Energy Efficiency: an eye to the future

In terms of energy efficiency and although projections show that we will reach the first two targets of the 20-20-20 strategy with the current trend, we are significantly behind the energy consumption reduction. Improvements in energy efficiency are tipped to be crucial if we want to meet this goal too. For that, a new energy efficiency directive has been agreed aiming to help considerably by introducing (for instance) mandatory retrofitting of public buildings, energy-saving schemes for utilities, and energy audits for all large companies and industries. 

 

If we do reach our target this will mean that the EU will not import 2.6 billion barrels of oil, will save 368 million tons of equivalent oil of primary energy and 193 billion €!

Tools and Policies to enforce energy efficiency

Although the importance of energy efficiency is recognized widely, much effort is required in order to actually widespread energy efficient solutions. Mechanisms, policies and directives have been introduced or issued in order to reinforce energy efficiency. Some of the most important are the following:

Energy Labels

Up to few years ago most buyers didn’t get the chance to know how much energy is consumed by an  appliance they intended to buy. In an effort to influence their choice, an energy labelling scheme has been adopted by the European Commission on a product by product basis1. They display ranking of products according to their energy efficiency consumption on an A (most energy efficient) to G scale. Recently, new classes were added (A+/A++/A+++) on top of class A to reflect advances in efficient products. All appliances in the EU market should posses an appropriate energy label, which in addition should be clearly displayed on them at the point of sale.

Building Energy Efficiency

We cannot improve significantly energy efficiency if we don’t target buildings. In fact, buildings are responsible for almost 40% of the energy use and for 36% of the CO2 emissions in the EU 27. This fact led to the adoption of an energy classification of buildings, just like appliances! This works the same way with energy labels for appliances and is called Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The EPC is mandatory for all buildings being rented, sold or advertised, while new buildings (or old ones undergoing major renovations) should comply with minimum energy performance requirements. Furthermore, from 2020 all new buildings in the EU should be “nearly zero-energy buildings”!

Ecolabels

Apart from being energy efficient, a product or service cannot be considered environment-friendly without looking throughout all its life-cycle. The EU has invented the Ecolabel scheme in order to help consumers identify such products or services. The Ecolabel is a voluntary scheme, identified by the flower logo, which may be displayed on products and promotional material if they respond to a list of predefined criteria. These criteria guarantee that the product/service is among the most environmentally friendly in his sector.

Ecodesign
Another tool towards improved energy efficiency is the Ecodesign requirements. A relative directive made it mandatory for every product circulated in the EU market to meet minimum requirements in terms of their environmental impact. These requirements assess the impact of an energy-related product on the environment throughout its life-cycle (from the design stage, production, distribution and disposal).

Transport Energy Efficiency
Transport has been identified as one of the areas in which significant energy savings can be achieved. Almost 20% of the energy consumed in the EU is due to transport, out of which 98% originates from fossil fuels. On this track, the EU requires that energy and environmental impacts (i.e. energy consumption, CO2 emissions etc) linked to the operation of vehicles over their whole lifetime should be taken into consideration in purchase decisions. Over the years, it has been identified as a major EU target to reach an average CO2 emission of 120 g/km for all new passenger cars. However, this is to be achieved through voluntary agreements with manufacturers so far. For the moment, it is compulsory that a label showing fuel economy and CO2 emissions is attached to all new cars or displayed nearby at the point of sale.

Why do we need Energy Efficiency?

By increasing energy efficiency we help in using less energy and therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions and thus protecting the environment. In addition, the security of energy supply is increased. Don’t forget, also, that by adopting energy efficient solutions we spend less money for energy!

Current Situation: the 20-20-20 Strategy

Energy is responsible for almost 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions. As was identified a decade ago, the potential for energy efficient improvement in the E.U. is very high and relatively untapped. The cost of not using energy efficiently was estimated around 150 billion € per year! This led to the adoption of the 20-20-20 strategy, namely to achieve by 2020 a reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, the increase in the share of renewables to 20% and the reduction of energy consumption by another 20%.

What is Energy Efficiency?

You have probably heard this term a lot lately. It generally refers to using less energy in order to provide the same level of energy services as before. In our everyday activities we need lots of energy, either to heat or cool the buildings we stay in, or to use electrical appliances and services. Energy labeling is a measure of how “energy efficient” an appliance, device or a building is.

Take for instance the lights in your home. Up to a few years ago, incandescent lamps were used almost exclusively. However, with the use of recent lamp technologies, such as the fluorescent or LED lamps, we are able to provide the same level of luminance, but at the same time with considerably less energy consumption! The E.U. has even gone one step beyond and banned old-style incandescent bulbs (>100W)!

Another example is the electrical appliances we all use everyday. By choosing a more energy efficient appliance we can improve our energy efficiency, help the environment and save money!

Energy Saving Advice

Everyone can help in reducing energy consumption in many ways. Apart from improving energy efficiency (with which we deal in a companion paper), significant energy saving opportunities exist in our homes and everyday life. Some of the most common tips for energy saving are:

• Install air temperature regulators (thermostats) in rooms that don’t have one.
• Set the thermostat at a lower temperature for heating and at a higher temperature for cooling. This can save almost 6% of the energy needed for heating or cooling per degree Celsius. For example, 21°C in the living room and 18°C in the bedroom is more than enough for heating!
• Try to minimize idle electrical loads, which are no so ‘obvious’. Don’t just switch off electrical appliances but unplug them when possible or use power plugs with a power switch.
• Switch off lights when you don’t really need them.
• Operate the washing machine and dishwasher only at full loads and at the lowest possible temperature.
• Turn off computers or screen when you are not using them, use power management capabilities to reduce energy consumption.
• Avoid using your car whenever you can. Use the public transport as often as possible and get a bike for short travels. When you cannot avoid using a car, try carpooling!

Energy Consumption and Saving

Worldwide energy use almost doubled over the last 30 years, before showing a slight decrease due to the financial crisis in 2009. The following two graphs show the world total final energy consumption by fuel or type and by region from 1971 to 2009.

Since energy transformations and especially electric power generation are identified as main causes for global warming and climate change, action is needed. This may be either in the form of increasing use of energy from renewable energy sources, or simply by consuming less energy! In order to consume less energy we could choose to use more energy efficient appliances or increase the efficiency of our buildings, or reduce energy used for transport, without any further change in our energy related behavior. The overall result in terms of fighting climate change and global warming though, may be a lot better if we focus on a behavioral change on how we consume energy. By improving the way we use energy in our everyday activities we can actually reduce energy consumption without changes in our standards of living.

What is the current situation?

The EU has declared the goal of becoming a “recycling society” since 2005. A report on waste prevention and recycling stated that the levels of recycling are rising but at very different rates and from very different baseline levels in each Member State. This is quite clear if we look at the picture statistics from EUROSTAT. Although significant progress has been observed, there is still a lot to be done both to reduce the overall waste generated (which is rising) and the percentage of waste being recycled or re-used.

An Eye to the Future

The Waste Framework Directive has set new targets for waste management and recycling looking at the year 2020. Specifically, by 2020 50% of household waste and 70% of construction and demolition waste must be recycled. Mechanisms are created to enforce that these targets are met. Other targets have been set in different Directives targeting specific types of waste. These are summarized in the following table:

Why is Recycling and Re-Use important?

There are so many reasons that can fill pages! To get started, think of the amount of waste not ending up in a landfill but being recycled or reused, thus saving the earth from potentially dangerous chemicals and contamination of water resources. Conservation of resources which may be limited is also another good reason to recycle, thinking about the sustainability of future generations. Consider the fact that if all newspapers were recycled throughout the year, we would save about 250,000,000 trees per year! And remember, the EU imports many rare raw materials and thus recycling increases also the security of supply. By recycling we save lots of energy as well! As an example, we would need more energy to manufacture one new aluminum can than to recycle 20 cans! Furthermore, the economy is strengthened. In fact, in the EU the recycling sector has a turnover of €24 billion and employs about 500,000 persons. It is estimated that if Member States recycled 70% of their waste, another half million of new jobs would be created.

Recycling and Re-Use

Recycling and re-use are part of the general waste management strategy of the European Union. The three main principles of this strategy are waste prevention, recycling, re-use and improving of final disposal and monitoring. The goal is to reduce as much as possible final disposal of waste and increase prevention. In order to succeed in that we need to influence customers in choosing products with green packaging and improve manufacturing methods.

What is Recycling and Re-Use?

Recycling refers to collecting and processing used materials that would otherwise end up as waste in order to produce new products. On the other hand, re-use simply means using a material or product over and over again. A good way to distinguish is to think of recycling as using the core element of a used product to produce raw material to be used in manufacturing new goods. Waste materials like paper, glass, plastic, metals and other rare metals used mainly in electronic appliances, can be recycled in the form of raw materials and used to produce new products.

Current scenario and an eye to the future

In 2009, renewable energy supplied an estimated 16% of global final energy consumption – counting traditional biomass, hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, modern biomass, and biofuels.

The following graph is illustrative:

In 2010 in the EU27, energy from renewable sources was estimated to have contributed 12.4% of gross final energy, compared with 11.7% in 2009 and 10.5% in 2008. It is expected that the EU will reach the target of a 20% share of total energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020.

What prevents us from using more Renewable Energy Sources?

The main reason is that up to recently the production and use of RES was very expensive compared with fossil fuels. Moreover, RES are not a guaranteed energy source; take for instance a sudden drop of wind speed or a cloudy day. In addition, in order to better exploit some RES, installations have to be built in remote areas, thus making the job of connecting them to the main grid both expensive and difficult.

However, things are changing rapidly. Policies came into place that helped the increase of demand for RES worldwide, which in turn resulted in a rapid decrease in their production costs. Considering the increase in oil and gas prices in the last years and the incentives provided by governments you can easily realize why the growth of RES is here to stay.

  An Eye to the Future

Wouldn’t it be fascinating to produce all our energy needs by renewable energy sources? One thing is sure, the technology already exists and we have the motives to do so. In fact we may not be so far away from achieving that! The EU 2050 energy roadmap

3 states that "The share of RES rises substantially in all scenarios, achieving at least 55% in gross final energy consumption in 2050. The share of RES in electricity consumption reaches 64% in a High Energy Efficiency scenario and 97% in a High Renewables Scenario that includes significant electricity storage to accommodate varying RES supply even at times of low demand".

Several other associations and governments claim that the goal of energy produced 100% by renewables is feasible in the next decades. Here however, the key issue is electricity storage, a task not so easy. Since the energy from renewables is not continuous or controllable we have to store the electric energy which is produced in periods of availability of RES to be used when there is a shortage of it. This can be done using advanced technologies like superconductor energy storage systems, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage, compressed energy storage, hybrid power plants consisting of renewables and hydro pump storage, to name just a few. Could it be the answer in the quest for a 100% RES share? This remains to be seen.

Why do we need Renewable Energy Sources?

There are plenty of reasons. First of all, if we don’t expand their use, existing reserves of fossil fuels will run out, since they cannot be renewed! Also, non-renewable energy sources are responsible for the greenhouse effect, causing global warming, which endangers our planet and future generations. Don’t forget that oil and gas are mostly imported goods in the European Union. This means that by increasing the percentage of RES in our energy mix, the security of energy supply in EU increases as well! Last but not least, hundreds of thousands of new jobs are foreseen to open in the RES industry in the following years, contributing to fighting unemployment especially for young people.

What are Renewable Energy Sources?

As the term implieas, they are sources that can be renewed and never run out! Non-renewable sources include fossil fuels, e.g. oil, coal, gas, and their deposits are limited and can be exhausted. Renewable energy sources include solar, wind, biomass, hydro, geothermal and ocean power.

Solar Energy

With this term we refer to the energy provided by the sun through radiation. The sun is the most powerful source of energy and this energy is free, as long as we exploit it! Technologies are categorized as either active or passive. Active technologies convert solar energy into a form we can use directly either electrical or thermal. Such are photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight directly into electrical energy, like the picture over right, the solar collectors for domestic hot water heating or even solar space heating and cooling, the solar concentrators that use mirrors to focus solar irradiation and generate intense heat, turning water to steam and generating electricity using certain machines and even solar ovens. Passive technologies seek to place buildings in a favorable orientation towards the sun or use special materials and architectural designs to exploit solar energy.

 

Wind Energy

The energy of wind has been known and exploited for millenniums, either in windmills or in sailing. Nowadays, we can exploit wind energy using special blades to capture wind and machines to transform it to electrical energy. Wind turbines are installed both onshore and offshore in places where wind speed is generally high and constant.

Biomass

Biomass has been used since man invented fire and used to burn wood to heat or cook! It refers to the energy embodied in plants and organic material. Plant biomass comes from the sun through the photosynthesis process, when they capture solar energy and on the other hand animals eat plants! Biomass includes a wide variety of materials including wood, energy crops (grown specifically for energy applications), agricultural and forest residues, food waste and organic components from municipal and industrial waste. A variety of conversion technologies exist to convert biomass energy into other usable form. Such technologies either converts the energy in forms that can be used directly (heat or electricity), or may convert it to another form, such as liquid biofuel or combustible biogas.

Hydropower

Water also, is a renewable energy source since it is recharged through the cycle of evaporation and precipitation. Its power was known since ancient years and was exploited through dams, water mills and irrigation systems. The energy of the falling or moving water can be harnessed by various technologies. Water wheels can transform it directly into mechanical energy (i.e. water mills), turbines and electrical generators can transform it into electricity.

Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy refers to the energy stored and created inside the earth in the form of thermal energy. At times this energy is released to the surface through volcanoes and geysers, or is available constantly e.g. through hot springs. Geothermal energy can be harnessed to produce electricity or for heating and cooling purposes. It can be acquired from deep underground reservoirs through drilling, or from other geothermal reservoirs closer to the surface. Geothermal energy can be used in residential applications also, e.g. small geothermal heat pumps.

Ocean or Marine Energy

This is a renewable energy that is underexploited so far. It refers to the mechanical energy carried by ocean waves and tides or to the thermal energy of the ocean coming from the sun. Covering almost 70% of earth surface, oceans may prove to be the renewable energy of the future, however harnessing ocean energy to produce electricity is not cost-effective currently.

ENERGY BITS

Energy Bits is a cross-media project within the framework of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme. The project is entirely focused on energy efficiency and aims to meet a young target. The Energy Bits Consortium is extremely heterogeneous and boasts the participation of both media and scientific partners with major level of expertise. Embark on this adventure, meet the Consortium, find all information on possible ways of becoming engaged with the forecoming initiatives... a very special call is coming up! Students, schools, get your videocameras ready and start investigating the energy issue... and literally "Have Your Say".

Stay tuned to learn more... you could soon become the protagonist of our very special activity!