10 ways to advance the world's energy efficiency improvements


Tuesday, 22 November, 2016

A report released last week by the World Energy Council reveals that energy efficiency improvements over the last 15 years have saved the world 3.1 gigatonnes (Gt) of primary energy consumption and 7 Gt of CO2, but concludes that much more could and should be done.

‘Energy Efficiency: A straight path towards energy sustainability’, conducted in collaboration with The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), finds that the annual improvement rate of energy efficiency has slowed down from 1.6% between 2000 and 2008 to 1.3% from 2009 to 2014. This is far behind the objective of 2.6% annual energy intensity improvement, despite energy efficiency being one of the top action priorities for energy leaders globally according to the World Energy Council’s issues monitor.

The report also highlights that industrial electric motors and electric motor-driven systems consume almost half the world’s total electricity and account for 70% of total electricity consumption within industry worldwide. The cost-effective potential to improve the energy efficiency of motor systems is roughly 20–30%.

“While there has been some progress, there is still not enough being done to drive energy efficiency and to reduce global energy emissions as agreed at COP21 in 2015,” said Christoph Frei, secretary general, World Energy Council.

The report makes the following 10 recommendations to advance energy efficiency improvements:

  1. Energy prices should closely reflect the real cost of supply.
  2. Countries should set deadlines for a gradual energy pricing reform.
  3. Consumers need to be better informed. It is necessary to simplify messages on energy efficiency to reach the majority of consumers.
  4. New technologies including smart meters and billing offer attractive benefits and their wide introduction should be supported by policies.
  5. Innovative financing tools need to be widely introduced to alleviate the public budgets from the financial and fiscal incentives.
  6. Regulations must be regularly reviewed and strengthened if necessary and labelling and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) should be regularly revised and upgraded.
  7. Monitoring achievements and the impacts of measures is necessary to check the real impact of energy efficiency policies.
  8. The development of international or multinational standards can help enhance international and regional cooperation. International energy mediums should be used to exchange experiences for policies benchmarking and identification of best practices.
  9. Efficiency labels guide consumers towards more energy-efficient appliances and motivates manufacturers to supply more energy-efficient products; however, they need to be complemented with MEPS to remove inefficient equipment and introduce best practices.
  10. Price signals are key but alone are also not enough to improve efficiency. Clear and targeted policies are required to reinforce the role of energy prices in market economies and support a wider deployment of energy-efficient equipment and services which would drive consumer choice towards the most efficient and cost-effective solutions.

“We still need to develop new policies, strategies and business models to meet the challenge of securing tomorrow’s energy today,” said Frei. “We will continue to engage global leaders to create the right policy signals, to scale up new business models, to drive innovation and global trade of best-in-class green goods and services. It’s about encouraging collaboration on regional integration projects that will deliver a sustainable future.”

The report can be viewed on the World Energy Council website.

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