How do England & Wales Stay Warm?

One of the more spatially interesting datasets on DataShine: Census is about central heating – do houses have it, and what is the fuel source? The table is QS415EW and here’s what one of the categories look like on DataShine. You’ll notice a distinctive pattern, with city centres and the countryside having low proportions of houses with gas central heating (yellow), while city suburbs and towns have much higher proportions (red). Oil central heating, being more expensive, is rare in urban areas but a practical necessity in the countryside, such as in rural Wales. Solid fuel is popular in Northumberland. Aberdaron in Wales has the highest proportion of households in England/Wales with no central heating at all. Many of the houses in this area are holiday houses, which are presumably most population in the summer. It could be a bit chilly there in the winter!