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Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is at the heart of any good energy policy. Efficiency investments are usually characterized by low payback periods and substantial benefits from increased economic competitiveness, yet there is a large untapped potential to reduce, at low or negative cost, the amount of energy used per unit of output—real obstacles do exist. Climate change mitigation and poverty-reduction strategies have increasingly become key drivers to foster energy-efficiency improvements and help tackle the barriers to the increased implementation of energyefficiency measures.
Developing economies have a huge opportunity to strengthen their economic prospects by boosting energy productivity. Costs for standard but unimplemented renovations and equipment improvements typically run at one-quarter8 of the cost of commercial energy supply and well below the capital cost of installing new generation capacity. Improving energy efficiency also increases industrial competitiveness by lowering production costs, eases pressure on household budgets, and reduces government energy bills. Every building or industrial plant constructed today without optimal energy efficiency represents a lost opportunity to “lock in” lower energy consumption for decades.
Furthermore, energy efficiency lessens the pressure related to energy security. As many countries are expected to need to rely increasingly on imported traded energy fuels, their vulnerability to international energy price fluctuations will also increase. In such cases, curbing the energy demand by improving energy efficiency represents an attractive option.
In addition to benefits at global, national and industry levels, households can also profit significantly from energy-efficient technologies. For example, the lives of the poor who still depend on biomass sources can be considerably improved through the introduction of energy-efficient cooking stoves, which require less fuel wood and reduce the effects of indoor air pollution. The UNEP en.lighten initiative is working to accelerate the global market transformation to energy efficient lighting. The elimination of inefficient incandescent lamps and their replacement with higher efficiency products, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) provides one of the most straightforward and cost-effective ways to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change, while significantly reducing energy bills. Yet even such basic efficient technologies are currently beyond the reach of the majority of people living in developing countries. Addressing the potential of energy-efficiency improvements at all levels will be required to contribute significantly to decoupling economic growth with environmental impact. UN-Energy and its members combine the expertise and capacities required to support the realization of this potential.
Developing economies have a huge opportunity to strengthen their economic prospects by boosting energy productivity. Costs for standard but unimplemented renovations and equipment improvements typically run at one-quarter8 of the cost of commercial energy supply and well below the capital cost of installing new generation capacity. Improving energy efficiency also increases industrial competitiveness by lowering production costs, eases pressure on household budgets, and reduces government energy bills. Every building or industrial plant constructed today without optimal energy efficiency represents a lost opportunity to “lock in” lower energy consumption for decades.
Furthermore, energy efficiency lessens the pressure related to energy security. As many countries are expected to need to rely increasingly on imported traded energy fuels, their vulnerability to international energy price fluctuations will also increase. In such cases, curbing the energy demand by improving energy efficiency represents an attractive option.
In addition to benefits at global, national and industry levels, households can also profit significantly from energy-efficient technologies. For example, the lives of the poor who still depend on biomass sources can be considerably improved through the introduction of energy-efficient cooking stoves, which require less fuel wood and reduce the effects of indoor air pollution. The UNEP en.lighten initiative is working to accelerate the global market transformation to energy efficient lighting. The elimination of inefficient incandescent lamps and their replacement with higher efficiency products, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) provides one of the most straightforward and cost-effective ways to significantly reduce CO2 emissions and combat climate change, while significantly reducing energy bills. Yet even such basic efficient technologies are currently beyond the reach of the majority of people living in developing countries. Addressing the potential of energy-efficiency improvements at all levels will be required to contribute significantly to decoupling economic growth with environmental impact. UN-Energy and its members combine the expertise and capacities required to support the realization of this potential.
