Energy Efficiency among the World's Largest Economies

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. The group recently released its 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard that includes analysis of 16 of the world’s largest economies that together represent more than 81% of global gross domestic product and 71% of global electricity consumption.

 

 

In considering overall energy efficiency, ACEEE used 31 policy and quantifiable performance metrics across four groupings: energy use at the national level as well as the three sectors primarily responsible for energy consumption – buildings, industry, and transportation.

 

The top rankings went to: 1st – Germany; 2nd – Italy; and 3rd – the European Union. The United States ranked 13th.

 

The 2014 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard website includes the complete report, executive summary, press release, and additional information.

Energy Efficiency Opportunities in U.S. Cities

The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the official non-partisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. According to usmayors.org, there are 1,393 such cities in the U.S. today.

During their 82nd Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C., in January, the USMC unveiled the results of a survey in which nearly 300 cities provided data about how they are deploying energy technologies to make their city operations and communities more energy efficient. The full report is available – Energy Efficiency and Technologies in America’s Cities – as is a related press release.

 

 

Among a number of key findings, the report lists the following areas currently targeted by cities for energy efficiency, along with the percent of cities reporting each; up to three responses per city were possible: 

• Public Buildings (83%)
• Outdoor Lighting (54%)
• Wastewater Treatment (21%)
• Water Supply (20%)
• Traffic Management on Roads (16%)
• Public Transit (16%)
• …

Wonderware software solutions help smart cities better manage their infrastructure operations, including their energy efficiency, across diverse applications like facility/building management, water and wastewater, and transportation.

Europe's Covenant of Mayors - Increasing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Use

The Covenant of Mayors (CoM – www.covenantofmayors.eu) is the mainstream European movement involving local and regional authorities voluntarily committing to increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in their territories. By their commitment, Covenant signatories aim to meet and exceed the European Union’s (EU’s) 20% CO₂ reduction objective by 2020. They prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) and submit, within the year following their signature, a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) outlining the key actions they plan to undertake.

Signatory cities vary in size from small villages to large metropolitan areas like London and Paris. Over 3,000 SEAPs have been submitted to the European Commission, and that number is expected to increase as some 5,000 local authorities have now joined the Covenant of Mayors, representing over 170 million people or roughly one-third of the EU population (Covenant in Figures).

In a press release last month, the CoM referenced a recent study by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission noting CoM signatory cities release approximately eight tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per capita. However, through the implementation of their SEAPs, cities commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by about 28% by 2020, thus voluntary exceeding the EU’s 20% reduction objective. On average, 44% of the overall CO₂ reduction is expected to result from actions addressing the buildings sector (retrofitting of building stock, energy audits, etc.), 20% from the transport sector (introduction of cleaner vehicles, congestion charges, etc.) and 16%  from local energy production actions (production of biogas or solar energy, for instance).