Key features to report

• Heating is the biggest energy user at 42%, but it accounts for only 15% of emissions, the largest gap between the two charts.
• Water heating is consistently important: it uses 30% of the energy and is the single largest source of emissions at 32%.
• Other appliances consume 15% of the energy but produce 28% of the emissions, almost double their share of energy use.
• Refrigeration and lighting also have exactly double the share of emissions that they have of energy: refrigeration rises from 7% to 14% and lighting from 4% to 8%.
• Cooling is the smallest category on both charts, with 2% of energy use and 3% of emissions.
• The key comparison is the mismatch: heating and water heating together use 72% of the energy but cause 47% of the emissions, whereas appliances, refrigeration and lighting use 26% of the energy but cause half of the emissions.

Model overview

Overall, heating and water heating together consume almost three quarters of the energy in Australian homes, but heating produces a much smaller share of greenhouse gases than its energy use would suggest. By contrast, appliances, refrigeration and lighting are responsible for a disproportionately large share of household emissions.

Paragraph plan

1. 1

   Introduction

   Paraphrase the task in one sentence: the pie charts illustrate how energy is consumed in a typical Australian home and what proportion of household greenhouse gas emissions each use produces.

2. 2

   Overview

   Without figures, state that heating and water heating dominate energy use, that heating causes far fewer emissions than its energy use suggests, and that appliances, refrigeration and lighting generate a larger share of emissions than of energy.

3. 3

   Body paragraph 1: heating, water heating and cooling

   Compare the categories whose share falls or stays similar: heating drops from 42% of energy to 15% of emissions, water heating stays high at 30% and 32%, and cooling is the smallest on both charts at 2% and 3%.

4. 4

   Body paragraph 2: appliances, refrigeration and lighting

   Compare the categories whose share of emissions is much higher than their share of energy: other appliances 15% to 28%, refrigeration 7% to 14% and lighting 4% to 8%. Finish by noting that together they cause half of all emissions while using about a quarter of the energy.

Useful comparisons

• Group the six categories by whether their share is lower, similar or higher on the emissions chart than on the energy chart.
• Contrast heating, which drops from first place on the energy chart to third on the emissions chart, with water heating, which becomes the largest source of emissions.
• Point out that refrigeration and lighting both exactly double their share, and other appliances almost double theirs.
• Add up related categories: 15% plus 7% plus 4% makes 26% of energy use, while 28% plus 14% plus 8% makes 50% of emissions.
• Compare rankings: on the energy chart the order is heating, water heating, other appliances; on the emissions chart it is water heating, other appliances, heating.
• Treat cooling briefly as the least significant use on both charts rather than giving it a paragraph of its own.

Band 8+ model answer

195 words · An original model answer written for ieltswrites, not an official answer. It stays in English, as in the exam.

Why this answer scores highly

Task Achievement

The answer gives a clear overview of the mismatch between energy use and emissions, and supports it with accurate figures for every category, comparing each category across the two charts rather than describing them separately.

Coherence and Cohesion

Categories are grouped logically into those whose share falls or stays steady and those whose share rises, and linkers such as however, by contrast, similarly and as a result make the relationships clear.

Lexical Resource

Precise phrases such as disproportionately large, the single biggest source, is responsible for and exactly double avoid repetition of uses and produces, and the task wording is paraphrased with a typical Australian home.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The answer uses comparative and superlative structures, relative and participle clauses, and present tenses consistently for data with no time reference, without noticeable errors.

Useful vocabulary

household energy consumption

the amount of energy used in people's homes

greenhouse gas emissions

gases such as carbon dioxide released into the air that contribute to global warming

account for

form a particular part or percentage of a total

be responsible for

be the cause of a particular share of something, such as emissions

the lion's share

the largest part of something

disproportionately large

much bigger than would be expected compared with something else

by far the largest

much larger than any other item

the single largest source

the one category that produces the most of something

almost three quarters

a little under 75%, used here for 72%

exactly double

twice as much, e.g. 7% compared with 14%

a mere 2%

only 2%, stressing how small the figure is

in a typical Australian home

a paraphrase of in an average Australian household

the opposite pattern

a situation in which figures move in the reverse direction to another group

Common mistakes

• Describing the two charts separately, one paragraph each, without comparing a category's share of energy use with its share of emissions, which is the whole point of the task.
• Writing that emissions increased or decreased, when the charts show two different measures at one point in time, not a change over time.
• Claiming that heating produces the most greenhouse gases, when water heating is the largest source of emissions at 32% and heating produces only 15%.
• Inventing causes, for example saying that appliances use coal-fired electricity while heating uses gas, which is not shown on the charts.
• Listing all twelve percentages with no overview, instead of stating the main contrast in a separate overview paragraph.
• Confusing percentages with amounts, for example writing that appliances use 15 units of energy.

Frequently asked questions

Which Cambridge book is this question from?

These pie charts about energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in Australian households are Writing Task 1 of Test 1 in Cambridge IELTS 10 Academic, published in 2015.

Which tense should I use for these pie charts?

The charts give no year, so the present simple is the safest choice, for example heating accounts for 42% of energy use. Keep the tense consistent throughout the answer.

Should I describe each pie chart in a separate paragraph?

It is better to compare the two charts category by category, because the most important features are the differences between a use's share of energy and its share of emissions.

How many words should I write for this Task 1?

Write at least 150 words; around 170-200 words is enough to give an overview and compare all six categories in about 20 minutes.