Looking past to look forward

As the year begins, and we look forward to what 2012 will bring to the progress of energy efficiency in Europe, a look back at 2011 can offer some clues.

In March 2011, after endless delays, the Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) was finally published.  The Plan showed that the EU is not on track to meet the 20 per cent agreed – but not binding – target for energy savings by 2020.

Energy Efficiency Plan

The Plan proposed a two-step approach to setting targets: first, allow Member States to set their own indicative targets via the Europe 2020 National Reform Programme process. Second, in 2013 the Commission will propose legally binding targets for all countries if it appears the 20% target will not be achieved.

The Plan presented an array of measures to ensure that target will be achieved. But the measures were not described in detail and there is no timetable for implementation.   Most commentators were sceptical that the measures in the Plan would ever make it possible to achieve the 2020 target.

Roadmap

The same day the EEP was published, the Commission also published Climate Roadmap 2050 to a low-carbon economy. Together with the White Paper on Transport and the EEP, the Roadmap was a key deliverable under the Commission’s Resource Efficiency Flagship. The Roadmap detailed a menu of actions for the EU to deliver greenhouse gas reductions in line with the agreed 80 to 95% target by 2050.

Energy Efficiency Directive

The Commission followed the ideas in the Plan with a draft Energy Efficiency Directive, published in June 2011.  The draft Directive proposes:

• There will be a legal obligation to establish energy saving schemes in all Member States. Energy companies will be obliged to save 1.5 % of their energy sales, by volume, every year through measures for final energy customers, such as improving the efficiency of the heating system, installing double-glazed windows or insulating roofs.
• Public sector will be required to renovate 3% of its building stock by floor area annually to cost-optimal levels. Buildings with a useful area larger than 250 sq. m. are covered by this requirement.
• Billing of energy consumption should be based on the actual consumption based on metering. There should be easy and free-of-charge real-time and historical consumption data, based on smart metering.
• There should be incentives for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to undergo energy audits and disseminate best practices. Large companies will be required to undertake an audit of their energy consumption in order to identify the potential for reduced energy consumption.
• Measures to improve the efficiency in energy generation include monitoring of efficiency levels of new energy generation capacities; and establishment of national heat and cooling plans as a basis for the sound planning of efficient heating and cooling infrastructures, including recovery of waste heat.

The draft Directive is now going through the approval process.  It is being reviewed by both the European Parliament and the Council. (more on this in another posting)

Energy Roadmap

Finally, in December 2011, the Commission produced its Energy Roadmap 2050 to complement the Climate Roadmap published in March.  Reaction was mixed.  The Coalition for Energy Savings – comprising many organisations that promote energy efficiency, from trade associations to environmental NGOs – said that it “is concerned by the energy scenarios’ assumptions and results, which do not accurately reflect the potential and the imperative of energy efficiency. The scenarios for 2050 are inconsistent with the fundamentals of EU energy policy, including the 20% energy savings target for 2020. Instead of building on existing EU climate and energy objectives and the opportunity presented by the proposed Energy Efficiency Directive, the model uses a flawed approach for energy efficiency leading to pessimistic results and inflated system costs.”

EiD‘s view is a bit different.  I consider that in the Roadmap, the Commission takes a very positive view of energy efficiency.  Compared with attitudes at the Commission 10 years ago, the change is monumental.  In the draft Directive, energy efficiency is front and centre in energy policy.  Every scenario in the Roadmap has the same priority.

The Roadmap will now be discussed by both Parliament and Council. EiD will come back to it in future postings.

There were significant developments in 2011 at the EU.

More progress in 2011

Before leaving 2011, let me cite some major accomplishments that have affected the European dimension beyond the initiatives of the European Commission.

First, EiD salutes the relatively new Buildings Performance Institute Europe for a ground-breaking study on the buildings sector, collecting data on the building stock and usage as has never been undertaken before.  It is long overdue but certainly welcome. (Full disclosure: I was involved in the drafting of this study.)

Second, the BPIE also produced a study in November on principles for nearly-Zero Energy Buildings.  The 2010 re-cast Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings requires all new buildings to be nearly-zero within 10 years but it never defined near-zero.  This study helps governments and all stakeholders understand the detail.

Third, eceee had a very successful bi-annual summer study, with a record number of papers delivered and people attending.  These papers and discussions provide intellectual rigour that is so needed in the energy efficiency community and this summer study set a new standard that should be applauded.  As a board member of eceee for many years, I am gratified that the summer studies have become the lifeblood of the energy efficiency community and the impetus for enlightened thinking and discussion.

The nascent Coalition for Energy Savings, which started humbly in 2010 as loose gathering of the main players in the European scene to promote energy savings, started to show its stuff.  It seems destined to gain in stature over the coming years.

In a sign of burgeoning interest in the issues, Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes, a not-for-profit organisation, was created early 2011.  It uses social media in a novel way for a Brussels-based organisation.  Since April 2011, it already has about 7000 followers on its various social media platforms.  It has organised a financing roundtable in Brussels, and it is planning many more such events in 2012.  According to Edelman, the global public relations firm, EEIP is the third most influential organisation on energy efficiency globally using social media and number-one in Europe.  All of this in less than a year.  It now has a trade magazine that reaches 120,000 working at the industry level.

On to 2012

There is a lot in store for 2012.  The “Brussels community” of energy efficiency is much focussed on the approval of the Energy Efficiency Directive.  Analysts will be reviewing the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans that have been submitted by Member States to determine the vision at the national level to meet the energy efficiency challenge.

EiD will be watching:  sometimes from the corridors of power, sometimes from the galleries.  But we will be there.  2012 will be a very interesting year.  Binding targets, energy efficiency obligations, the co-benefits of energy efficiency, gazing into 2050, resource efficiency, climate targets, minimum energy performance standards, implementing current directives – where will the list end?  Watch this space!