Non-Energy Use

Non-energy use consists of the use of energy products as raw materials for the manufacture of products outside the scope of the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC), as well as for direct uses that do not involve using the product as a source of energy, nor as a transformation input. Examples given are lubrication, sealing, preservation, road surfacing and use as a solvent [IRES, Ch. V, para. 5.21, PDF p. 71, 2018].

Non-energy use is one of the two components of final consumption, alongside final energy consumption [IRES, Ch. V, para. 5.5, PDF p. 68, 2018].

Reductants are an exception

Some studies of non-energy use also classify the use of reductants — carbon from fuels (usually cokes) heated with metal oxides, mostly for the manufacture of iron and steel — as non-energy use. IRES does not follow this convention: the gases created by the reduction process, which contain most of the carbon from the reductant, are themselves used as fuels to sustain the process or for other heat-raising purposes, so reductant use is treated as energy use in energy statistics [IRES, Ch. V, para. 5.21, footnote 44, PDF p. 71, 2018].

Non-energy use in the cross-classification of uses and users

In Figure 5.2’s matrix of energy uses and users, non-energy use is represented by box (e). It covers the use of energy products for non-energy purposes irrespective of the economic activity in which the use takes place — energy consumers or energy industries alike — and is usually presented in an aggregated form, not linked to any specific economic activity [IRES, Ch. V, para. 5.97, PDF p. 82, 2018]. See Cross-Classification of Uses and Users of Energy for the full matrix.

Related

• IRES Chapter V — Energy Flows — the chapter digest this page supports
• Final Consumption — the flow category non-energy use is a component of
• SIEC Classification System — the classification whose scope boundary this page’s definition is anchored to
• Cross-Classification of Uses and Users of Energy — Figure 5.2, where non-energy use is box (e), cutting across both energy industries and energy consumers