Energy efficiency and renewable energy

Worldwide energy consumption would be 56% higher today than it would have otherwise been without the various Energy Efficiency policies that have been implemented since 1973.

Worldwide, investment in renewable energies has boomed in recent years, with some $190 billion worth of new clean energy in 2008, according to the Renewables Global Status Report for 2009. The number of large solar plants tripled to 1,800 between 2007 and 2008, with the majority of new plants in Spain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Portugal.

Electricity survey May 2010

The International Energy Agency released the May 2010 electricity survey for OECD countries.

The Figure below shows the electricity production by source in Portugal in May 2010. The highest share is hydro power production.

Electricity production by source in Portugal in May 2010

In May 2010, Portugal exports were higher than imports.

Compared to May 2009, electricity production from fossil fuels decreased 58.2% and hydro power increased 317.5%. 2010 has been a great year for hydro power production, as shown below.

Year to date comparison of production by fuel type

More information:
International Energy Agency Electricity Survey

Is efficient sufficient?

A report published by ECEEE, Is efficient sufficient?, argues that energy efficiency does not prevent power consumption or annual energy use to rise, even if it is in a steady, linearly way, with product performance, size, amenity or functionality.
Although

we have slowed the rate of growth compared to a business-as-usual scenario, but have not consistently turned absolute energy consumption or greenhouse gas emissions downward.

The report recommends that efficiency specifications should be tailored in a more effective way:

Progressive efficiency specifications can in many cases be crafted where the allowable power consumption approaches those sufficiency limits and ceases to increase, no matter how much more performance or amenity is provided. ENERGY STAR has proposed exactly that in its version 5.0 television specification, which will help to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions even as televisions continue to grow in size. Such specifications, when employed by programs that also recover and recycle the energy-using products consumers are replacing, reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels, increase product durability, and minimize hours of use, have the potential to finally bring overall energy use and greenhouse gas emissions downward.

However,

progressive efficiency standards alone will not be enough to turn down energy consumption.

We will need voluntary and mandatory efficiency policies and programs to systematically implement sufficiency and progressive efficiency concepts, keep specifications up to date, and discourage excessive consumption through price and information signals.

Renewable energy in Portugal

An article in the New York Times, Portugal makes the leap to renewable energy, reveals the effort Portugal has been doing in renewable energies, particularly wind, hydropower, sunlight and ocean waves. Nearly 45% of the electricity in Portugal will come from renewable sources in 2010, wind power has expanded seven times and in 2011 there will be a national network of charging stations for electric cars.
However,

while Portugal’s experience shows that rapid progress is achievable, it also highlights the price of such a transition. Portuguese households have long paid about twice what Americans pay for electricity, and prices have risen 15 percent in the last five years, probably partly because of the renewable energy program, the International Energy Agency says. Although a 2009 report by the agency called Portugal’s renewable energy transition a “remarkable success,” it added, “It is not fully clear that their costs, both financial and economic, as well as their impact on final consumer energy prices, are well understood and appreciated.”

The other issue is the promise of job creation, but this can be limited:

In Portugal, as in the United States, politicians have sold green energy programs to communities with promises of job creation. Locally, the effect has often proved limited. For example, more than five years ago, the isolated city of Moura became the site of Portugal’s largest solar plant because it “gets the most sun of anywhere in Europe and has lots of useless space,” said José Maria Prazeres Pós-de-Mina, the mayor. But while 400 people built the Moura plant, only 20 to 25 work there now, since gathering sunlight requires little human labor. Unemployment remains at 15 percent, the mayor said — though researchers, engineers and foreign delegations frequently visit the town’s new solar research center.

China shuts down inefficient factories

There are about 2,000 factories to shut down by 30th September in China, including steel mills, cement works and other energy-intensive factories.
According to the chinese Minister of the Industry and Information Technology, the goal of the factory closings is “to enhance the structure of production, heighten the standard of technical capability and international competitiveness and realize a transformation of industry from being big to being strong”.
The chinese plan to reduce energy use by 20% for each unit of economic output (compared to 2005).
Efficiency improved 14.4 percent from 2005 to 2009, but deteriorate by 3.6 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to official statistics.

China to close 2000 factories in energy crackdown

Collapse movie

Collapse is a documentary about energy and oil dependence starring Michael Ruppert.