2015-16, according to ABS Environment and Agriculture spokesperson Lauren Binns, with net exports of energy increasing by 10 per cent (to account for 75 per cent of net energy use).
Australian industry and households both reported small 1 per cent increases in net energy use over the period.
"However, although Australian industry used more energy overall in 2015-16, it made more from it, requiring 2 per cent less energy for each million dollars of economic output between 2014-15 and 2015-16." Ms Binns said.
There was a similar pattern at the household level.
"On average, each Australian household used 141 gigajoules of energy in 2015-16 - that's a 1 per cent decrease from 2014-15 and a nearly 6 per cent decrease over the decade since 2005-06," Ms Binns said.
