A clear political commitment to energy efficiency is the necessary basis for long-term development decisions by appliance manufacturers. It will provide a reliable planning framework for all market actors and will reduce investment risk for suppliers of energy-efficient appliances. To make such a commitment credible, it is crucial to set ambitious, yet achievable energy saving targets and to develop comprehensive medium to long-term strategies towards making very energy-efficient appliances the standard. Ideally, the roadmap and targets should be made statutory through an energy efficiency law, including provisions for the stable funding of energy efficiency policy.
A policy roadmap is an important step of the policy planning, implementation, and learning cycle (see next figure). The cycle starts with the definition of national energy saving targets and continues with a roadmap to determine the contribution of the different sectors (like appliances) to target achievement. The roadmap should include sectoral targets based on the analysis of potentials and priorities. For appliances, we propose the following vision: Mainstream the highest energy efficiency levels.
The roadmap should already include basic strategies for achieving the targets, provision of funding and a concrete timetable for implementation.
A policy roadmap including ambitious, yet achievable energy saving targets as well as comprehensive medium to long-term strategies (e.g. a long-term policy roadmap and short-term plans for developing energy-efficient appliances and the related technologies, the market skills, and the minimum energy performance standards (MEPS), towards very low energy levels) reduces the risk for suppliers of energy-efficient appliances to invest in the development and marketing of more energy-efficient appliances, as they create confidence that there will be a market demand.
Furthermore, a roadmap for policy makers can be used as a basis for organising long-term programmes, for justifying funding and for obtaining resources (IEA 2010). Targets can come in different forms i.e. energy consumption in GWh or MT CO2, energy consumption or emission per unit or energy consumption relative to others etc. The time frame of a policy roadmap can be annual, medium term (5-20 years) or long term (20+ years). The targets should be clearly communicated and documented to monitor the policies and to take the different reactions of all actors into account.
The strategies will be most effective when combining various policies and measures with consistent policy packages to support very energy-efficient appliances and promote these technologies. They can thereby accelerate the market uptake of these technologies.
Several countries have already set up ambitious policy roadmaps and targets to achieve very energy efficient appliances but most of the time, these targets are not formulated for appliance alone but are part of an economy-wide approach. For example; the California Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan gives clear policy direction for all stakeholders. The plan already aims (inter alia) to tighten appliance standards in the near future. Other examples are the Chinese 5-years plan or the German Energy concept that includes appliance-specific targets.
The European Ecodesign-Directive is also a kind of roadmap. It is a framework to define the rules for setting minimum energy performance standards for energy related products. The product-related regulations include minimum requirements for the energy performance and other parameters.
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A policy roadmap sets ambitious, yet achievable energy saving targets and includes comprehensive medium to long-term policy-making strategies towards making very energy efficient appliances the standard. The strategies will be most effective when combining various policies and measures with consistent policy packages (such as those recommended by bigEE) to achieve energy efficiency and promote energy-efficient products.
Worldwide implementation status
Several countries have already set up ambitious policy roadmaps and targets to achieve high energy efficiency levels for appliances.
Most of the time these targets are not formulated for appliances alone but are part of an economy-wide approach. One example is the USA’s “National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency. Vision for 2025 – A framework for Change”. The action plan was published in 2008 and includes goals and visions but also sector-specific policy programmes for the next few years (EPA 2008). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also published the “Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action”. The plan specifies the policy plans and describes details about appliance standards and policy interactions (EPA 2006). Furthermore, on http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/schedule_setting.html the schedule of new appliance standards and some background information are described.
Another example comes from Australia. The “National Framework for Energy Efficiency (NFEE)” was established by the Ministerial Council on Energy to analyse different sector-specific policy packages. In 2007 the NFEE –Stage 2 was published with a focus on MEPS, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, inefficient lighting, and government leadership through green leases (RET 2007).
There are also some countries that have published appliance-specific policy roadmaps to increase the energy efficiency of appliances. Some examples are China and others within the European Union.
China published the “Chinese household appliance industry technology roadmap”. Three working groups were established to prepare the road map with a focus on “low-carbon-green”, and “product upgrades”. The roadmap takes into account the demands of society and market, environmental problems, opportunities, and the technical development of specific appliances (Lei 2012). The roadmap “covers the social and market needs analysis, target industry analysis, technical bottleneck analysis, research and development needs analysis etc.” (Instant News 2011).
The European Ecodesign-Directive is another kind of roadmap. It is a framework for defining the rules of setting minimum energy performance standards and energy labels for appliances.
Some other examples of energy efficiency-related saving targets are summarised in the following table (based on IEA 2010):
Country | Sector | Type and description | Target | Baseline year | Target year |
China | Economy-wide | Reduced energy intensity relative to a base year | 10-18% | 2010 | 2015 |
European Union | Economy-wide | Reduced energy consumption relative to a base year | 20% | 1990 | 2020 |
Indonesia | Economy-wide | lower than 1 | 2025 | ||
Mexico | Buildings Transport Appliances and Lighting industry | Reduced energy consumption relative to a base year | 16% 26% 52% 12% | 2009 | 2030 |
Russia | Economy-wide | Reduced energy consumption relative to a base year | 40% | 2007 | 2020 |
Turkey | Buildings | Transactional | 10 million buildings | N/A | 2020 |
Vietnam | Economy-wide | Reduced energy consumption relative to a base year | 5-8% | 2011 | 2015 |
Governance level
A policy roadmap can be implemented at the national, trans-national, regional or local level. Most of the time the roadmap is implemented on national and trans-national levels.
In principle, all appliances for improving energy efficiency are addressed by this policy.
A policy roadmap includes an appropriate package of different policy or measures to achieve its target.
Such a policy roadmap can thus include and package all kinds of policies and measures, such as those recommended by bigEE.
The following pre-conditions are necessary to implement policy roadmaps and targets for very efficient appliances
Agencies or other actors responsible for implementation
An implementing agency/committee should be in place to co-ordinate the preparation of the policy roadmap. In addition, a steering committee can be set up to define targets, strategic options, supportive measures, and key steps of the policy roadmap as well as to monitor and evaluate the roadmap implementation (UNDP 2011b).
Funding
Achieving the targets of a policy roadmap needs supportive funding.
Test procedures
Unless they already exist, calculation methods and test procedures for measuring the energy performance of appliances will need to be developed, during the implementation of the roadmap and the policies and measures included therein. Such methods and procedures are not only particularly relevant for regulations like minimum energy performance standards and labels, but also for advice and financial incentives.
In our pdf file „How to design and implement energy efficiency policies”, we offer information on how to set energy efficiency targets and develop and implement policy roadmaps, as well as a policy planning, implementation, and learning cycle. The cycle (see the next figure) starts with an analysis of the technical and economic potential for energy efficiency in buildings and appliances.
Preparing a policy roadmap then requires the participation of multiple stakeholders. Thus, the first step is to identify key actors in different sectors and set up a co-ordination structure. The methodology of the roadmap development should also be decided on at this stage. Secondly, a roadmap should undergo a comprehensive assessment in order to understand the status-quo and to explore the impacts of different strategies. The latter can, for example, be supported by scenario analysis. Based on the assessment, the next step is to identify strategic options and conduct analysis of these options, e.g. cost-benefit analysis. Then policies or measures (e.g. financing options) to support these strategic options should be developed. Finally, a comprehensive roadmap with ambitious steps is developed (UNDP 2011b).
Quantified target
A policy roadmap is developed on quantitative targets, based on which strategic options, as well as supportive policies and measures are used. The targets can be, for example, the percentage of appliances sold with the highest energy efficiency label class, a maximum or average energy consumption per appliance sold, or the energy savings per product group.
International co-operations
International co-operations that share experiences of preparing a policy roadmap, e.g. in terms of the comprehensive assessment or achievable energy savings, can help policy-makers to formulate the roadmap within their jurisdiction.
Monitoring
It is often difficult to predict whether the policies or measures in a long-term policy roadmap individually or as the agreed package, will actually produce the desired results. Thus, it is important that monitoring and evaluation gives feedback to the government so that they can make adjustments to the policy roadmap (BMU 2010). Accordingly, a policy roadmap should address how monitoring and evaluation will be conducted, including method, reporting, and feedback mechanisms of the formulated roadmap (UNDP 2011b). Monitoring should not only correspond to the targets but also cover the actual progress to determine whether it follows the pathway defined in the roadmap. For the targets, as they can be formulated for appliances, it will be useful to monitor the percentage of appliances sold with the highest energy efficiency label class, the average energy consumption per appliance sold, or the energy savings per product group compared to a pre-defined baseline.
Evaluation
Evaluation includes reviewing how reasonable the targets are, the overall impact, costs, the benefits of the policy package and the contribution of the individual policies and measures and whether they work well or need to be improved, the feasibility of strategic options, implementation barriers, etc. Ideally, the results are fed back into the developed policy roadmap for further adjustment, e.g. adjusting targets and identifying need for further action.
Design for sustainability aspects
The targets of a policy roadmap can also include other sustainable components, such as water savings, resource efficiency, or health, for the promotion of these aspects.
Co-benefits
The creation of job opportunities is usually a key co-benefit of a policy roadmap.
Potentially achievable energy savings vary among different policy roadmaps, depending on the defined targets.
According to findings presented in the bigEE Appliance Guide, very energy-efficient appliances allow savings of between 60 and 85% compared to inefficient models that are still on sale in many countries. If this potential were harnessed by markets and supported by policy, more than 1500 TWh of annual worldwide electricity demand and 1,000 Mt of CO2 emissions could be saved by 2030.
Concrete benefits were calculated for the Australian National Framework for Energy Efficiency (NFEE)- Stage 1. The next table shows estimates of the impact in 2015 of MEPS, EEO and commercial and residential building code regulation programmes (RET 2007).
Impact | Announced in December 2004 Communiqué | Projected impact of 3 NFEE Stage 1 measures |
GDP benefits ($m/annum) | 400 | 380 |
Greenhouse gas benefits (Mt CO2-e/annum) | 3.6 | 7.8 |
Energy savings (PJ/annum) | 51 | 42 |
Source: RET 2007
The European Ecodesign Directive as kind of a framework calculates potential energy savings for every product group. Based on the product-specific regulations and the relevant impact assessments the European Commission expects EU-wide energy savings of more than 400 TWh/year by 2020.
The costs of preparing a policy roadmap towards very energy-efficient appliances can be relatively small. They mainly relate to the process and projects that help government to develop a roadmap.
Expected costs for the government implementing a policy roadmap depends on which policies and measures they decided on for achieving the targets defined in the roadmap.
Given that the potential energy savings and expected costs depend on the target and options set in the policy roadmap, it is difficult to generalise on expected net benefits.
However, policymakers could set interim targets and energy efficiency requirements during roadmap implementation at a level that is cost-effective to society and investors. At the same time, research and demonstration on ways to reduce the costs of energy-efficient appliances should be part of the roadmap. Furthermore, supporting broad market uptake of energy-efficient appliances will bring costs down due to economies of scale. In combination with removal/reduction of subsidies on end-user energy prices and on energy supply and/or introduction of energy/CO2 taxation and emissions trading, we can expect that a well-designed and well-implemented roadmap will eventually make energy-efficient appliances cost-effective, so it will then be wise and appropriate to make them the legal standard through minimum energy performance standards.
Concrete benefits were calculated for the Australian National Framework for Energy Efficiency (NFEE)- Stage 1. Net GDP benefits of $380 million per year were projected for MEPS, EEO and commercial and residential building code regulation programmes (RET 2007).
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Market Transformation Programme
Type: Policy roadmap and targets for very efficient appliances |
United Kingdom |
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