Energy efficiency is the cornerstone for building a secure and sustainable energy system

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Energy efficiency is the cornerstone for building a secure and sustainable energy system

By District Energy posted 10-19-2018 00:00

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International Energy Agency

Ambitious progress on energy efficiency is possible, but would require policy action on cars, trucks, buildings and industry (Photograph: Shutterstock)

Summary

A global effort to deploy the right energy efficiency policies could, on its own, see greenhouse gas emissions peak quickly and then fall even as the global economy doubles between now and 2040, according to the IEA’s latest analysis on energy efficiency.

Energy Efficiency 2018 examines the opportunities for improving global energy efficiency to 2040, and finds that efficiency gains alone could allow the world to extract twice as much economic value from the energy it uses compared to today. Doing so would reduce energy bills for consumers by more than $500 billion dollars per year, lower energy imports and cut air pollution in cities – a key issue for many countries.

The report sets out a vision for 2040 with 60% more building space and 20% more people, and double global GDP, while using only marginally more energy than today and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 12%. Delivering this vision requires an immediate step up in policy action. For example, countries would need to continue to push up the efficiency of both cars and trucks, building on the progress made in recent years.

Another priority is the efficiency of air conditioners, as highlighted in the IEA’s recent report The Future of Cooling. This demonstrated that air conditioners could be twice as efficient as they are today with the right policies in place. Global investment in energy efficiency will need to rise significantly, but this investment will pay back threefold through energy savings alone.

This new analysis comes in the wake of the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that reminds us that global greenhouse gas emissions need to peak quickly and then decline for the world to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. Energy efficiency and bioenergy – two areas where the IEA has been shining a light recently – are both critical to this effort.