Carbon pricing alone may not fully address barriers to energy efficiency improvements. Complementary policies are often needed to overcome issues like split incentives between landlords and tenants, imperfect information among consumers and builders, and other market failures. Case studies show carbon prices can incentivize efficiency but may not reach their full potential due to unaddressed barriers. An optimal policy package includes carbon pricing as well as additional policies like minimum energy performance standards, energy efficiency financing programs, information campaigns, and economic incentives to maximize energy savings opportunities and achieve low-cost emissions reductions.
Global warming concerns leading to decarbonization is shifting energy from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The slides briefly touch on different ways of decarbonizing & alternative energy resources.
Energy Transition: Multi-$trillion Ponzi scheme or the biggest tech market ever?Simon Thompson
Background: The conundrum of the oil price
About $100 billion a year is spent by the 5 biggest global oil companies “finding” more oil. Today $300 billion a year is spent on installing renewables like solar and windpower – almost three times what is spent by those oil companies.
But there is no money spent on “finding” new sun, as we already know where the sun is at its brightest. There is also no money spent finding out where it is windiest because we already know.
Oil company valuation
Value = oil price today X assets in the ground minus cost of getting it out
New formula
Value = oil price today (and in the future) X assets in ground minus cost of getting it out of the ground
If oil falls to $30
Value = 20% of oil worth getting out of the ground –value falls by 80%. With debt = worthless
Stop digging for new oil.
If oil falls to $20
Almost zero oil is worth getting out of the ground
So Oil industry = zero less debt - negative
Oil goes to $20 in 2043...
Global warming concerns leading to decarbonization is shifting energy from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The slides briefly touch on different ways of decarbonizing & alternative energy resources.
Energy Transition: Multi-$trillion Ponzi scheme or the biggest tech market ever?Simon Thompson
Background: The conundrum of the oil price
About $100 billion a year is spent by the 5 biggest global oil companies “finding” more oil. Today $300 billion a year is spent on installing renewables like solar and windpower – almost three times what is spent by those oil companies.
But there is no money spent on “finding” new sun, as we already know where the sun is at its brightest. There is also no money spent finding out where it is windiest because we already know.
Oil company valuation
Value = oil price today X assets in the ground minus cost of getting it out
New formula
Value = oil price today (and in the future) X assets in ground minus cost of getting it out of the ground
If oil falls to $30
Value = 20% of oil worth getting out of the ground –value falls by 80%. With debt = worthless
Stop digging for new oil.
If oil falls to $20
Almost zero oil is worth getting out of the ground
So Oil industry = zero less debt - negative
Oil goes to $20 in 2043...
On April 30, WRI hosted a dynamic town hall discussion about key issues related to pricing carbon in the United States. Putting a price on carbon can provide a clear and consistent economic signal that can help shift market growth in the coming decades toward a climate-smart, low-carbon economy.
The new resource "Putting a Price on Carbon: A Handbook for U.S. Policymakers" was released. Find out more at www.wri.org/carbonpricing
This webinar analyses energy efficiency trends in the EU for the period 2014-2019 and the impact of COVID-19 in 2020 (based on estimates from Enerdata).
The speakers present the overall trend in total energy supply and in final energy consumption, as well as details by sector, alongside macro-economic data. They will explain the main drivers of the variation in energy consumption since 2014 and determine the impact of energy savings.
Speakers:
Laura Sudries, Senior Energy Efficiency Analyst, Enerdata
Bruno Lapillonne, Scientific Director, Enerdata
The recordings of the presentation (webinar) can be viewed at:
https://youtu.be/8RuK5MroTxk
English language version of the presentation given by Jonathan Jutsen, Chairman of the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity in San Luis Argentina in December 2016
Smart Hidro Power de Alemania presento el panorama de Alemania en el ámbito de las energías renovables no convencionales, mostrando la participación del estado y de las entidades sin ánimo de lucro como DENA
At the scale of a town district, a community solar self-consumption project is not only possible technically and legally, but also financially viable today.
In this article, we will discuss ‘allocation keys’ to break down the energy produced between the various participating consumers in order to obtain the desired balance between redistribution of benefits to those who truly consume solar energy and profitability for the investor.
Access to energy is at the heart of the economic development of any country. This slide shows the fundamental differences between renewable and non-renewable energy sources. To cope with climate change and to guarantee the planet survival, the world needs to take urgent action. In this scenario, solar energy is leading the energy shift. Furthermore, with declining investments cost, producing solar electricity for the purpose of self-consumption is on the rise. A solar self- consumption installation uses the PV electricity generated on-site to meet the energy needs of the consumer while minimizing or excluding the use of electricity from the utility grid.
Introduction to the Energy Efficiency DirectiveLeonardo ENERGY
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) was adopted in 2012 and is one of the EU’s four key Directives addressing energy efficiency in stationary (i.e. non transport) end-uses (the others being the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive, The Ecodesign Directive and the Energy Labelling Directive). Given that the other Directives cover the energy performance of buildings and equipment the EED is designed to address energy savings opportunities that are not readily addressed by the other Directives. It has its origin in the preceding Energy Services Directive, which was repealed when the EED was adopted. The Energy Efficiency Directive establishes a set of binding measures intended to help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. Under the Directive, all EU countries are required to use energy more efficiently at all stages of the energy chain from its production to its final consumption. EU countries were required to transpose the Directive's provisions into their national laws by 5 June 2014.
The role of CCS in mitigation scenarios - Ellina Levina, IEA Global CCS Institute
This is a presentation delivered by Ellina Levina of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the Institute’s COP 17 side event, held on November 30. The presentation reviews the IEA’s work on CCS, including its scenarios that project CCS as delivering 19 per cent of required global emission cuts by 2050. The presentation also reviews current challenges to CCS and to global emissions reduction efforts.
On April 30, WRI hosted a dynamic town hall discussion about key issues related to pricing carbon in the United States. Putting a price on carbon can provide a clear and consistent economic signal that can help shift market growth in the coming decades toward a climate-smart, low-carbon economy.
The new resource "Putting a Price on Carbon: A Handbook for U.S. Policymakers" was released. Find out more at www.wri.org/carbonpricing
This webinar analyses energy efficiency trends in the EU for the period 2014-2019 and the impact of COVID-19 in 2020 (based on estimates from Enerdata).
The speakers present the overall trend in total energy supply and in final energy consumption, as well as details by sector, alongside macro-economic data. They will explain the main drivers of the variation in energy consumption since 2014 and determine the impact of energy savings.
Speakers:
Laura Sudries, Senior Energy Efficiency Analyst, Enerdata
Bruno Lapillonne, Scientific Director, Enerdata
The recordings of the presentation (webinar) can be viewed at:
https://youtu.be/8RuK5MroTxk
English language version of the presentation given by Jonathan Jutsen, Chairman of the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity in San Luis Argentina in December 2016
Smart Hidro Power de Alemania presento el panorama de Alemania en el ámbito de las energías renovables no convencionales, mostrando la participación del estado y de las entidades sin ánimo de lucro como DENA
At the scale of a town district, a community solar self-consumption project is not only possible technically and legally, but also financially viable today.
In this article, we will discuss ‘allocation keys’ to break down the energy produced between the various participating consumers in order to obtain the desired balance between redistribution of benefits to those who truly consume solar energy and profitability for the investor.
Access to energy is at the heart of the economic development of any country. This slide shows the fundamental differences between renewable and non-renewable energy sources. To cope with climate change and to guarantee the planet survival, the world needs to take urgent action. In this scenario, solar energy is leading the energy shift. Furthermore, with declining investments cost, producing solar electricity for the purpose of self-consumption is on the rise. A solar self- consumption installation uses the PV electricity generated on-site to meet the energy needs of the consumer while minimizing or excluding the use of electricity from the utility grid.
Introduction to the Energy Efficiency DirectiveLeonardo ENERGY
The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) was adopted in 2012 and is one of the EU’s four key Directives addressing energy efficiency in stationary (i.e. non transport) end-uses (the others being the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive, The Ecodesign Directive and the Energy Labelling Directive). Given that the other Directives cover the energy performance of buildings and equipment the EED is designed to address energy savings opportunities that are not readily addressed by the other Directives. It has its origin in the preceding Energy Services Directive, which was repealed when the EED was adopted. The Energy Efficiency Directive establishes a set of binding measures intended to help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. Under the Directive, all EU countries are required to use energy more efficiently at all stages of the energy chain from its production to its final consumption. EU countries were required to transpose the Directive's provisions into their national laws by 5 June 2014.
The role of CCS in mitigation scenarios - Ellina Levina, IEA Global CCS Institute
This is a presentation delivered by Ellina Levina of the International Energy Agency (IEA) at the Institute’s COP 17 side event, held on November 30. The presentation reviews the IEA’s work on CCS, including its scenarios that project CCS as delivering 19 per cent of required global emission cuts by 2050. The presentation also reviews current challenges to CCS and to global emissions reduction efforts.
In this presentation, Faithful+Gould's Sean Lockie discusses the main drivers for investing in sustainable building solutions. He cites examples of clients that are benefiting from improvements in energy efficiency, health and safety, and performance.
This presentation was originally delivered in October 2013.
Read more: http://www.atkinsglobal.com/en-GB/media-centre/events/atkins-lectures/2013/building-a-low-carbon-economy
CIB TG66 North America Webinar 2010-10-12 5 Joshua KneifelINIVE EEIG
The North American session of the international webinar series,"THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDINGS POLICIES IN 5 CONTINENTS" was held on October 12, 2010 9:00 am, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00).
The agenda for the free 2-hour webinar was:
· North America: Public and Private Measures for Fostering the Adaptation of Green Building Practices, Jonathan Westeinde, Chair, Green Building Advisory Group, North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation
· United States: Country Report on Building Energy Codes & Standards Regulation in the United States, Darren B. Meyers, Technical Director, Energy Programs, International Code Council
· Canada: Canadian Energy Efficient Building Policies, James Clark, Buildings Division, Office of Energy Efficiency, Natural Resources Canada
· Mexico: Toward Energy Efficiency in Housing in Mexico, Evangelina Hirata, Consultant on Energy Efficiency in Housing
· United States: Beyond the Code -- Energy, Carbon, and Cost Savings using Conventional Building Technologies, Joshua Kneifel, Economist, National Institute of Standards and Technology
2010 IFMA DC Sustainability - 2 Shades Of Greenmchobot
Facilities professionals are struggling with balancing environmental impacts and financial impacts. This presentation goes over three key challenges and offers some ideas on how to approach sustainability in a pragmatic way.
Reducing your costs and your carbon footprintTom Raftery
Cork Internet eXchange (CIX) is a hyper energy-efficient data centre. In this talk I outline some of the simple steps taken by CIX to achieve this status
Is Coal A Sinking Ship?
The CTI report " Carbon Supply Cost Curves: Evaluating Financial Risk to Coal Capital Expenditures" provides investors and coal companies with a tool – the carbon supply cost curve – which helps identify the projects where the most financial risk lies and direct capital away from them.
Webinar - The US energy savings potential and who pays for itLeonardo ENERGY
Several recent studies use bottom-up models to assess the potential for energy efficiency (or avoided emissions from greenhouse gases) and the costs of implementing such energy efficiency measure, representing these two dimensions in an energy efficiency supply curve. However, energy savings estimates are generally overly optimistic suggesting that the costs to achieve the energy efficiency potential are very low.
We revisit the energy efficiency supply curve approach, developing a model that accounts for key uncertainties and different perspectives on how energy efficiency potential can be tackled.
This model provides efficiency potential savings and associated costs for the US residential sector
Keeping our cities sustainably warm - Inspiring the Efficient Renewal of District Heating for the Just Transition
Brian Vad Mathiesen, Aalborg University
KeepWarm Conference, November 12, 2020, Brussels - Online
Tudor Costantinescu, Principal Adviser, European Commission, Directorate-gene...WEC Italia
Slides presentate in occasione del Seminario "The Energy transition in Europe: different pathways, same destination? organizzato da Edison in collaborazione con WEC Italia il 29 maggio 2013 a Roma - TWITTER #NRGstrategy
Second Stakeholder Event for the Revision of Directive (REDII) 2018/2001
Session 2 Renewable energy in Heating and Cooling, Buildings and District Heating
Professor Brian Vad Mathiesen, Aalborg University
March 22, 2021, Brussels - Online
Presentation del Clean Energy Package de la Comisión European en el Winter Seminar de Funseam 2016, organizado por Funseam y Gas Natural Fenosa
Paula PinhoHead of Unit – Energy Policy CoordinationEuropean Commission – DG ENERGY
Executive VP of Programs and Development Brian Castelli traveled to Mexico City to present at EXPO INCYTAM 2008, where he offered energy efficiency solutions for Latin American cities burdened by the effects of pollution and global climate change.
Course on Regulation and Sustainable Energy in Developing Countries - Session...Leonardo ENERGY
This session is devoted to the design of feed-in tariff schemes for the large-scale dissemination of on-grid renewable energy technologies in developing countries. More than 50 countries have adopted a feed-in tariff both in developed and developing countries.
Designed carefully, feed-in tariff laws are considered to be one the most cost-effective measure to support renewable energy technologies. In the case of developing countries, there is a need to balance conflicting priorities, especially when it comes to national development objectives such as health, education, employment etc, whereby environmental issues can often be considered as secondary. Therefore the complementary benefits that renewables can bring and the cost of mechanisms to support renewable energy technologies needs to be weighed; renewable energy policies need to be linked to development policies.
After a brief introduction on the motivations to introduce renewable energy policies in developing countries, the session 3 examines the way to design and implement effective feed-in tariff: how to determine the eligible producer and technologies, how to calculated support levels, how to differentiate tariff payment, when to revise tariffs and plan tariff degression, etc.
Presented by Vlasis Oikonomou, SOM Research Institute, Department of Economics, University of Groningen, Netherlands, at the IEA DSM Programme workshop in Maastricht, the Netherlands on 11 October 2006.
Jenny Deakin from the EPA Catchments Unit gave a Teagasc Signpost Seminar on April 20 2021. The seminar covered water quality, focused on the agricultural sector, and the solutions needed to improve water quality, and new tools to target the right measure in the right place. This includes upgraded Pollution Impact Potential Maps for Nitrogen and Phosphorus, together with overland flow and focused delivery points.
On 25 November 2020 the EPA published Ireland’s Environment - An Integrated Assessment 2020 which provides an assessment of the overall quality of Ireland's environment, the pressures being placed on it and the societal responses to current and emerging environmental issues.
This plain English fact sheet outlines the work done by the EPA in monitoring Ireland’s rivers.
Ireland has more than 73,000 km of river channels. If placed end-to-end, they could encircle the Earth almost twice. Three-quarters of these channels are very small streams that typically flow into larger rivers.
Biological monitoring has been carried out in Irish rivers since 1971. The current national river monitoring programme covers more than 13,000 km of river channel.
The national monitoring programme is run by the EPA and focuses on the main river channels rather than the smaller streams. The programme includes more than 2,800 sites sampled for biology, with almost half of these being sampled for physical and chemical parameters.
This plain English fact sheet outlines the work done by the EPA in monitoring phytoplankton in Ireland's marine environment.
The EPA and the Marine Institute sample phytoplankton in estuaries and coastal waters around Ireland. They carry out sampling three times during the summer and once during winter. At each location, they take water samples just below the surface and above the seabed. They use the samples to assess how much phytoplankton is in the water and what species are present.
Phytoplankton are tiny, free-floating plants found suspended in the world’s oceans. Their name comes from Greek and means ‘plant drifter’. They are carried along by ocean currents and are usually found floating near the surface of the water. Like all plants they need sunlight to grow.
The main sources of nutrients around Ireland’s coast are discharges from wastewater treatment plants and run off from agricultural land. Phytoplankton in the estuaries and coastal waters around Ireland are monitored by the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) and the Marine Institute. They monitor phytoplankton to assess the quality (status) of our marine environment. They must do this as part of the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive.
This plain English fact sheet outlines the work done by the EPA in monitoring Ireland’s marine environment.
Ecologically healthy marine waters are a valuable natural resource. They support a rich and diverse range of ecosystems, habitats and species, and they are also a source of food – from wild fisheries and aquaculture. They are also important for recreational activities and tourism.
Transitional and coastal waters are assessed under the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Having coordinated frameworks for water quality for all the water bodies in Ireland, and across Europe, allows us to compare our results with other countries. It allows us to see what works to help us make sure all our water bodies achieve at least ‘good’ status, and no deterioration occurs.
This plain English fact sheet outlines the work done by the EPA in monitoring Ireland’s lakes.
A total of 225 lakes are currently included as part of the national surface waters monitoring programme run by the EPA, this covers around 80% of the surface area of all lakes in Ireland.
This includes:
• all lakes greater than 50 hectares
• lakes that are used for supplying drinking water
• lakes that are of regional, local or scientific interest
This Plain English fact sheet outlines the work done by the EPA in monitoring aquatic plants in Irish lakes.
Aquatic plants are good at showing if the quality of the water is good or bad and play an important role in lake ecology by providing food and a habitat for many smaller plants, animals and birds.
They also:
• provide shelter for young fish
• help to improve the clarity of the water
• help stabilise lake shore banks
• reduce the amount of sediment being suspended in the water
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) monitors these aquatic plants at more than 10,000 sites in over 200 lakes once every three years.
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This presentation was by Con McLaughlin, Donegal County Council and Andy Griggs, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon District Council.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
On 17 and 18 June 2020 the EPA held its National Water Event as an online conference.
This year's theme was 'Restoring our waters'.
This years event was free to attend. It was the EPA's largest water event ever, with over 1250 attending.
To everyone who joined us: thanks for attending; thanks for your probing questions; thanks for your passion; thanks for caring about our waters. We can achieve more working together.
Special thanks to all our presenters and the team who worked behind the scenes to make sure this years conference happened.
For science and stories about water quality in Ireland, check out www.catchments.ie
More from Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland (20)
10. Restoring the River Camac - Mary-Liz Walshe, DCC
Energy Efficiency and Carbon Pricing - Dr Lisa Ryan, IEA - EPA June 2010
1. Energy Efficiency and Carbon Pricing Lisa RyanInternational Energy AgencyEnergy Efficiency Unit, Paris, France.30th June 2010EPA Climate Change Conference 2010
2. Overview Introduction Carbon mitigation and energy efficiency strategies Addressing energy efficiency gaps Case studies Summing Up
3. IEA members International Energy Agency Members Austria Belgium Australia (1979) Czech Republic(2001) Canada Denmark Germany Finland (1992) France (1992) Ireland Hungary (1997) Greece (1977) Italy (1978) Japan Korea (2002) Luxembourg The Netherlands New Zealand (1977) Norway participates in the Agency under a special Agreement Poland (2008) Portugal (1981) Slovak Republic (2007) Spain Sweden United Kingdom Switzerland Turkey (1981) United States
4. Energy efficiency- the new wave Countries interested in energy efficiency again for different reasons: Energy security Economic development Greenhouse gas mitigation How are carbon prices impacting EE?
5.
6. Historical trends Long-Term Energy Savings from Improvements in Energy Efficiency, All Sectors, IEA11 180 160 Hypothetical energy use without energy efficiency improvements 140 58% 120 Savings 100 EJ 80 Actual energy use 60 40 20 0 1973 2005 1990 2000 1980 Actual energy use Energy savings due to energy efficiency improvements Energy efficiency improvements
7. 42 Gt Reference Scenario 40 38 36 34 32 30 28 450 Scenario 26 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 450 ScenarioWhat role for energy efficiency? 7.2 Gt End-use potential End-useefficiency Power plants Renewables Biofuels Nuclear CCS Full implementation of the IEA 25 energy efficiency recommendations is essential to achieve the 450 scenario.
11. A cost perspective: a rational use of the carbon market €/tCO2e Targeted tech. support Expenditures on the carbon market Market approaches in Copenhagen Accord International price of CO2 Abatement GtCO2e/year Low / no-cost measures requiring separate policy measures
12. End-use savings and cap-and-tradeAssuming all potentials can be tapped Price of CO2 €/tCO2e P* Q* MtCO2 Emission reduction goal Energy efficiency potential Under ideal market conditions, all options including end-use energy efficiency would be exploited, through the price signal
13. End-use savings and cap-and-tradeAssuming end-use savings are not exploited Price of CO2 €/tCO2e P P* Q* MtCO2 Emission reduction goal Energy efficiency potential No access to end-use energy savings implies relying on higher cost measures in the system higher price of CO2 and higher cost to society
14. Carbon mitigation policy measures Fiscal measures – carbon taxes and low carbon tax incentives Market-based instruments – cap and trade Regulation – CO2 regulation for cars Carbon finance – project and sectoral Voluntary approaches Education and training
15. Questions Most countries have climate change strategies – many including cross-sectoral policy measures with carbon taxes, emissions trading schemes etc Can carbon pricing address barriers to energy efficiency or are complementary policies needed? What package of policy measures needed – complementary to CO2 pricing?
17. Case studies Principal agent problem – principals and agents engaged in a contract have different goals and levels of information Imperfect information – insufficient or incorrect information to enable optimal investment
18.
19. 2005 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (2005) in the US: renters significantly less likely to have energy-efficient refrigerators, clothes washers and dishwashers than homeowners; controlling for income, demographics, energy prices, weather and other controls
20. Builders, consumers etc may not understand the benefits of EE and know which is the best product (imperfect information):
23. Short-run price elasticity significantly lower in multi-dwelling buildings (more tenants) than in one- and two-dwelling buildings (more home-owners)
24. 99% of tenants in multidwellings do not pay individual energy bills – PA issue
25. Heating expenses on average between 3 and 4 percent of total household expenditures - energy efficiency improvements have a small impact on the overall household budget
26. New buildings EE levels stagnated – builders no incentive for low LLC and information barrier
27.
28. Landlord-tenant problem Source: Davis, L. W. (2010) “Evaluating the Slow Adoption of Energy Efficient Investments: are Renters Less Likely to have Energy Efficient Appliances?” NBER Working Paper No. 16114.
29.
30. Concluded that standards may be more appropriate for this sector in addition to carbon pricing.* median of ~125 estimates of price elasticity Source: McKinsey Global Institute (2007), Curbing Global Energy Demand Growth: The Energy Productivity Opportunity, McKinsey Global Institute, San Francisco.
Energy efficiency has shown it can deliverWithout energy efficiency, energy use would have been 58% higher in 2005Interesting quote about effectivenessBut, there is a worrying trend. Energy efficiency improvement rate has reduced recently.
This graph shows the potential for global CO2 emissions reductions in the energy sector under the 450 Scenario.It shows that potential savings resulting from energy efficiency total 7.1 Gt by 2030. This project assumes that all of the IEA’s 25 Energy Efficiency Policy recommendations are implemented worldwide by 2030 [and other EE policy assumptions?]
However, analysis conducted by the IEA in the publication“Implementing Energy Efficiency: Are IEA member countries on track?” , which was released in October 2009, shows that IEA countries are not on track to fully implement the 25 recommendations. In fact, even the best countries are not capturing more than 60% of the energy saving benefits of the recommendations. IEA analysis for the G8 summit in L’Aquila produced similar results. Now, if we assume global implementation of the recommendations currently reflects the level of IEA countries (it is probably going to be less, but let’s assume IEA-level of implementation globally because we don’t have data on the rest of the world), then globally we are on track to miss one fifth (2.5 Gt) of the total potential savings (7.2 Gt) from energy efficiency measures by 2030. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE ASSUMPTIONS BEHIND THIS GRAPH – FOR INFORMATION ONLYBased on data collected in Implementing Energy Efficiency Policies, IEA member countries are not on track to implement all of the IEA’s 25 EE Policy Recommendations. The analysis showed that a number of recommendations have either not been implemented or are only planned to be implemented.Given that the best implementation levels are found in the IEA, it is reasonable to consider the average implementation level of IEA countries as a best-case scenario for the rest of the world. Therefore, in the following, data for IEA members is used as a proxy for countries worldwide.If countries do not step up their implementation level, the ultimate end-use potential will end up to be lower than what is expected in the 450 Scenario.To estimate that missed potential, we compute an average of the percentage of the 25 recommendations that are either not implemented or only planned to be implemented for each country and sector. These percentages are then averaged across countries and sector, using their 2008 TPES and the relative CO2 abatement potential of each sector.We finally obtain that 36% of the end-use potential for CO2 abatement by 2030 could be missed if IEA member countries do not step up their implementation level of the IEA 25 Recommendations.]
From Mind the Gap, two examples:The IEA’s 2007 publication Mind the Gap provides examples of how the principal-agent problem can impact energy usage. Set-top boxes in the US consume significant energy because they are constantly drawing power, and while technological and power management solutions to reduce their consumption are readily available they have not been adopted due to split incentives. The person paying for the device’s electricity consumption – the person using it to watch television – does not choose the box. The television service provider leasing the set-top box has no incentive to provide one with efficiency features, and thus manufacturers have no incentive to produce energy-efficient devices since service providers do not demand them. In contrast, while food and beverage vending machines in Japan could suffer from the same problem of split incentives between three actors, contractual requirements have eliminated the problem. The owner of the space where the vending machine is placed is compensated for electricity costs by the beverage manufacturer and the vending machine operator. In addition, due to their significant energy consumption, vending machine efficiency began to be regulated, with a 34% reduction in electricity use from the prevailing level in 2000 required between 2002 and 2005.Swedish study: Nässen, Sprei and Holmberg, 2008; note 99% of tenants in multi-dwelling buildings in Sweden do not pay directly for energy, as it is a fixed part of the rent.
1) Nässen, Sprei and Holmberg, 2008. When examining stagnation in building energy efficiency levels, Swedish researchers found that the correlation between energy prices and specific energy use for heating seen in existing buildings was weak in new buildings. An important cause of this was that information about the life cycle cost of different investments in new buildings affecting energy use was often not available to building sector actors. Builders and clients (landlord, housing federation)– sometimes the same person – have no incentive to reduce life cycle cost (LCC) of buildings (besides negative feedback); focus is on minimising investment costs and budgets for construction and operation are often separated. LCC calculations “quite uncommon” or “negligable”. Building standard is the most common basis for decisions on ee investments, even if can be cost-efficient to go further (using LCC as a basis for example). Lack of knowledge on EE among clients, architects, lack of learning process to create knowledge and competence. 2) Newell, Jaffe and Stavins, 1998. Note that in their study autonomous energy-efficiency improvement is significant, explaining up to 62% of the total change in energy efficiency. However, they acknowledge that this means they cannot exactly explain where such changes came from, and that some portion of them could be exogenous if driven by forces such as government-funded R&D. Also note that Mark Ellis (2007) does not find any clear correlation between electricity prices and appliance performance data for Australia, Japan, the UK, the US and Europe. Some products did show a correlation (US refrigerators and air conditioners, Australian clothes washers), but other products within the same country did not. Since it is difficult to see why certain products would be linked to electricity prices while others are not, generic conclusions on the link between energy price and product performance may be inappropriate. 3) Atkinson, Jackson and Mullings-Smith (2009). The study starts by saying that in theory there is no need to change the current market to encourage efficient design, since even with constant energy prices over 60 years (dream on!) and an average commercial interest rate (8% over 15 years) there is an economic incentive to address the energy efficiency and thermal performance of an existing residential building. In applying an annual increase of 5% and 8% a year on grid electricity and natural gas, the decision framework constructed shows the “typical” design (compliance with 1995 building regulation) as the least favourable economic choice. Typical design and build contracts do not adopt an increasing energy price as a fundamental appraisal assumption, taking a short-term, low-risk view to investment.