BackProgress made in increasing energy efficiency: IEA report
According to IEA estimates, global investment in energy efficiency was $221 billion in 2015, an increase of 6% from 2014
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New Delhi:Despite lower energy prices, there has been progress in increasing energy efficiency across the world but not fast enough, a report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday said, emphasizing that much more can be achieved.
The ‘Energy Efficiency – Market Report 2016’ highlights the threat of a continuation of lower energy prices to the energy efficiency agenda and pointed out that strong, well-designed policy, can mitigate that threat.
“The greatest efficiency gains have been led by policy and the greatest untapped potential lies where policy is absent or inadequate," the report stressed.
Improving energy efficiency was one of the major focus areas of the Paris climate deal reached last year in December.
“Global progress on energy intensity is still too slow, falling short of putting the world onto a sustainable pathway toward a decarbonised energy system. IEA analysis shows that annual energy intensity improvements need to rise immediately to at least 2.6% in a trajectory consistent with our climate goals," it added.
Meanwhile, as policies have expanded, so has investment in energy efficiency. According to IEA estimates, global investment in energy efficiency was $221 billion in 2015, an increase of 6% from 2014.
The IEA analysis also praised India’s Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) programme, a market-based energy efficiency trading mechanism. Started in 2012, the programmed had set energy consumption targets for 478 of the most energy-intensive industrial enterprises.
“The first cycle of the PAT programme (2012-15) aimed to reduce energy consumption on average by 4.1% in eight industry subsectors that made up 36% of total industrial energy consumption (2009-10 levels). The majority of the estimated annual savings were expected to come from power generation, followed by iron and steel and cement. The latest assessment of 427 industrial enterprises under the first cycle shows the original target was surpassed with energy consumption reduced by 5.3%, resulting in annual emissions reductions of 31 million tonnes of CO2," the report said.
PAT’s second cycle (2016-19) will expand the programme across 900 to 950 industrial enterprises, representing a share of 50% of industrial energy consumption (2009-10 levels) by including sectors like refineries, railways and state distribution companies.
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