Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Energy efficiency and its multiple benefits are key for clean energy transitions, supporting countries in their efforts to meet climate goals, and increase access to energy services, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Governments are stepping up energy efficiency policy efforts, setting more ambitious targets and measures such as minimum energy performance standards.
Commonly used indicators such as energy intensity are not specific enough to deeply evaluate the role of energy efficiency. This is because this kind of aggregated indicator is determined by many additional factors unrelated to energy efficiency, including economic structure, type of industrial base, exchange rate, affordability of energy services, country size, climate, and behavior. By using disaggregated data in a decomposition analysis, it is possible to isolate the impact of energy efficiency and of such factors on total energy consumption. In the IEA, despite the fact that energy efficiency improvements have been driving energy consumption down in the recent years, rising activity levels (e.g. increase in population) have led to increased demand and offset some of the positive energy outcomes from energy efficiency.
The IEA aggregate refers to 24 IEA member countries for which data covering most end-uses area available: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. These countries represented about 92% of the total IEA final energy consumption for 2018.
SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter, December 17, 2020. Weekly Propane Newsletter subscribers receive all the latest posted and spot prices from major terminals and refineries around the U.S. delivered to inboxes every week. Receive a center spread of posted prices with hundreds of postings updated each week, along with market analysis, insightful commentary, and much more not found elsewhere.
Commonly used indicators such as energy intensity are not specific enough to deeply evaluate the role of energy efficiency. This is because this kind of aggregated indicator is determined by many additional factors unrelated to energy efficiency, including economic structure, type of industrial base, exchange rate, affordability of energy services, country size, climate, and behavior. By using disaggregated data in a decomposition analysis, it is possible to isolate the impact of energy efficiency and of such factors on total energy consumption. In the IEA, despite the fact that energy efficiency improvements have been driving energy consumption down in the recent years, rising activity levels (e.g. increase in population) have led to increased demand and offset some of the positive energy outcomes from energy efficiency.
The IEA aggregate refers to 24 IEA member countries for which data covering most end-uses area available: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. These countries represented about 92% of the total IEA final energy consumption for 2018.
SOURCE: The Weekly Propane Newsletter, December 17, 2020. Weekly Propane Newsletter subscribers receive all the latest posted and spot prices from major terminals and refineries around the U.S. delivered to inboxes every week. Receive a center spread of posted prices with hundreds of postings updated each week, along with market analysis, insightful commentary, and much more not found elsewhere.
