Energy System Efficiency for a cost-effective decarbonisation and energy resilience, 28 Sept 2022

On 28 September 2022, 11:30 – 13:00pm (CET) as part of the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) with smartEn and E3G, hosted an online conference on energy system efficiency and how this approach contributes to energy transition and to the phase-out of fossil fuels while increasing energy security and creating economic, social and environmental benefits for citizens and businesses.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated an already looming energy price crisis, stressing the urgent need to achieve a more efficient and decarbonised energy system. This requires the application of the Energy Efficiency First principle at the system level with consumers at its heart.

By significantly reducing energy demand and better integrating system efficiency solutions relying on the active contribution of consumers, the energy system can be transformed to ensure that we reduce our energy consumption and satisfy our energy needs with renewables at the best time, in the right way. This will ensure the optimisation of the system and accelerate the efficient integration of renewables.

The focus of this session is to discuss and demonstrate, through the contribution of concrete examples, how an energy system efficiency approach can contribute to energy transition and to the phase-out of fossil fuels while increasing energy security and creating economic, social, and environmental benefits for citizens and businesses.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Moderator: Monica Frassoni, President, European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE)
  • Niels Fuglsang, Rapporteur of the Energy Efficiency Directive recast, Member of the European Parliament
  • Dirk Kaisers, Segment Leader Distributed Energy Management EMEA, Eaton
  • Adeline Rochet, Senior Policy Adviser, E3G
  • Michael Villa, Executive Director, smartEn
  • Hans van Steen, Principal Adviser in DG Energy, European Commission

Recording of the event available here & starts at 2:35:09

More information here.

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EU-ASE reaction to Extraordinary EU Energy Council

Today, EU energy ministers called on the Commission to adopt emergency measures to help mitigate high energy prices. Concerning the reduction of energy demand, the Council agreed to call for measures for coordinated electricity demand reduction across the EU and to design measures to help solve the issue of decreased liquidity.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has strongly reduced Europe’s energy supply availability, notably of imported fossil gas. This has been fuelling a rampant increase in prices and energy bills. In August 2022, gas prices reached 340 EUR/MWh. As a reference, in August 2021, the same price was around 40 EUR/MWh. As a consequence of the rising cost of input fuels, benchmark electricity prices in Europe have also surged by almost 300% in 2022.

EU-ASE welcomes the reduction of electricity demand by introducing a mandatory target to reduce power consumption at peak hours. This can help in activating demand-side flexibility and to better optimise consumption.

However, we are disappointed of the lack of cohesion demonstrated by the Council. It is going to be very difficult to face the raising energy prices without a much more determined solidarity and common action on the very design and structure of the energy system. This is going to be even more urgent seeing the acceleration of the climate crisis.

The Council shows little ambition to further commit towards long-term energy demand reduction through energy efficiency measures. The EU needs a stronger plan with structural reforms fostering energy savings in the short and long term, in line with the objectives of the Fit for 55 package and the European Green Deal. The EU’s response cannot only be to call for behavioural changes while diverting more resources into fossil fuel infrastructure.

“Reducing our energy demand is essential to prepare for the next winter. Energy efficiency measures reduce costs for households and businesses and can be implemented faster than many other supply-side and infrastructural measures” says Monica Frassoni, president of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). “Thanks to existing energy efficiency solutions, we can address in the short-term the current crisis and, in the longer-term, support the switch to renewable energy sources.”

Recently, EU-ASE developed a catalogue of short to mid-term energy efficiency measures that, if implemented, can phase out the EU’s dependency on imported Russian fossil fuels.

Improving the energy efficiency of the whole energy system is the best way to ensure a cost-effective reduction of energy demand while stimulating sustainable economic growth and job creation. It is also the best way to ensure energy system security, independence and avoid future external energy shocks.

Read the full press release here.

 

Media contact:
Antoan Montignier
+32 499 84 97 28
antoan.montignier@euase.eu

About us
The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) is a cross-sectoral, business-led organisation that ensures that the voice of energy efficiency is heard across Europe. EU-ASE members have operations across the 27 Member States of the European Union, employ over 340.000 people in Europe and have an aggregated annual turnover of €115 billion.

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Decarbonisation through digitalisation: The key role of smart city districts in boosting energy efficiency

Smart buildings are energy-saving, sustainable buildings. Clustered into smart city districts, they play a crucial role in climate protection. The adaptive, open-source technology to make this possible is already available, says Matthias Rebellius of Siemens Smart Infrastructure on Foresight Climate & Energy ahead of the first edition of the European Energy Efficiency Day. 

Decarbonisation comes with a simple truth: kilowatt-hours that are not consumed do not have to be produced. They do not have to be stored or distributed. And when we are saving energy to avoid carbon emissions, this becomes all the more critical.

Efficiency is key, especially in the building sector. Buildings account for 40% of global energy consumption. But the average building still wastes up to 50% of the energy it consumes. Equipping or retrofitting a building with digitalised, networked and intelligent systems can reduce its ecological footprint by up to 80%.

Efficiency is more than modern insulation and state-of-the-art heating systems. We need smart building technologies and efficient building operations if we are going to move the needle on decarbonisation, especially in brownfield applications. A huge amount of leverage is being wasted. Buildings should—and can—contribute much more to the global decarbonisation effort.

Yet we must not focus just on buildings. We have to take into account synergies and efficiency gains on the community and city levels.

 

Read the full article here

More information on Energy Efficiency Day here & Register here.

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A legislative framework supportive of the water-energy nexus: exploiting synergies between water & energy savings, 22 Sept 2022

On 22 September 2022, 12:00 – 13:30pm (CET) as part of the Extended Programme of European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) hosted an online conference on the water-energy nexus to discuss how to design the best policy framework across the EED, UWWTD and IED.

The strong interdependencies that exist between energy and water are no longer to be demonstrated. Abstracting, distributing, heating, cooling or treating water requires huge amounts of energy while water is also used heavily in energy production and across many industrial processes.

The ongoing policy developments to unleash the potential of the water-energy nexus show progress is in the making but requires strong alignment between energy and water legislations. The panel will discuss how to ensure coherence across the EED, UWWTD and IED.

Moderator:

  • Agnese Danelon, Director, Government Relations Europe, Ecolab

Speakers:

  • Vania Paccagnan, Senior Global Policy Manager, Water at CDP Europe
  • Veronica Manfredi, DG ENVI, European Commission
  • AbdelKader Meroufel, WE Water Distribution infrastructure & Energy WG leader, Water Europe
  • Tania Pentcheva, Senior Government and Industry Relations, Xylem
  • Monica Frassoni, President, European Alliance to Save Energy

Watch the full session here

View full agenda here

 

 

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EU-ASE Feedback to the Public Consultation on the Revision of the Industrial Emissions Directive

The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) welcomes the Commission’s proposal to revise the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) and supports the high level of ambition in tackling emissions from large industrial installations as well as the stronger emphasis on energy and resources efficiency, including water.

While the directive marks a very positive development, there is still room for improvement notably on the application of the Energy Efficiency First principle, the scope, the granting of permits and the crucial role of digital technologies. You can see all feedback on the Commission’s portal.

Download the full response

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