Energy efficiency improvements worldwide ‘slowing down’

Over the last 15 years energy efficiency improvements have saved the world three gigatonnes of oil equivalent (Gtoe) of primary energy consumption and seven Gt of carbon dioxide – equating to around 23% of current global energy consumption per year. But despite this, things need to step up a notch, with data indicating 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 according to a report, Energy Efficiency: A straight path towards energy sustainability, released by the World Energy Council and the French Energy Management Agency ADEME. 

The report says that there are large disparities between energy productivity (energy consumption per unit of GDP) in different countries – with Europe having the lowest energy intensity per unit GDP and China using twice this level. Overall, it says that progress on energy efficiency is far behind the UN Sustainable Energy for All objective of a 2.6% energy intensity improvement per year. 

This slowdown is despite a high-level acknowledgement that efficiency is a key facet of energy policy worldwide. The G20, Clean Ministerial, and the UN all point to the critical contribution of energy efficiency in achieving a low carbon economy. 

The report also notes 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. This could be a significant area for policymakers to focus on – the energy efficiency of motor systems can be cost-effectively reduced today by around 20­–30%, says the report. 

François Moisan, Chair of the World Energy Council Knowledge Network on Efficiency policies said: ‘The introduction of energy efficiency policies and measures has been growing fast around the world. The increasing number of countries with an energy efficiency law, ten more compared to the 2013 report, signifies a strengthening and consolidation of the institutional commitment to energy efficiency.’

The report makes a series of recommendations to advance energy efficiency improvements, including:

• Energy prices should more closely reflect the real cost of supply, and countries should set deadlines for a gradual energy pricing reform.
• The wide introduction of new technologies including smart meters should be supported by policies. 
• Innovative financing tools for efficiency need to be widely introduced to alleviate public budgets from financial and fiscal incentives.
• Monitoring achievements and the impacts of measures is necessary to check the real impact of energy efficiency policies.
• International energy media should be used to exchange experiences for policies benchmarking and identification of best practices. 
• Energy efficiency label guides need to be complemented with Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) to remove inefficient equipment and introduce best practices. 
• 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.