Full Title: Expanding Our Vision of Energy Efficiency: Examples from Buildings, Transportation, and Industry Illustrate Multilayered Opportunities for Greater Efficiency and Cost Savings.
Author(s): Yuki Numata, James Newcomb, Laurens Speelman, Rushad Nanavatty, and Will Atkinson
Publisher(s): Rocky Mountain Institute
Publication Date: January 22, 2025
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Description (excerpt):
Deploying renewable energy and improving energy efficiency are the two primary levers for climate action between now and 2030. Agreements among nations at COP28 put these two in parallel, with the twin goals of tripling renewables and doubling the rate of efficiency improvement between now and 2030.
With renewable growth exceeding expectations, the authors turn to the question: what about energy efficiency? The global agreement at COP28 calls for energy efficiency improvement rates to reach 4 percent every year until 2030. Yet when looking at global performance so far, the highest recent improvement rate is 2 percent in 2022, dipping down to 1 percent in 2023 and 2024. Reaching a 4 percent improvement rate will require a radical rethink on how we approach energy efficiency.
Traditionally, energy efficiency efforts have focused on replacing technologies, such as swapping out appliances for more efficient versions and replacing cars with higher-gas-mileage models. The authors offer in this insight brief a renewed and comprehensive vision for energy efficiency that includes electrification and energy end-use efficiency. Electrification promises a step change for efficiency improvements in energy technologies. Energy end-use efficiency takes a systemic approach to reducing the energy services we need while maintaining, and even improving, our quality of life. Done well, these energy efficiency measures could achieve savings and benefits that go far beyond the 4 percent target.
The authors analyze examples of energy- and emissions-intensive activities, starting from familiar points of reference in buildings, cars, trucking, and steel to illustrate the multilayered and interconnected nature of these energy efficiency opportunities. In each case, starting from the demand side and taking a whole-systems approach widens the scope of possible actions.