Earth Notes: On Micro-survey Results
Updated 2023-11-07.
2020-12-11: Thermal Imaging?
2020-12-11: @EarthOrgUK asked (1 day poll, opened afternoon of the 11th): Who has done a thermal imaging survey of their UK home?
- Yes (33%)
- No (50%)
- Other (in thread) (16.7%)
Final vote count was 6.
2017-04: Heating Off in April and On in November?
UK Twitter followers' heating status was surveyed periodically from April 2017.
The poll question has changed slightly over time, but here is a summary of apparent intent.
It seems that ~10% of respondents leave their heating on year round!
Summary of polls
| Start / Link | On % | Off % | What's Off? % | Other % | Total Votes | Duration (d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-04-03 | 16.7 | 75.0 | 8.3 | 12 | ||
| 2017-10-03 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 6 | ||
| 2018-04-09 | 58.0 | 22.3 | 16.1 | 3.6 | 112 | |
| 2018-06-21 | 5.3 | 78.9 | 15.8 | 0.0 | 19 | |
| 2019-10-31 | 87.5 | 12.5 | 0.0 | 16 | ||
| 2020-04-01 | 75.7 | 16.2 | 8.1 | 37 | 2 | |
| 2020-10-19 | 75.0 | 13.3 | 11.7 | 60 | 2 | |
| 2020-12-01 | 88.5 | 1.9 | 9.6 | 52 | 2 | |
| 2021-03-24 | 67.5 | 25.0 | 7.5 | 40 | 2 | |
| 2021-05-05 | 69.2 | 26.9 | 3.8 | 26 | 2 | |
| 2021-08-05 | 26.8 | 67.6 | 5.6 | 71 | 2 | |
| 2021-09-17 | 9.1 | 85.5 | 5.5 | 55 | 2 | |
| 2021-11-13 | 65.7 | 28.6 | 5.7 | 35 | 2 | |
| 2022-01-18 | 80.6 | 14.5 | 4.8 | 62 | 2 | |
| 2022-02-15 | 75.0 | 16.7 | 8.3 | 24 | 2 | |
| 2022-07-06 | 14.0 | 82.8 | 3.2 | 157 | 2 |
A by-month view of definitely-off UK central heating...
| % Off |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 17 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 79 | 83 | 68 | 85 | 17 | 29 | 2 | |
| Votes | 62 | 24 | 40 | 161 | 26 | 19 | 157 | 71 | 55 | 82 | 35 | 52 |
| Polls | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
See more detail: On UK Central Heating On/Off Date Micro-survey Results.
2009-09: What Topic Next?
Closing in September 2009, I had asked: "What topics would you most like me to write up here next?":
| Electric cars, bikes and scooters | 11% (3) |
| Wind turbines at home | 11% (3) |
| Installing solar PV (for electricity) at home | 14% (4) |
| Installing solar thermal (for hot water) at home | 11% (3) |
| Efficient dishwashing | 18% (5) |
| Train travel: is it 'green'? | 7% (2) |
| Supermarket home delivery vs using your own car | 11% (3) |
| Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) and saving energy | 7% (2) |
| Is bulk buying of food a good idea? | 7% (2) |
| Re-use: library vs buying books | 4% (1) |
(Total votes: 28)
2008-09: How do you feel about Electric Cars?
Closing in September 2008, Solar John took a poll: "Because of rapidly rising gasoline prices it's likely that we'll soon be driving electric cars. As a result of battery issues some car companies plan to lease batteries instead of selling them with the car. How do you feel about that?" The results were:
| I prefer to lease the car and lease the batteries. | 0% (0) |
| I prefer to buy the car and lease the batteries. | 38% (8) |
| I prefer to buy the car and buy the batteries. | 61% (13) |
2008-08: Spending on Insulation?
Starting at the end of August 2008 I asked: "How much are you spending or have you spent on conservation/insulation for this winter (in the Northern Hemisphere)?" and received the initial 15 responses in the first day, mainly from people already very interested in generating their own power, etc, and then an equal and maybe more typical response over the next fortnight:
| Answer | Initial Wave (15, first 24h) | Full (31, after 2 weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing: I can't be bothered. | 0% (0) | 3% (1) |
| Nothing: I have no money. | 0% (0) | 3% (1) |
| Nothing: I rent and/or don't pay bills. | 13% (2) | 10% (3) |
| Less than my annual electricity+heating bills. | 27% (4) | 45% (14) |
| As much or more than my annual electricity+heating bills. | 53% (8) | 39% (12) |
2008-04: Are You Reducing CO2 Now?
Over April 2008 I asked "Are you reducing GHG/CO2 emissions for your home and/or business this year?" and received the following (30) responses:
| Yes, I intend to reduce. | 13% (4) |
| Yes, I have already reduced. | 70% (21) |
| I'd like to do more but I'm short of cash. | 3% (1) |
| I'd like to do more but I don't know what. | 3% (1) |
| No, I think that I can't make a difference. | 0% (0) |
| No, I think global warming and GHG-worry is a waste of time. | 7% (2) |
| Other | 3% (1) |
2008-03: Green Spend at Home?
Early 2008 research from the Co-op Bank suggested that the UK public plans to spend more than £13b to make their homes greener in 2008 (an average of £550 per house per year). Two-thirds claimed that they had reduced their carbon footprint in the past year.
2008-02: Electricity Use at Home?
An informal on-line poll of usage per month, in a blog read by a worldwide audience including the UK and US, indicated as of 2008-02-04 that the modal monthly kWh (mains) electricity use is around 500 to 600:
| How much electricity do you use each month? | |
|---|---|
| Less than 300kWh | 18 |
| 300 to 600kWh | 26 |
| 600 to 900kWh | 18 |
| 900 to 1200kWh | 8 |
| 1200 to 1500kWh | 12 |
| 1500 to 1800kWh | 2 |
| More than 1800kWh | 11 |
Dataset
- name
- EOU Micro-survey Results
- description
- Micro-survey results from Earth.Org.UK and @EarthOrgUK Twitter account
- version
- 1
- keywords
- survey, micro, straw poll, on-line, self-reporting
- variable measured
- sentiment
- date created
- 2008-05-08T13:36:46Z
- date published
- 2008-05-08T13:36:46Z
- date modified
- 2023-11-07T08:55:23Z
- temporal coverage
- 2008/..
- canonical URL
- this descriptive text with markup
- distribution
- data content of HTML article
- licence
- this dataset is licensed under CC0, ie it is effectively public domain; if you make use of this data, attribution is welcome but not obligatory
- is accessible for free
- true