Deep Energy Retrofits: Using Dynamic Cash Flow Analysis and Multiple Benefits to Convince Investors

Panel: 2. Energy efficiency policies: What delivers?

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Thomas Madry, Germany
Ralf Schüle, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany
Vera Aydin, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany
Stefan Thomas, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany
Daniel Becker, Ecofys Germany GmbH, Germany
Nikolas Bader, Ecofys Germany GmbH, Germany

Abstract

In 2006, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the Energy Service Directive (2006/32/EC) requiring all EU Member States to reduce their annual energy consumption by 9 percent until 2016. The crucial document in which Member States have to outline their targets and display their actions is the (National) Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP). In this regard, EU Member States have developed a second NEEAP in 2011 to evaluate the achieved energy savings and to display new measures for energy efficiency improvement.

The EU-funded project Energy-Efficiency-Watch 2 (EEW2) aims to facilitate the implementation of the Energy Services Directive at EU level and at the level of the member states. One task is to build up knowledge via surveys, questionnaires and policy screenings. For this purpose, EEW made a screening of all available NEEAPs and assessed the quality of established governance frameworks, the consistency of policy packages etc. in the public, residential, transport, industry and service sector. Additional to the screening, interviews with national experts and practitioners were conducted in order to assess the level of ambition and the state of implementation of national energy efficiency policies. On this basis, synoptic national reports have been drafted with recommendations for each member state to improve national policies.

The paper presents the results from this screening process for selected member states. One final result is already obvious: for some member states, the NEEAP is still the main document for structuring and developing national energy efficiency strategies, as well as to calculate achieved energy savings and to display new measures. For another group of states, the NEEAP only represents a reporting and monitoring exercise for the European Commission while “real” strategy is written elsewhere. Therefore, further standardisation of national reports and a stronger link to national climate policies will be required.