La diversità delle tradizioni italiane, lungo la penisola, si riflette anche nei consumi energetici. I dati, da Nord a Sud, possono aiutarci a fare chiarezza su queste variazioni.
Languages, traditions, food, customs. Italy's regional diversity is inevitably reflected in its consumption, and electricity consumption in particular.
In 2017 an inhabitant of Friuli consumed three times more energy than an inhabitant of Calabria in one hour. Compared to the Italian average, the Valle d’Aosta and Lombardy regions are also positioned on the highest levels of energy consumption
In general, as the graph shows, the Central Northern regions consume more energy than those in the Mediterranean area. This disparity can be attributed to several factors, the foremost of which is the greater concentration of industrial and tertiary activities in the Northern areas, which also contain more residential centres.
In terms of concrete measurements, in an hour a 40-inch LCD television consumes an average of 175 kW. In a year a Friulian’s total consumption is equivalent to about 47 televisions per hour, while a Calabrian uses ‘a mere’ 15.
Analysis of the data on specific energy consumption enables us to highlight other useful features and understand the typical heterogeneity of Italy. For example, while consumption in the agricultural and tertiary sectors conforms to the overall consumption trend, it is different for consumption for domestic use.
Here, we immediately locate Sardinia in the upper echelons of the ranking, beaten only by Valle d'Aosta, despite not having led the ranking of total consumption. Still in Sardinia: in general, the region consumes about as much as Abruzzo, but if we look at domestic use, an inhabitant of Abruzzo consumes two thirds of the energy that a Sardinian would consume.
An iron used for 30 mins a day consumes 160 kWh in a year: an inhabitant of Valle d’Aosta consumes the equivalent of 8.75 irons, while an inhabitant of Abruzzo would not consume much more than 5.
Another significant difference in Italy’s energy picture comes from the industrial sector: energy use in this area by Lombardy alone is equal to the total consumption of at least thirteen Italian regions.
In 2017, Lombardy consumed over 30 GWh of energy, despite having a population of a little over 10 million inhabitants. If we added the consumption of thirteen other Italian regions together, the same amount of energy would be used; these areas however have almost 30 million inhabitants - around half of the Italian population.