Written question asked by Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 9 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 June 2005. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 June 2005 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Patio Heaters

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will estimate the (a) carbon dioxide and (b) greenhouse gas emissions created by outdoor patio heaters in (i) the most recent year for which information is available and (ii) each of the next five years.

Answer: Only very limited information is currently available about the number of outdoor patio heaters in use in the UK.Using this information the Government's Market Transformation Programme (MTP) has made a preliminary estimate of the number of these appliances in use in the UK—estimating that there are 630,000 in use in the domestic sector and between 26,000 and 105,000 in the hospitality sector (pubs, restaurants and hotels).Making reasonable assumptions about fuel, power rating, and level of usage, MTP estimates annual energy consumption to be approximately 670 GWh in the domestic sector and between 280 and 1100 GWh in the hospitality sector. The corresponding annual carbon dioxide emissions are 140,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the domestic sector and between 60,000 and 240,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the in the hospitality sector.No information is available about projected carbon dioxide emission from outdoor patio heaters over the next five years.No information on other greenhouse gas emissions from outdoor patio heaters is available.

Secondary information