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Date & Time
December 7, 2023; 11:00 - 12:00 CET
Speakers
Description
The IEA Energy Efficiency 2023 Report examines the global energy efficiency landscape and identifies key opportunities and challenges for governments. This year’s report highlights the need to double global progress on energy efficiency this decade to get on track for net zero by 2050. The report also explores the role of energy efficiency in inclusive transitions, digitalization, and innovation. IEA published its report on November 29th, at the start of COP28.
This webinar was a special briefing event for the Energy Efficiency Academy members.
The webinar features lead author Lucas Boehlé and principal author Clara Camarasa, who will share the main findings and recommendations. The audience had the opportunity to ask questions and interact with the speakers. The webinar was moderated by Diedert Debusscher, Project Manager Clean Energy Transition at the European Copper Institute.
Recordings
Key Messages
- Policy momentum for energy efficiency continued to build in 2023 following the global energy crisis set off by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Investments in efficiency have grown by 45% since 2020, and in the past year, countries representing three-quarters of global energy demand have strengthened energy efficiency policies or introduced new ones.
- However, global improvements in energy intensity slowed in 2023. This was the result of factors such as an economic rebound in energy-intensive sectors like petrochemicals and aviation in some regions, as well as booming demand for air conditioning during what is on track to be the hottest year on record.
- A global commitment to double energy efficiency improvements this decade – one of the IEA’s five pillars for a successful outcome at COP28 – would require doubling annual intensity improvements from 2% in 2022 to 4% on average between 2022 and 2030. Doing so would deliver substantial benefits for governments, citizens and industry.
Presentation
Q&A
Due to time constraints during the webinar, some questions were left unanswered. The authors have provided written responses to those questions below.
Q: Can you specify primary energy intensity? Which sectors are covered?
The IEA defines energy intensity as the ratio between Total Primary Energy Supply, which covers all sectors, and Gross Domestic Product. More information on the methodology of the IEA energy balances can be found on our website: https://www.iea.org/commentaries/understanding-and-using-the-energy-balance
Q: Why is energy costly in developing countries? How can we produce cheap energy for low income countries?
An important consideration for emerging markets and developing economies is that fact that there is still a lack of energy access in many regions, and the available energy is not always affordable. This is partly due to the fact that supply still needs to increase significantly, especially in renewable energy sources. Energy efficiency can contribute by keeping demand as low as possible, which has a positive effect on energy bills. Similarly, demand-side flexibility can help match demand depending on the availability of supply.
Q: Do you have an idea how much of the household savings from energy efficiency are then spent on MORE GHG emitting activities (rebound)? Probably different from country to country depending on overall economy-wide decarbonisation?
The effects are indeed very specific per country, but the spotlight on “why is energy intensity progress lower in 2023 despite significant policy action” includes an interesting decomposition analysis of some countries comparing the effects of efficiency, structural changes and activity. We see that in some countries efficiency improvements are enough to offset rebound effects in activity and structure, while in others the efficiency effect get slightly negated by the forces.
Q: Is IEA support available for innovative cooling technologies?
Yes, the IEA also works on cooling. In fact, the Energy Efficiency Market report has multiple sections on cooling, including two spotlights:
- https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-2023/how-does-the-hottest-year-on-record-drive-urgency-for-efficiency-measures
- https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-2023/can-efficient-cooling-help-manage-fast-rising-electricity-demand-in-india-and-achieve-thermal-comfort-for-all
Further, you can find yearly updated information on space cooling in the IEA Tracking Clean Energy Progress: https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/space-cooling
Q: Could you please give a link or some other information on the contribution of ESCOs to an Energy Effiency Market?
ESCO information in the report can be found on page 67, with a special focus on African markets.
For further information, you can also follow the Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) for net zero special event that took place at the 7th IEA Energy Efficiency Global Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OnKJsSxEFo
Q: It would be interesting to know how hydrogen production during peak solar and wind power supply would affect the negative electricity prices.
This is indeed interesting, but not part of this year’s report. We do analyse the effect of demand-response on fluctuating electricity prices, which can be found in this spotlight:
Q: Will nuclear energy play a key role in the energy mix in Europe within next years?
Nuclear energy is not part of this year’s Energy Efficiency market report, but we would encourage you to check out other IEA reports addressing this topic, such as:
- https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2023
- https://www.iea.org/reports/nuclear-power-in-a-clean-energy-system
Q: If industrial energy consumption is growing, how can we stop this growth or even go to a decrease?
Industry energy consumption increases further under all IEA scenarios over the next decade, rising by 1.4% per year in the STEPS by 2030. Under the NZE Scenario, global growth in industry energy demand is limited to 0.6% per year, driven by mass deployment of more efficient and digitalised processes, technologies, increased recycling and electrification. The main challenge is thus increasing energy efficiency and electrification in industry significantly to moderate the estimated growth.
Q: Does investment data show the total investment or additional investment related to EE improvement? Both are important for implementation for different reason.
The IEA defines energy efficiency investment as incremental spending to acquire equipment that consumes less energy than would otherwise have been used for the same service.
Q: Why is the IEA not looking into Green ICT? 10 years ago many countries like Japan and Malaysia promoted Green IT or Green ICT for Energy Efficiency. What is IEA doing on this?
The IEA is also looking at digitalisation as a highly important driver on energy efficiency. This is featured in the report from page 56 onwards on system efficiency, but also in the spotlight on consumers benefitting from system efficiency.
For more information, also see our work here: https://www.iea.org/programmes/digital-demand-driven-electricity-networks-initiative
Further reading
IEA Energy Efficiency 2023 Report
COP28 UAE - United Nations Climate Change Conference
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Last update: December 07, 2023
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