Governance and communication for energy efficiency

S. Thomas
DOI:  10.12910/EAI2015-005

Energy efficiency has multiple benefits. It usually is a win-win option for all aspects of sustainability – environment, social objectives, and economy. It is also crucial for achieving a low-carbon society.

Therefore, we need much more evaluation and communication of these multiple benefits – to citizens, companies, and policy-makers.

Even then, energy efficiency will still only partially happen by itself, because of the manifold and strong market barriers.

Governance and policy packages for energy efficiency are therefore needed to tap the full potential and develop energy efficiency markets. More research is needed to develop our understanding on effective policy packages and how to better integrate citizens and companies into energy efficiency governance.

Evaluation shows effective policy can achieve around 2% per year of additional energy savings. We need more policy evaluation too, in order to know and communicate these benefits.