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Competitiveness benefits of energy efficiency: a conceptual framework

Panel: 1. Foundations of future energy policy

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Author:
Catherine Cooremans, Université de Lausanne, Groupe Ecologie Industrielle, FGSE / IDYST, Switzerland

Abstract

Non-energy benefits – or, according to IEA terminology “Multiple Benefits” – of energy efficiency attract more and more attention. This is because of their potential contribution to the business case of energy efficiency. However, much work has yet to be done on this important subject, in two directions: 1) to improve, at the theoretical level, the conceptual framework enabling to assess and describe non-energy benefits. This would enable engineers to better take them into account when they make technical, strategic and financial analyses of buildings or industrial processes; and to present their conclusions in a more convincing way to decision-makers. 2) To collect data on non-energy benefits in a harmonized way. This would enable to build up a data base useful to practitioners in the field.

Within this context, the goal of this paper is to propose a methodology to assess and describe the competitiveness benefits of energy efficiency, one of the five categories identified by the IEA in its recent report (Capturing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency, Sept. 2014). To address this goal, the paper is organized into four parts: the first part synthetizes the concept of competitiveness and of its components, value, risks and costs. The second part shows, with concrete examples, how high level efficient energy services contribute to competitiveness through increased value proposal and decreased risks and costs. The third part describes the value process mapping tool – a business management tool commonly applied in industrial process analysis - and how it can be used to highlight the unique contribution of energy services to the value stream. The forth part shows how to translate competitiveness benefits of energy-efficiency into financial calculations. This new methodology enables to depart from the common view of energy as a commodity (where the goal is to save KWh) and to adopt a new perspective on energy and energy service as a strategic value for businesses.

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