Global Energy Efficiency Stymied

IEA Reports Reveal Rapid Growth of Renewables, Need to Enhance Policies for Energy Efficiency

Stefan Jungcurt, 19 October 2017 (International Institute for Sustainable Development)

“…Despite the rapid growth of renewables, emissions reductions are likely to fall short of the reductions required to avert catastrophic climate change. Improvements in energy efficiency are therefore an important strategy to close the gap…[the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Efficiency 2017 shows the] energy intensity of the global economy continued to decline…[but] the downward trend has slowed to 1.8% compared to 2.1% in 2016…[The good news is that energy efficiency] made the largest contribution to offsetting the increase in GHG emissions resulting from global growth in GDP making 2017 the third consecutive year in which global GHG emissions remained stable…

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[T]he study finds energy efficiency policies address only 32% of global energy use, an increase of 1.4% since 2016. Most of the increase was due to the expansion of existing policies. New policies, which often support deeper reductions in energy intensity, were responsible for only 1% of the increase in coverage, a historic low…China continues to be the leader in implementation of new mandatory energy efficiency policies accounting for 70% of all new policies globally…Other findings include: increasing use of energy management systems is driving energy efficiency in industry; energy efficiency of buildings is improving, but falls short of potential improvements enabled through innovative technologies, such as LED lighting; and fuel economy standards are driving rapid change in the motor vehicle market, including accelerating growth in the sale of electric vehicles…” click here for more

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