Claude Nahon, Chairwoman of the EURELECTRIC Working group on Energy Efficiency, introduced the second session focussed on end-users by stressing the role of electricity in promoting energy efficiency and decarbonising the society." Efficient use of energy is necessary to minimise environmental impacts, to protect against increasing fuel price volatility and to make social energy targets more affordable", she added.


 

"Energy saving is one of the main objectives of the European Commission" declared Roderic van Voorst, Policy officer in DG Energy’s Energy Efficiency Unit. In this perspective, Mr. van Voorst reminded delegates of two major EU pieces of legislation aiming at improving energy efficiency both on the supply and on the demand sides, namely the "Cogeneration Directive" (2004/8/EC) and the "Energy Services Directive" (2006/32/EC). According to Mr. van Voorst, these directives had not brought the expected results. For example, in 2009, the share of cogeneration in total energy production was still around 11%, exactly the same level as before the implementation of the respective directives. For this reason, DG Energy will review both directives this summer to assess their merits and their defects to determine whether improvements and/or a total revision would be needed.

 

"The challenge of branding energy efficiency is in the change of perception", stated Bernard Gindroz, Expert in the IEA DSM Programme Task XX. Branding had not been a success so far and the key lay in understanding customer behaviour. "How to communicate with them? How to give them incentives for energy efficiency?" he asked. The creation of successful branding would result in a better penetration of energy efficient products.


 

Susana Bañares Hernandez, Head of the Spanish RED Eléctrica Demand Side Department, agreed with Bernard Gindroz on the importance of changing the perception of the energy efficiency. She identified four drivers to change the load shape: First, information, since "we cannot change what we do not know". She also suggested to apply time of use prices to make the final customer sensitive to the real cost of energy. Additionally, automation is needed to enable the implementation of DSM measures such as home automation or Smart Grids. Finally, Ms Bañares called for a minimum regulatory framework that allowed the development of energy efficiency-orientated markets.
 

Through many concrete examples from her own company, Mónica Oviedo Cespedes, Head of Environmental Stakeholders and Climate Change Unit at Iberdrola, gave an overview of initiatives undertaken by the Electricity Industry to enhance energy efficiency through the whole value chain. The electricity sector has a key role to play to enable customers "to shift from a passive demand to an active demand", she underlined, by launching awareness campaigns, encouraging the purchase of energy efficient appliances and technologies, giving price incentives, working in collaboration with regulators… "Customer behaviour is at the centre of the solution to the climate change challenge", she concluded.

 

Jörg Hermsmeier (EWE) identified the major challenges to overcome over the coming years in the areas of grid and market integration, quality and security of supply as well as in the area of efficient management of the power grid. As an example of a local project trying to overcome those problems, Mr. Hermsmeier described the eTelligence-Idea project managed by EWE in Cuxhaven, a coastal city in North Germany where shiftable loads and an intelligent communication network are brought together to allow orchestration of customer and producer requirements.

Denis Linford from EDF Energy raised the question of how to empower the customer and presented some results of the research project "Energy demand research Project" involving four major energy suppliers, including EDF Energy, in the United Kingdom. The project examined how customers responded to better information about their energy consumption. The first outcomes showed that an increase billing frequency did not influence customer behaviour and that the best way to promote energy efficiency is by emphasizing the savings it generates.

 

Christina Monrad Andersen from Lokalernergi Handel tackled energy efficiency from a different perspective: "Do we need to use new technologies and rocket science to improve energy efficiency or could we use olds technologies?". Relying on the example of a trout farm, she demonstrated that farmers were not initially concerned about saving energy but interested in reducing their cost. To create awareness for energy efficiency, it was necessary to combine these two goals. In the case of the traditional trout farm, energy was saved thanks to an energy optimum design. A normal diffuser had a capacity of 20kg feed per day whilst the optimal one enabled 50kg feed a day.
 

Concluding Remarks

 In his closing remarks, Hans ten Berge stressed the need for an integrated approach to deliver a dynamic, automated energy delivery system. All stakeholders, from Generators through to Transmission System Operators, Distribution System Operators and end-users, should be involved, he said. The consumer dimension is equally important and it is essential to see how they envisage energy efficiency. Along the same lines, Hans Nilsson concluded that energy efficiency means "doing more with less".