The Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) reports that its latest figures show that 19% of households nationally now currently boast either rooftop solar panels or solar powered hot water systems up from about 5% back in 2011, when the ABS first started publishing statistics on solar.
Of the 19%, 14% of these households have rooftop PV, according to the ABS's Karen Connaughton.
"Add in solar hot water heating and were up to 19%, so one in five households are now using some form of solar power."
Unsurprisingly, South Australia scored highest for rooftop solar installations, with a huge 24 per cent of households there tapping electricity from the sun.
Queensland is second highest, with 20% rooftop solar penetration, followed by Western Australia with 16%, Victoria with 11%, Australia Capital Territory and New South Wales (NSW) both on 10%, Tasmania at 7% and Northern Territory (NT) at 6%.
The ABS statistics also found that almost all households in Australia (99.7%) used mains electricity as a source of energy, while half used mains gas.
One in five households used LPG/bottled gas (20%), and 14% of households used another source of energy.
The report also notes that three-quarters of Australian households use some form of cooling, with just under half choosing reverse cycle air conditioning and the remainder mostly split between refrigerated air conditioning and evaporative coolers.
"The hot spot for cooling was the Northern Territory," said Connaughton, "where 97% of households had some form of cooling." Tasmania had the least, with only about half of all households having air-con.
Content republished with permission from RenewEconomy.
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