1. Target setting
2. Financing
3. Outreach
4. Introducing technology
5. Improving quantitative systems
6. Liberalisation and the role of utilities
7. Global dimension

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Andrew Warren, the Vice-Chair, makes a point about the role of direct subsidies in the domestic sector. He cites a change of policy in Germany, taking “a giant step forward” by setting up a new programme, designed to bring all pre-1978 homes up to contemporary energy standards by 2025.

Is this not also an essential mechanism for the entire commercial and tertiary sector, both of which have problems in relying on other driving forces and incentives?

They also say that the EU will benefit from opportunities to enter new markets, and offer technologies, when developing countries start introducing advanced technologies.

Ten of 15 European Union signatories including Ireland, Italy and Spain will miss the targets without urgent action. France, Greece and Germany are given an “amber warning” and will not reach the targets unless they implement planned policies, the IPPR said.

Another catalyst for concrete progress in developing countries, and for the poor in particular, is the European Union Energy Initiative, which puts a major focus on renewables. It is now backed up with a €220 million Energy Facility, which will be available from 2006.

The EU is also closely involved in the 88-country strong Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition.

Polluted air results in clouds with larger number of droplets than unpolluted clouds, reflecting more of the sun’s heat and energy back into space. This reduction in the amount of heat reaching the earth is known as “Global Dimming”.

By 2010, the EU’s share of renewables in primary energy consumption is planned to increase from 6% at present to 12%. For electricity, renewables should rise from 14% to 21%. Energy efficiency will be an essential component in making renewable technologies affordable and competitive.

An energy consuming device should not only be ‘efficient’, it should also be ’sufficient’. That is an unpopular subject, difficult to discuss with politicians.

Certain measures combine efficiency with conservation. For example, by ensuring that refrigerators do not only show a kWh/l rate, but also their total consumption/year, consumers are stimulated to buy an efficient refrigerator that is not too big.

Developing the trans-European network?
The Green Paper suggests that developing the Pan-European transmission network would benefit the overall energy efficiency in the EU. A strange point of view, since transporting energy over long distances inevitably causes energy losses, and any link with energy efficiency is hard to see.

The role of energy taxation
According to some experts, energy taxation does not promote energy efficiency, since the energy demand is price inelastic. But taxation can work in two ways:

1. If price elasticity is high, taxation will stimulate large energy savings
2. If the price elasticity is low, the increased cost per kWh due to taxation will only stimulate energy savings to a limited degree, but governments will earn large revenues that can be invested in energy efficiency measures

Benefits of improving efficiency
According to the BEST project, Europe could make a net economic benefit by implementing the energy efficiency directive of 10 billion euro/year. That is a rough estimate, calculated by subtracting the total investment in energy efficiency from the total cost of energy saved. No indirect effects were taken into account.

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This reflects growing concern about the cost of achieving Kyoto protocol targets, which have been recently estimated to lead to Britain, Germany, and Italy each losing 200,000 jobs. In Spain, more than 600,000 jobs would be lost.