Space heating

According to the official statistical data in Cyprus, in the table 2.10 the heating technologies used in the residential sector are presented.

Space heating in the residential sector

	1992	2001
Heating	183.743	222.393	%
Central heating (Kerosene)	22.163	60.453	27%
Storage heaters ( E.A.C.)	4.002	12.133	5%
Fixed room units ( hot air)	3.564	20.981	9%
Fireplace	16.158	10.700	5%
Electric stoves	8.807	18.779	8%
Gas/diesel stoves	124.545	92.861	42%
No heating	3.927	4.084	2%
Other type / not stated	577	2.402	1%

As it can be seen by the above table about 60% of the space heating needs are covered by diesel. Electricity (22%), LPG (9%) and biomass (5%) also contribute to space heating.

Most of the households are equipped with Central hot water systems (diesel boilers). Split type air-conditioning units operating in heating mode are also used as heater in wintertime. LPG heaters are used for space heating in many households especially in rural areas. Finally only few households still utilize kerosene.

Water heating

On the part of the water heating needs, the extensive use of solar water heaters leads Cyprus among the leading countries in terms of installed solar collectors per capita with 0.86m². The whole residential sector is equipped in high degree with solar hot water systems. About 90% of individual houses, 80% of apartments, and 50% of hotels are equipped with solar water heating systems.

Space cooling

Space cooling is currently achieved by wall mounted heat pumps. This type of airconditioning is popular to the residential sector due to the low initial cost. Most of the energy is consumed during the summer period (May to October) when airconditioning is needed. There is of course a definite heating period (late November to March), however the ambient temperature in winter rarely fall below 10^o C in the seaside towns and at daytime they are at 20^o C or above with plenty of sunshine and little or no need for heating.

Electrical uses

Electricity is mainly used in the electrical appliances rather than for space heating, whereas solar is used for water heating. Electricity consumption has been increased during the last few years in the residential sector mainly due to the increase of the number of households and living standards.

Electricity is the purest form of energy in the sense that it is easily convertible to all other forms of energy including heat. Electricity accounts approximately a 30% of the total energy consumption in the domestic sector.

The main electrical uses in a typical household in Cyprus are:

1. Washing machine / Drier / Dishwasher / Iron

2. Cooking (Electric kettle, coffee maker, toaster, oven, microwave oven)

3. Refrigeration/ freezer

4. Audio / video

5. Computer / printer / fax

6. Lighting Except of electricity, LPG is also used for cooking, but the recent trend in Cyprus is the replacement of LPG cookers with electricity cookers. Small electricity gasoline-generators are used only in few households, which are not covered by the electrical grid.