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Renewables And Biofuels Account For 8.7% Of EU Services Sector Energy Use

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

June 29, 2026

Energy demand in the European Union’s services sector continued to rise in 2024, reflecting the growing power needs of an increasingly digital and customer-oriented economy. According to Eurostat, final energy consumption reached 4,971 petajoules, up from 4,886 petajoules in 2023.

That marks a year-on-year increase of 1.7%. Over the longer term, energy consumption in the sector has grown by 25% since 1990.

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Services Still Trail Transport, Households And Industry

Despite that growth, services accounted for 13.5% of total final energy consumption across the EU in 2024. Transport remained the largest consumer at 32.3%, followed by households at 26.0% and industry at 24.5%.

Only agriculture, forestry and fishing recorded a smaller share, representing 3.6% of final energy consumption.

Electricity And Natural Gas Continue To Dominate

Electricity and natural gas remained the primary energy sources for the services sector, together accounting for more than three-quarters of total consumption.

More than half of all energy use came from electricity (52.0%), while natural gas accounted for a further 25.4%. Renewables and biofuels contributed 8.7%, heat represented 7.7%, and oil and petroleum products 5.6%. The remaining 0.6% came from other sources, including coal and waste.

Wholesale And Retail Trade Tops Energy Use

Wholesale and retail trade remained the largest energy-consuming services subsector in 2024, using 1,021 petajoules, or 21.2% of the sector’s total consumption.

Human health and social work activities followed with 506 petajoules, representing 10.5%, while accommodation and food service activities consumed 503 petajoules, also equal to 10.5%.

Professional, scientific and technical activities, together with other service activities, accounted for the remaining 492 petajoules, or 10.2%.

A Gradual Shift In Energy Demand

Although services are not the EU’s largest energy-consuming sector, their energy footprint continues to expand. Growing reliance on electrification and digital infrastructure across offices, retail, healthcare and hospitality is steadily increasing electricity demand while reinforcing the importance of energy efficiency and a more diversified energy mix.

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Only 1% Of Cyprus Farms Use Precision Farming Technologies

Cyprus remains one of the European Union’s least digitised agricultural economies, with just 1% of farms using precision farming technologies in 2023, according to Eurostat.

The findings come as the EU continues to encourage the adoption of digital tools aimed at improving agricultural productivity, efficiency and sustainability.

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Internet Access Expands, But Digital Uptake Lags

Internet access has improved across the bloc, although adoption remains uneven. Eurostat found that 43% of EU farms had internet access in 2023, with northern and central European countries leading the way.

Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Austria all reported internet access rates above 90%.

Greater connectivity, however, has not translated into widespread digital adoption. Farm management information systems, which help farmers manage day-to-day operations, were used by only about 11% of EU farms. France was a notable exception, with around 60% of farms using the technology.

Precision Farming Concentrated In Larger Operations

Robotics adoption also remained relatively limited, with only about 7% of EU farms using robotic technologies. Overall, around 18% of farms with utilised agricultural area employed at least one precision farming technology or practice in 2023.

These included robotics for plant protection, band spraying, variable-rate application, precision crop monitoring and soil analysis. Despite representing fewer than one in five farms, these holdings accounted for around 44% of the EU’s utilised agricultural area.

The figures suggest that precision farming remains concentrated among larger agricultural businesses, where investment in digital technologies is typically easier to support.

Cyprus Lags Behind EU Leaders

Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia recorded the highest shares of utilised agricultural area managed by farms using precision farming technologies, each exceeding 75%.

At the other end of the ranking, Cyprus recorded just 1%, while Greece and Romania reported between 10% and 15%. The results indicate that Cyprus remains at an early stage of digital adoption in agriculture, even as precision farming becomes more widespread across parts of the European Union.