Energy efficiency directive

The Commission is proposing a new energy efficiency directive to cut energy consumption by 20% in 2020. With all the measures on EU and national level in place so far the EU only reached 9% of savings.
The measures proposed include:
- Legal obligation to establish energy saving schemes in all Member States: energy distributors or retail energy sales companies will be obliged to save every year 1,5 % of their energy sales, by volume, through the implementation of energy efficiency measures such as improving the efficiency of the heating system, installing double glazed windows or insulating roofs, among final energy customers;
- Public sector to lead by example: public bodies will push for the market uptake of energy efficient products and services through a legal obligation to purchase energy efficient buildings, products and services. They will further have to progressively reduce the energy consumed on their own premises by carrying out every year the required renovation works covering at least 3% of their total floor area;
-Major energy savings for consumers: easy and free-of-charge access to data on real-time and historical energy consumption through more accurate individual metering will now empower consumers to better manage their energy consumption. Billing should be based on the actual consumption well reflecting data from the metering;
- Industry: Incentives for SMEs to undergo energy audits and disseminate best practices while the large companies will have to make an audit of their energy consumption to help them identify the potential for reduced energy consumption;
- Efficiency in energy generation: monitoring of efficiency levels of new energy generation capacities, establishment of national heat and cooling plans as a basis for a sound planning of efficient heating and cooling infrastructures, including recovery of waste heat.

For public buildings, from 2014 onwards, 3% of public buildings should be renovated each year with energy consumption reductions in mind. This percentage is renovated per year, but in only half of the cases efficiency improvements are included. In practice, this could mean that walls are insulated, double glazing windows are installed in kindergardens, schools or townhouses, roofs are redone and inefficient heating boilers replaced.

How can you force government to spend money in times they have to save money?

The renovation of public buildings would to a significant extent pay for itself through the savings on the energy bills and would also help the economic recovery by stimulating business activity and jobs.

However, still there is a need for upfront investment in the implementation of energy efficiency improvements. For this reason, the proposed Directive includes provisions to strengthen the energy services markets. In these markets energy service companies (ESCOs) would pay for the initial investments and get their money back from the savings on the energy bills. In addition to energy savings, this will create business opportunities and new jobs, for example, for construction companies, equipment providers. The energy service market currently accounts for about € 6 billion. The EU potential for such market is estimated at € 25 billion.

In addition to the private funding, Member States can also use their allocations under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to finance the renovation of public buildings. In the period 2007 – 2013, 4.4 billion Euro where available for that purpose.

New measures for increased energy efficiency to reach 20% goal in the EU

Having in mind that the cheapest energy is the one we do not consume, the European Commission proposed a new set of measures for increased Energy Efficiency.
The proposal for this new directive brings forward measures to step up Member States efforts to use energy more efficiently at all stages of the energy chain – from the transformation of energy and its distribution to its final consumption.

More information: Energy Efficiency Directive