annex - buildup.eu survey report annex.pdfannex survey report progress in energy efficiency policies...

ANNEX

SURVEY REPORT

Progress in energy efficiency policies in the EU Member States -

the experts perspective

Findings from the Energy Efficiency Watch Project

2012

Contents: - Quantitative survey: Questionnaire and all tables - Qualitative survey: Country summaries - Network report summaries

*

Survey Report: Progress in energy efficiency policies - ANNEX 2

*Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. © O.Ö. Energiesparverband, Landstrasse 45, A-4020 Linz/Austria, ZVR 171568947


Quantitative survey: Questionnaire and all tables


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 1: overall ambition of the energy efficiency policies

generally, rather low

ambitious in a few sectors, less so in most others

ambitious in a range of sectors, less so in a few others

generally, rather high


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 2: progress of energy efficiency policies in the last 3 years

no or very little progress a few additional policies

a range of additional policies many additional policies


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 3: achievement of national energy savings target

target will not be achieved

target will be achieved but will not lead to a lot of additional savings

target will probably be achieved

target will certainly be achieved

not aware of energy savings target


26

25

27

9

61

60

54

48

11

14

17

37

1

1

1

6

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EE in public procurement

conditions for EE services

financial instruments

availability of EE information

Question 5: average degree of improvement

no progress some progress significant progress very high progress

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 5: degree of improvement of EE in public procurement



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 5: degree of improvement of conditions for EE services



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 5: degree of improvement of financial instruments



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 5: degree of improvement of availability of EE information



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 6: most important gaps in energy efficiency policies

residential sector public sector industry & service sector

transport sector energy sector others/ comment


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 7: greatest barrier to energy efficiency

financing of EE investment

lack of legislation or its implementation

information & awareness levels of end-user groups

others/ comment


0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

White Certificates

Voluntary Agreements

Obligations for energy companies

Energy Audits

Qualification, accreditation & certification schemes

EE Funds

Smart Metering

Question 8: average degree of effectiveness of different policy

instruments

not effective at all partly effective very effective unknown/ not implemented

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of white certificates



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of voluntary agreements



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of obligations for energy companies



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of energy audits



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of qualification, accreditation &

certification schemes



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of EE funds



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

EU27

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Cyprus

Czech Rep.

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Lithuania

Lux

Malta

NL

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Slovak Rep.

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

UK

Question 8: degree of effectiveness of smart metering



0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

binding OVERALL national energy savings target

binding SECTORAL national energy savings target

European CO2 tax

European energy efficiency fund

more voluntary agreements with appliance &…

significant expansion of energy labeling for…

stricter minimum standards for buildings &…

rapidly banning all inefficient products from the…

mandatory renovation of bad buildings funded by…

stringent maximum fuel consumption for cars

road charges for all roads

free public transport funded by road charges

extended obligations for energy companies to…

extended obligations for energy companies to…

mandatory energy managers for companies &…

mandatory energy audits for industry & mandatory…

stricter binding energy efficiency targets for the…

mandatory energy efficiency standards in public…

Question 9: measures which should be introduced on EU level

yes no don't know


Qualitative survey: Country summaries The following country summaries were prepared by the partner networks Fedarene (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Romania, Spain), Energy Cities (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, NL, Poland, UK) and ECEEE (Austria, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxemburg, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden), summarising the interviews carried out. The statements in the text do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the project team (and were also not fact checked) but just summarise the observations made by the interviewees. Austria The most important developments In overall terms, progress in energy efficiency policy implementation is too slow and the savings achieved are too low. Yet, there is an appreciation that energy efficiency is essential. However, greater energy efficiency comes at a cost. The lack of binding savings targets for the different sectors is an important problem. Currently, there is a national energy efficiency law under preparation where the setting of such targets is under discussion (including obligatory quantified energy saving for different sectors, obligatory renovation rates for public buildings and related financing instruments). The level of ambition achieved in the political compromise on this law is of key importance. It is essential that there are obligated parties to drive energy efficiency forward. In the buildings sector it is important to set strict standards not only for the thermal envelopes but also for issues such as electrical equipment and power densities, since this is one of the most difficult issues to tackle. In general, national building standards are lagging (although provinces are very active in this area). The lack of a national transport policy, which takes energy efficiency into account, is also an important problem. Strong government intervention will be needed and the taxation of cars and fuels must be harmonised vis-a-vis neighbouring countries. In the industry sector a key issue is the lack of a funding mechanism which provides funding from energy industry to finance energy efficiency investments. More soft tools, such as auditing schemes, are also needed. The institutional framework exists but it is only a patchwork system concerning energy efficiency and there needs to be a better definition of who does what. The draft energy efficiency law is vital in setting obligations and better defining the role of actors.


Most successful developments The comprehensive national funding programmes for energy efficiency investments in the service and industry sectors which brought significant savings in this sectors, among others in thermo-retrofitting of commercial buildings, in energy efficient appliances, lighting, processes etc. We now have nice technical standards for what is possible in the service sector buildings (but they still need to be translated into practically applicable standards or benchmarks.) All 9 Austrian regions have now adopted ambitious energy criteria in their housing programmes, both for new construction and renovation. This ensures acceptable energy efficiency standards in all single- and multi-family homes funded by these programmes (which in some regions is a high percentage of the total housing). Austria has become an avant-garde country with good incentives for new residential buildings. For the implementation of the EPBD (which is to a large extent the responsibility of the regions), the experts in the 9 regions have recently reached an agreement on the technical implementation of the EBPD, which is hoped to result in ambitious building legislation throughout the Republic. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector The status in the public sector is quite good. A lot of cities and regions are very active, but more could still be done. There is a budget increase for thermal retrofit and the (thermal) retrofit rate is now 2-2,5%/yr. But the lack of binding targets for retrofitting of public buildings is still a problem. This is helped for state buildings under the Energy Efficiency Directive (where there is a target for public sector retrofits) but not for buildings under regional jurisdiction that are not included in the EED. Another problem is the lack of energy-related data of public buildings (thermal standards, existing heating systems etc.) The lack of funding for energy efficiency measures in the public sector is a problem. There are very few activities in relation to energy efficiency in public vehicle fleets. The residential sector The electricity prices for households are low and Austria still has a lot of electric heating. Austria lacks important standards in this sector. There is also need for systems that visualise the electricity consumption of smaller appliances. The law which regulates how heating costs have to be split among the tenants/owners in multi-family buildings still allows splits that do not fully reflect actual consumption but are also based (at least to a significant percentage) on the area (m²) of the apartment. A stricter obligation to base heating bills on consumption only would be beneficial.


The lack of legal obligations for the retrofitting of residential buildings is a problem. The legal structures for investment decisions in condominium associations (individually owned apartments in multi-family buildings), is a very important barrier. The law, "Wohungseigentumgesetz", foresees that renovation measures can only be taken if all (or nearly all) owners agree which is in many cases very hard to achieve. There are two main reasons: older buildings have a higher percentage of older building owners who have lower incomes and/or do not believe that they will profit enough from the savings and/or are less willing to cope with renovation measures in their homes. Also in many cases, the owners do not live in the apartment themselves anymore, and are therefore not interested in any energy savings which will benefit their tenants (classic owner - tenant problem). The situation could be significantly improved by lowering the percentage requirements for energy efficiency measures (e.g. with certain payback times). The industry & service sector Austria has weak standards for renovation and weak funding regimes. There are facility service companies, but they offer no incentive to save electricity or to make the electricity consumption visible (and they have no incentive themselves to do so). Following a dip in energy consumption at the beginning of the current financial crisis, sectoral consumption is now 3-4% higher than in 2008. There are a number of important barriers to EE investments/actions in these sectors:

• The lack of a legal obligation for energy audits and the related obligation to implement measures with short payback periods identified in the audit. This could change under the proposed energy efficiency law.

• The lack of obligatory "energy officers" (persons responsible for energy issues within a company). Such dedicated officers are a well-established instrument, for example in the fields of waste management or safety issues in larger companies.

• The lack of a legal obligation to make use of industrial waste heat, at least for new plants and for major changes in existing plants

• Since rising electricity consumption in the service sector is a big problem (share approaching 50% of energy use), there is a need for standards for electricity consumption per m² and benchmarks.

• Very short payback period requirements are a disincentive to investments. While energy costs are the main driver to improve energy efficiency, there are no major subsidies for industry.

The transport sector In general, there is no national transport policy, which takes energy efficiency into account, and related to that, there are no legal obligations for this sector. There is much potential for greater public transport outside the main cities. Austria has lower taxes compared to neighbouring countries. Efficiency improvements are to 50% outweighed by more driving and increase engine power. Cars get bigger and bigger. A registration tax should be coupled to size and CO2 emissions. The draft energy efficiency law excludes the transport sector.


Institutional framework Austria is a federal country. The constitution regulates which sectors fall within the legislative and administrative responsibility of the national government, the regions and the municipalities and there has been reasonably good co-operation. In the energy efficiency sector, the Ministry of economic affairs is not seen as progressive. However, the regions play a key role (especially in the building sector) and they are usually the drivers for more ambitious policies, the lack of significant own responsibilities also often entails a lower level of interest from the national government. The regional energy agencies of the provinces are very important and some have created very successful clusters. It is felt that there is a need for a clearer definition of roles vis-à-vis energy efficiency because there is no clear overall strategy or way forward to achieve energy efficiency goals in the next 10 to 20 years. There is a need for one or two authorities to provide leadership and take responsibility to achieve energy efficiency goals. The implementation of EU directives requires more and more interaction among the 10 actors (9 regions, 1 national government) as action plans and national reports on the implementation of key directives (e.g. EPBD, ESD) usually need to be jointly developed and agreements have to be reached. These changes triggered by European legislation were in most cases useful and beneficial for energy efficiency market development in Austria, however, documents such as the "Energy Roadmap 2050" risk to be counterproductive. Other important issues The problems of rising electricity consumption in the service sector and how difficult it is to address this. Belgium The most important negative and positive developments

• In the current decisions addressed through climate change, something more has to be done. Before the economic crisis the so called green economy was seen among people as an opportunity, but at the moment the interest in investing in EE measures seems to be decreased in Belgium and in all Europe. And, despite the implementation of energy efficiency measures, energy consumption could further increase.

• The government, recently, decided to lock the prices for gas and electricity, this decision caused tensions between NGO, trade unions and the government because the lock of the energy tariffs if, on the one hand, can help the decrease of fuel poverty, on the other, is a disincentive for reducing the energy consumption. This is


a regular debate that comes up between social concerns and environmental challenges. The pricing policy is not really clear, politicians consider impossible to take a decision now.

• The technical competences have to be improved in the whole energy efficiency process from the energy audit to the implementation of the actions.

• Positive actions were implemented but since the crisis has started some interesting

measures have been cancelled while they were in progress. An example is the tax deduction (provided by the federal governments) for interventions in private dwellings such as the installation of solar thermal panels and the insulation of the building. Another example is the fund aimed at financing interventions to reduce energy consumption (FRCE) managed at federal level. This fund is now suspended. The fund was used by local collectivises to finance small EE interventions in buildings.

• There are a series of local initiatives extremely heterogeneous and difficult to follow. Critical issues in different sectors Public sector

• For the building sector in general, the legislation is strict enough. Regarding the transposition of European Directives, there must be consultation between the Regions; the definitions of energy performance are not the same in the three

Regions. Regarding the new Directive, the definition: “buildings owned and occupied by central government” is not clear enough. In Belgium the results will depend on which buildings will be involved: federal, regional, municipal, schools, hospitals, etc.

• Not many interventions were made in public buildings and it is difficult to see the results due to the fragmented choices of the cities. The crisis had an impact on the public funds which are not enough to renovate the building stock, particularly in schools. Furthermore, the Committee on Monuments and historical sites is very conservative and it prevents interventions on historical buildings.

• In Brussels many interventions in schools were made (such the replacement of boilers / better control of heating / lighting). Those interventions brought results but the building envelope was not touched. In the social housing there are examples of low energy consumption and passive energy systems, even though, in general, the energy efficiency of existing social housing cannot be considered efficient. There is no desire of having an overall policy for the renovation of existing buildings, for new buildings the situation is different and there is more attention on energy efficiency issues.

• The national energy efficiency Plan shows the differences between the three regions. They must find an agreement in order to have a coherent plan with common indicators.

• Even though renovations are systematically done there is not an overall policy. Due to the division of the functioning and investment budgets, there are difficulties to convince authorities to adopt energy efficiency measures.


Residential sector

• About energy, and in particular, regarding the heating distribution, low income households consume about the same as high income households. Even though the houses of this second category are bigger, they consume less energy due to the better energy performance of their buildings. This causes problems of fuel poverty.

• In Brussels the incentives for energy efficiency renovation are modulated according to the income of the households. But in the residential sector, the problem is that in case of rented flats, both, the owner and the tenant have no interest in investing in energy efficiency. In this sector there was a decrease of the federal support: Until the end of 2011, household could benefit from tax credit for a large range of EE measures, since 2012, the tax credit is only applicable for roof insulation. In addition there is a lack of control on the quality of the work done.

• Financial opportunities: - Plan Marchal 2.vert - Ecopack

• Regarding the appliances a series of efforts have been done. But, even though, the efficiency of the appliances increased, the electricity consumption increased as well, taking in consideration the diffusion (in terms of the number of items purchased) of new devices.

• In Brussels and in the Walloon region, was provided a financial support aimed at incentivising the purchase of high efficient appliances (class A + +) or boilers. Due to this measure high efficiency condensing boilers were installed but the results are variable, from one region to another, and they change every year.

Service sector

• EE obligations (for all sectors excluding transport): before the liberalisation it was a duty of the regions. Now Suppliers are responsible of the management of EE obligations. EANdis, for example, the main distribution operator, proposes incentives for refrigerators, roof insulation, external insulation, condensing boiler…). Energy companies have to save 1.5% of primary energy every year compared to electricity they have transported the year before.

• Creation of FEDESCO company aiming to finance EE project in public state building and Creation of BELESCO, which is the Belgian ESCOs Association

• The ESCOs sector needs to be developed. • The introduction of the white certificates is under discussion.

Industry & service sector

• Belgium is still a highly industrialized country compared to the neighbouring countries. Therefore the energy consumption pro capita is significantly higher than the European average (not so far from the United States). The industrial sector is ground-breaking in terms of EE; the grey energy of products is low compared to

others Countries. • Two voluntary agreements were negotiated with large industries:


1) The Benchmarking Covenant (starting date 2004) drawn up for large energy intensive industries, from all industrial sectors. The Benchmarking Covenant has a working period up to 2012. 2) The auditing Covenant (starting date 2005 until 2013) for the medium size enterprises. Within the auditing covenant, medium enterprises (for small enterprises there are no special policies apart from the EE obligations), made an energy plan in 2006 and more than 50% of all economical visible measures had to be implemented; The objective is 10% of saving within the 8 years. Within the benchmarking covenant companies have to benchmark their installation to similar installations elsewhere in the world, they have to be in the top 10 of EE installations of the world (such as refineries – major chemistry – steel – food – cement). In the future both (auditing and benchmarking) will continue but they will be revised in order to complement the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS).

• There is a System of ecology premium for investments on EE and RES given by the Flemish government. It was recently added a strategic ecology premium “SEP” improved in 05/2012. The SEP is open for specific strategic project: ecologic premium is restricted to a list of standard technologies proposed by the government. It is amended time to time and new technologies (developed by companies) could be added to the list. The level of the premium depends of the type of technology and the CO2 emissions; it could be from 10 to 80%.

• Due to the economic situation, there are difficulties to stimulate investments in this sector.

• The climate decree, which will determine the CO2 reduction for the next decades (-30% in 2020, and more than 80% in 2050), is still under negotiation

Transport sector

• Energy efficiency measures in the transport sector have to be implemented. There are general policies that allowed a modal shift and a general improve of energy efficiency of the entire mobility system. But the number of miles travelled (by train or by car) is growing. Even though there is an increase of the individual behaviour (for example the use of bicycles) people choose big cars instead of the more efficient ones. More buses or trains should be introduced but there is the risk that they run empty. A solution could be a major density in the public transports. The problem is the lack of policy coherence and of land planning.

• The EE action plans for transport put the emphasis in infrastructure. A new measure probably based on the mileage is under discussions in the 3 regions.

• The Congestion charge for trucks (international traffic) was announced for next year but it has been postponed for 2016.

• Regional initiatives: Flanders: taxation system on standard vehicles, taxes will be increased to promote Electric cars (Vehicle taxation is a regional competence now). Walloon region: Introduction of eco-Bonus / eco- CO2 Malus mechanism (premium / penalties according to the emission g/km of the new cars).


Institutional framework

• The Federal government sets the tariffs of electricity and natural gas, and it has competence in the storage and transportation of natural gas for electricity generation ( except for the production of electricity from renewable sources and cogeneration) and for nuclear energy.

• Regions are responsible for the distribution of electricity with a voltage less than or equal to 70 kilovolts (kV), for the distribution of natural gas for electricity generation from renewable energy sources and cogeneration, for the rational use of energy and for the obligations of the public service.

• The Associations of Municipalities collaborate and work together with the Regions, trough a network of representatives of the Municipalities and of the Regional governments, for example for the implementation of the guidelines set at regional level for the development of heating district grids.

Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues

• From a global perspective, despite all energy efficiency measures implemented and the other technological progresses in the field of the renewable powers, the level of energy consumption has to be reduced.

Bulgaria The most important negative and positive developments

• Energy Efficiency is not a priority in Bulgaria. There is not a strong political will at national level mainly because it is not enough attractive. However, there is a major focus on nuclear power and gas plants and also on photovoltaic and Wind power plants.

• Lack of financing for Energy Efficiency compared to the huge building stock which have to be refurbish. Regarding EU funds, the operational programme for development cover only a part of the interventions. Nevertheless it must be underline that procedures for getting the funds are now more transparent. Need to use EU funding to reach higher standards.

• Most of the Building stock is old and inefficient, about 80% of the buildings would need to be retrofitted. The energy costs during the winter season are high and most of the citizens can not afford their energy bills. The new buildings (20%) were built under the new regulation; they now have 10 cm of insulation while before it was only 5 cm). Need to strongly increase the requirements and the standards for energy efficiency retrofitting.

• Regarding the legislation, it seems that things are changing. There are stricter criteria for the approval of the projects. Nevertheless, there is a regulation for new apartment blocks; but no regulation for the old ones.


• Need to increase the demonstrative energy efficiency building projects including NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building).

• Need of allocation of national energy saving targets to the regions and need more ambitions energy efficiency targets/projects in public sector.

• Lack of local municipal capacity for the implementation of National energy efficiency plan and programs. The local energy managers of few municipalities don’t have power and they are not enough qualified for carrying this work.

• Need to involve citizens – owners of dwellings, residential buildings, offices, etc. into the energy efficiency process. There are no governmental promotional campaigns to persuade households to renovate their buildings and to insulate them while if the Government would give incentives, people would make interventions. Moreover, need to encourage the households to work together for doing investments in apartment blocks.

• A lot of things have been done in the past 10 years. A lot of changes in the national legislation thanks to EU directives. The 1st decade of 2000 was very productive.

• A new energy retrofitting programme: the “Energy Retrofit Programme of Multi-Swelling Unit” will start by the end of the year.

• The Agency for sustainable energy development is now reporting of energy and СО2 savings.

• Development of photovoltaic energy, more and more investments in solar and thanks to the law, the government is obliged to buy the energy produced.

• More and more new houses are equipped with heat pumps which help to reduce the cooling and heating costs.

Critical issues in different sectors Public sector

• The Ministry of finance is only focusing on energy supply and is not interest in energy efficiency.

• The public sector didn’t realise that from the economic point of view, energy efficiency could create job positions and could help the general growth of the country.

• From the economic point of view, energy efficiency could create job positions and could help the general growth of the Country but, in the public sector, there are not good examples in this sense. The climate change issues are not considered as a priority by the decision makers.

• There is a lack of ambitions, when energy efficiency projects are implemented; it is with the minimal legal requirements.

• Before the crisis, there was not interest in NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building ), the construction of new buildings is now limited due to the crisis

• Even if municipalities are more and more active, energy planning particularly for the buildings at local level is needed.

• Some Municipalities received funds and they are implementing projects. Nevertheless, municipalities follow the lowest standards (according to the law) due to few available funds. Lack of prioritisation of the work that have to be done.


• EU funds are not used for energy efficiency interventions, • All municipalities should have energy managers; they should play an important role

and have a high level of qualification. Currently, there is a lack of resources and skills. There are not enough people in charge of energy efficiency and those who are working on are not enough qualified. The government should organise training courses and encourage civil servants to deepen the knowledge in this field.

• The Covenant of Mayors is a good initiative, but some Municipalities joined without knowing how and if they could respect the commitments taken with the signature of the Covenant. It could be inspiring for the future.

• The public sector didn’t understand that households should be encouraged and supported to refurbish their dwellings.

Residential sector

• There are no specific laws for the residential sector; a different energy efficiency policy is needed.

• The Government thinks that the actual legislation is enough but the practice shows the opposite, financial effective incentives are needed. Nevertheless, there are some few incentives but not enough to encourage households to make energy efficiency interventions with higher standards – for example passive houses. The challenge is so huge that it is difficult to say what it should be done in first: incentives, legislation, or promotional campaigns

• The European Union helps a lot but it is a drop in the ocean, it is the reason why people need to see good examples to be convinced to invest money. The Structural Funds increase foreseen for the period 2014-2020 is important for this sector that these funds must be used for having shining examples as new building and also as retrofitted building.

• The level of the communication is very low. There are quite a lot of TV campaigns but they are unprofessional and they are not based on the citizens’ needs.

• The main obstacle is the very high percentage of private dwelling. The condition of the buildings is not good at all; they should be firstly restructured and then retrofitted. The crisis is the main reason why nothing is happening and there is not real stimulus for energy efficiency measures. Moreover, the property tax relief for several years can not compensate the increase of property assessment. The need to act in the residential sector has become ever more pressing as the heating expenses are very high, too high for the citizens In addition more restrictions for fossil fuels in the residential sector (such as low quality coal and restrictions for low efficient heating equipment (such as primitive stoves) have to be implement.

Service sector

• Service sector is growing a lot and even if tourism is especially an important one for the economy (12% of the national product) hotels and restaurants are not recognised as an important target group. The building situation is the same as in the residential sector: the new buildings are well isolated and they use renewables but old buildings are inefficient.


• There is a lack of regulation, except the public procurement law, and there is still no good standard contract for ESCOs. However it is a growing sector and there are several successful companies. It is considered as a solution for municipalities and due to the bad experiences accumulated which are also very good lessons, these ESCOs companies are rapidly improving.

• An energy efficiency funds were established 6-7 years ago with the World Bank. The 12-15 million dollars fund was mainly used by municipalities and SMES and it was very successful. It provided loans & guarantees for banks.

• Since last year, there is a fund for the installation of small renewable energy project but the law did not give a strict definition of what could be defined as “small”, resulting the opening the Pandora's Box.


• Nowadays, Bulgarian industry sector is not so big and it uses old technologies. The food industry is prevailing; heavy industry is not growing as in the past. Due to a lack of bridge financing and to a complicate process of financing by the banks, most of the industry is thinking on its survival and energy efficiency is not a priority.

• Nevertheless, through a successful programme, financed by the Operational Programme “Competitiveness and Economic Growth”, SMEs improved their energy efficiency, by changing their equipment and improving the efficiency of their buildings. This is a good example.

• The ministry is working on future obligations for utilities. The national regulatory committee, who regulates the prices, is now postponing the increase of prices due to the future elections and for social reasons. If feed in tariffs on energy efficiency would have been implemented, the increase of the prices would have been more easily explained to citizens.

• Due to very dirty and inefficient production based on gas or coal, people disconnect from the district heating and some new small producers are appearing.

Transport sector

• At ministry level, the impact of energy in the transport sector is under estimated and there is no recognitions of the transport sector in the energy efficiency law.

• Currently, new roads and highways are build but the problem is that the price of oil is too high (more or less the same price than other EU countries while the average wages is much more lower) too expensive for citizens.

• Transport is not taken into consideration in town planning. Lack of requirement for mobility management at municipal level, lack of requirement for alternative mobility

• The public transportation has to be replaced by a more efficient and effective one. It is a long process due to the prices and the lack of funding. The train system is not modern enough but the construction of high speed trains is considered for the future.

• Education on efficient transport must be improved Institutional framework At national level


• The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism is in charge of Energy Efficiency. The main issues are energy supply: Nuclear or not? Gas from Russia or Iran? It is a huge ministry and Energy Efficiency has never been a priority. The Agency for Energy Efficiency is working on behalf of this ministry and is under the shadow of the supply side.

• Ministry for Regional development • Agency for Sustainable Energy Development

At Local level

• Regional administrations - not very active • Municipalities • Utilities • Energy auditing companies • A network of Bulgarian municipalities is member of Energy-Cities which is a very

supportive and respected organisation from the point of view of municipalities. • The local energy agencies are not so powerful, created with the support of the Save

programme. Currently, 2 or three are effective. Cyprus The most important negative and positive developments

• Very inefficient housing stock (main challenges is to provide a better strategy in Cyprus for EE measures in buildings) The implementation of the Buildings Directive started in January 2010 in Cyprus; but this implementation has not been realised according to what the Directive says on EE in this sector (e.g. energy centifications are realised during the design stage; there is not any procedure for energy certifications of the real building after its construction.

• Energy Efficiency in public buildings of Local Authorities, deep renovation of the existing public building stock

• For the transport sector legislation and national initiatives are in place however only half-heartedly implemented

• EE in the transport sector, especially development and promotion of public transport and urban mobility

• Implementation of the ESD, in Cyprus still no ESCO has been set up and they could become an important player to mobilise EE potential

• Implementation of the CHP directive with very small success, lack of ambition • Road Map for cooling • LA need to be empowered to get responsibilities and power for acting on local

energy and climate issues, they are the most important player for reaching in Cyprus the EU 3*20 objectives (and the national ones as well)

• Time table for the improvement of the building code in line with EU legislation


• Buildings sector started to consider EE measures and RES intallations. This is a completely new situation in comparison with the status of investments in EE and RES just 3 or 4 years ago. This considerable changes were supported by financial incentives provided at the national level.

• The fiscal situation of Cyprus is not very bad, however banks have not that much money available for loans

• Promotion of public transport and cycling • Overall attitude of SMEs and citizens has changed • Creation of the Cyprus Energy Agency • Growing political interest and will within LA, more and more sign the CoM and the

Pact of Islands, however they need more political power (see above) Critical issues in different sectors Public sector In the public building sector, the government is not implementing a comprehensive and clear strategy to support EE and RES. (These issues are the same also in the residential, service and industry sectors.) Weak points in law:

• Energy labelling: energy centifications are realised during the design stage; there is not any procedure for energy certifications of the real building after its construction

• Inspection of boilers: the role of private sector should be corroborated to provide a better outcome;

• Inspection of energy conditioning units: high potentialities in EE (AC used from May until October); the national law should be updated according to the EU law on the inspection of these units.

Weak points in funding programmes: Funding programmes need to be planned and provided in a more stable and continuous way and cover a longer time framework. At the moment, the schemes introduced have been stopped several times in the last years changing considerably criteria. In addition:

• Historically only little attention has been paid to EE and people have no idea how the buildings energy performance affects the energy costs. In addition heating period is short (4 months)

• LAs become a more and more important actor on energy and climate issues. Cities are engaged in the CoM, a few more will sign soon but doubts that the implementation of SEAPs will be robust. LA need a bigger empowerment and if it is not allocated directly by the national government the EU should put pressure through appropriate amendments of existing legislation.

• There is a crucial lack of money in public sector especially LA suffer from the economic crisis. Different EU support programmes are needed and especially for implementation of measures


• EU should launch an infringement procedure against the Member States that delay or not properly implement relevant Directives e.g. poor implementation of ESD

• Street lighting very inefficient not only technology but mainly for security reasons street lighting in places where absolutely not needed or too long illumination

Residential sector

• In the residential sector, the legislation needs to be more effective in energy labelling, providing certifications after the construction of a building. In this way, sellers and buyers can have a clear and reliable energy certificate.

• Building stock in Cyprus is very ineffective, funding programmes are needed (or more used) stimulating the construction and renovation towards zero energy buildings

• New buildings: minimum requirements exists, but not very ambitious • ‘National government provides grants for EE improvements, with the funds coming

from a green levy on electricity bills (currently 0.44 Eurocents/kWh). This programme, however, is interrupted every other year when the funds are temporarily exhausted, which causes delays in the receipt of grants by some households that have already proceeded with EE investments.

• Green loans are proposed but not very well known • Structural fund is not used for EE in the building stock, almost all money goes to

RES • Also in this sector, National and local governments need to provide reliable and

long-term investments. Service sector

• Same funding programmes in place as for the residential sector • Industry and service sectors raised their awareness on the benefits included in the

investments in EE and the importance to have reliable energy audit. • EE is a topic in the service and industry sector, however many SMEs and bigger

companies are unable to assure the necessary financing to realise EE measures • Not enough funding available and no ESCOs that might do the investment in a PPP • New offices are better performing however still too many glass facades and eye on

prestigious construction instead on EE • Electricity consumption in this sector is decreasing as the energy costs have risen

significantly • Hotel sector is important to act on in Cyprus • Also in this sector, the national governments needs to provide reliable and long-

term investments. EE is one of the safer areas where to invest, especially in the actual period of crisis.

• Cyprus government has put high priority on RES and low on EE. “The energy budget” share of EE is less than 10%; more the 90% of the funding means goes to the RES sector

Industry sector

• Cogeneration is seen as a promising technology but no funding available


• A new cement fabric has been build, certainly well performing, but otherwise industry sector no such relevant

• See also service sector

Transport sector • Historically very little investment in public transport, Cyprus totally dependent on

cars • No integrated transport/mobility plan for Cyprus. • Lot of air traffic because almost all international travel to and from Cyprus is made

by aviation. • No railway circulates in Cyprus, a study has been realised, a connection from the

airports to the respective city centres might be build • Until recently no public transport existed in Cyprus! Now there are intercity

connection through busses, market only 2% despite heavy investments in new busses and extension of the bus connections. Frequency of the bus service is still low and consumer information is poor. A lot of things are still to do in order to make public transportation more attractive for citizens.

• National and local governments need to provide more structured and long-term incentives to private companies and help them in offering more information to the public to raise their awareness on public transportation. A lot of awareness raising activities and promotion towards a “different” mobility is necessary. People need to get used of it, will take some more time

• Bikes are getting a little popularity, some bike lanes have been constructed a bike renting system type “velolib” (bike-sharing) as in Paris is in place.

• If no action in this sector 2020 objectives will certainly not be reached • Electro mobility also needs to be developed

Insitutional framework National government

• Ministry of industry, commerce and tourism: the energy department is in charge of energy. They have no real visions, no energy model, no national action plan, they only react last minute on every EU Commission’s demand, big lack of expertise

• Ministry of Environment • Ministry of Finance for funding (not very active)

Cyprus Institute for Energy (Semi-governmental organisation)

• Dealing with grants, very bureaucratic and time consuming, payments sometimes delayed

• Poorly administrative and executing Cyprus Energy Agency

• Lots of efforts to set up round tables and bring together all relevant stakeholders. There is a much stronger need for cooperation and communication among the key actors in Cyprus in order to achieve real result with high acceptance at citizens level


• Support LA in their activities and in their SEAP activities • involved a EU IEE funded project • promote EE to the citizens, have edited brochures and do awareness raising • Good work • Poor support from the government

Energy companies

• No natural gas in Cyprus • Power plants with fuel oil and diesel • Talk about electricity saving but do not promote actively EE • No real liberalised energy market in Cyprus, companies have monopole position

ESCO Doesn’t exist in Cyprus NGO Only small green party and little number of NGOs mostly working on nature protection and biodiversity Czech Republic The most important negative and positive developments

• The global lack of interest in EE, particularly at the highest level of governance – at national level, lack of political will to act in this field, the state does not lead by example

• Weak first version of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency (2nd version was improved)

• Strong position of CEZ, the biggest energy supply company • State has only low interest in low energy prices because of income losses through

les tax revenue • No long term strategy, no targets for the development for the next twenty years

(lack of vision) • Strong belief in fossil fuels and nuclear power • EPC is becoming popular, 20 years of experience, good examples are been

multiplied (cca 150-180 projects, incl. very big ones), more confidence in EPC projects and ESCOs (thanks to ESCO companies promoting the method)

• Grants and subsidies disturb the market, many people prefer „to wait for grants“ instead of using innovative and efficient financial solutions (e.g. EPC for some projects)

• Grants should be allocated only for the complex refurbishment of buildings -> combined, for example, with the EPC method (grants can finance insulation and EPC method the technical equipment of buildings)


• The costs of EE actions are considered as a burden coming on top of usual activities, benefits are not perceived

• Existing directives are being implemented but not really monitored/no controls

• Ministry of Industry and Trade is more interested in the EPC method and energy management, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance it has been developing standardised documents (e.g. EPC contratcs for the public sector)

• ESCOs and private consultancies in the field of EPC has founded a national “ESCO Association” (www.apes.cz; www.epc-ec.cz) and have been promoting the concept

• An inter-ministerial committee for EE has been created to monitor energy consumption of selected state buildings and improve their performance (buildings under repair of the ministries)

• The Green for Savings funding programme triggered private financing of EE projects but due to an important administrative failure it lost some of its good reputation. 2009-2012 period is coming to the end (no more money left), maybe more money available from new selling of CO2 allowances but now the price of CO2 is too low which might hinder the deal

• EPBD is effective since its introduction • Ministry of Industry and Trade launched the programme EFEKT which supports the

creation of energy advisory centers all around the country, soft actions focused on human capacity building (seminars, communication and promotional materials), trainings for ESCOs and energy managers, and also on real investment efficient measures (but budget of the EFEKT programme is limited and insufficient).

• Programme “PANEL” – focused on refurbishment of concrete blocks of flats, providing advantagous low interest loans (stopped in 2011 – no more money – very successful), gurantees for loans (still running. In 2010; 953 projects supported, 22600 flats renovated, EUR 39 M paid for low interest loans from the programme, private investments of EUR 157 M triggered.

• Huge number of concrete block of flats renovations, people aware of benefits, this is happening even without subsidies, but low interest loans are very much appreciated

• State Fund for Housing Development supports social housing constructionPeople are more and more aware of sustainable energy issues (also thanks to energy labelling of appliances, etc.)


• The sector is supported by the Ministry of Environment and its operational programmes and it’s relatively saturated

• The Green for Savings offered subsidies for local authorities – positive • Lack of knowledge on benefits resulting from the complex refurbishment of

buildings – refurbishment is often done only partially, poor number of good examples.

• Lack of motivation to comply today with strict norms/regulations which will come into force in the near future


• Only a very limited number of cities (see below) has employed an energy manager (to follow consumption of own buildings and to inform and advice citizens); brochures and leaflets are not enough)

• “Sustainable energy leadership” at local level is growing, some political leaders are very motivated and lead by example (Brno-Novy Liskovec, Litomerice, Town District Prague 13…)

• There is no clear situation in new programming period definition – politicians are fighting on money division for energy efficiency and on distributing funds instead of clear strategy

• Public bodies have obligation to purchase low energy appliances Residential sector

• Block of flats: a number of buildings owners (associations) have been insulating their buildings using different financing intruments (mortgage, loans, saving programmes…) or subsidies (The Green for savings) but not the EPC method (legal obstacles)

• Family dwellings: owners deal with energy savings individually, the awareness is growing

• No funding programme which stimulates to go beyond the weak legal requirements related to EE in buildings, energy prices currently quite low

• Structural funds are partly use for EE in buildings, but no strategy from the government on EE in this sector even not for next programming period 2014-2020

• No evaluation of past funding programmes or control of calculated savings against monitored savings or control of quality and measures really implemented.

• In past many cases of fraud Positive: • Relatively strict requirements will enter into force soon for the building sector e.g.

subsequently to EPBD implementation Service sector

• Operational Programme “Entrepreneurship and innovation” provides grants for private sector. The programme is very well managed, minimum administration, easy access, good information - all procedured are carried out via internet

• There are several but still rear positive cases, unfortunately not much known, e.g. TESCO company builds its supermarkets in better energy standards and uses renewable energy; office developer and rent company INTOZA built first office house in passive standard;

• Not many companies in tertiary sector use EPC or energy management systematically

Industry sector

• Operational programme Innovation, OP Environment – both support EE/RES in industry (enough money)

• Industry and businesses are reluctant to invest if the ROI is more than 4 years • EPC is not very effective, government is not helping ESCOs


• EE/RES measures depend on awareness and willingness of the management, nothing is obligatory, energy audit is mandatory only for big companies

• In the CZ voluntary agreements or similar instruments do not exist • Sector invests in new technologies, probably behind compared to other MS, but

upgrading Transport sector

• The most problematic sector, most money goes to the maintenance of highways and railways corridors (EU funds),

• No real government EE policy in transport sector. Focus is on the development of new roads, but no idea how to switch away from fossil fuels

• Problems with air pollution due to cars in the cities • Share of individual cars is growing rapidly, needs to be limited; whereas the share

of public transport in the modal split, dropped from 80% to 50% • No connection between transport issues in local master plans and urban

development • Politicians see transport as a technical and not as a political problem • More convenient public transport in cities is needed • Soft projects are funded mainly through the EU programmes such as the IEE (e.g.

eco-driving courses for drivers) • Some funding available for bike lanes in the countryside


• EE is mainly under the responsibility of Ministry of Industry and Transport main actor, involvement of ministry of environment is poor or counterproductive -> min. interest in EE, they meet EU mandatory targets and nothing more

• More barriers on the side of ministries, no initiatives proposed for actors (industry, local/regional authorities) as in other countries, no trust in such initiatives although they are planned in the framework of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency

Energy Regulator (Energy Regulatory Office www.eru.cz ):

• Strong role (calculation and regulation of the energy prices – part of supplied electricity, central heating)

• Tending to stop feed-in tariffs for RES as the ERO decided/suggested that the objectives have been achieved which is not the case in reality – there is a strong tool for regulation of RES-E, so called “National Action Plan” that impose quota for any kind of RES for every single year; the negative attitude of ERO to support of RES feed-in tariffs is partly caused by the recent boom of PV applications and poor regulatory policy that would have limit the profit from new PV plants - the profit was too high and has burdened the state budget significantly - this has led to higher prices for electricity for end users be it households or companies; however, this is not a reason for complete abundance of any reasonable support to other less controversial RES such as water or biomass etc.


• Legal action against the CZ state conceivable Others

• No independent energy agency as advisor to regions and cities, big weakness • Slowly growing awareness of citizens in energy and climate issues

Denmark The most important negative and positive developments

• The three energy efficiency pillars in Denmark: energy security, climate change and economic growth.

• Energy suppliers are supposed to be the main driver: from one hand, they sell energy and from the other hand, they have to promote energy savings which is not their main activity. There is the need to clarify their role. Need of control of the energy efficiency data given by Energy suppliers.

• The Energy Performance for Buildings Directive (EPPD) of 2010 has been fully transposed within the building codes (the label of the building is an aspect which people take in consideration when they buy a new house). Good actions implemented for the renovation of buildings and in the buildings labelling. It works well.

• A mix of funding and regulation: Energy agreements exist for the entire Country; it is a programme with a funding behind.

• Banks are giving loans to Municipalities, but for larger investments Municipalities take national loans.

• The most challenging area is the transport sector: Biogas can nowadays be considered an old technology so there is the need to invest in electric vehicles. Electric cars normally have a range of max 100 km, for the use of these cars is necessary to build infrastructures in the cities such as recharging station devices. Need to increase the electric cars test in small cities because the distances are not so important and it is easy to install the recharge stations.

• Need to produce more green electricity; even in Denmark only 20 per cent of electricity production is from sustainable energy.

• In my city we started in small towns with 3 electric vehicles in all the Municipality. It was a success,


• Higher taxes on energy, obligations on energy efficiency and agreements for renovating public buildings have introduced to improve energy efficiency In the public sector.


• The taxation system is too high and it cannot last in the long term. Taxes should be reduced; there is a need to focus only on the short term. ESCOs are not going fine at the moment because they don’t have a long term prospective.

• A weak point is the lack of connection between the national and local level in energy efficiency, small municipalities are not involved enough. The national government should make the implementation of the Seap (sustainable Energy Action Plan) compulsory. The largest Municipalities are conscious of the benefits such as the creation of job positions; it is why they are focused on energy efficiency when they build new facilities.

• Energy consultants are paid by the municipality for giving advices to the citizens. • In the new directive the proposal to have the 3 % of energy savings per year in the

public sector is well perceived. Residential sector

• Need of a better control of the energy efficiency measures implemented after the renovation of existing building

• Since the crisis is started financing is more difficult due to the reluctance of the banks and of the financial institutions.

• A national funding programme existed in the last years but not any more. For the upcoming period there will be a new national programme.

• Some tax credit system exists but related to all the interventions you can implement in your house not only for energy efficiency interventions.

• Thanks to the ambitious targets fixed (35 per cent for 2020 - 100 per cent of sustainable energy in 2050) which are also mentioned in the budget, Denmark implemented a lot of activities for promoting energy efficiency in residential sector and there was and there is still a massive energy renovation of private buildings. The challenge now is to prevent that people leave the villages to go to the cities, for this we will make investments for optimizing the energy efficiency of the buildings in the villages with the aim to reduce the energy consumption for convincing people to stay in their houses.

• To support citizens and giving them advices, municipalities have hired and trained energy consultants. The energy consultants check the saving potential and the interventions to be implemented then they do an agreement with the bank which gives the loan if the amount of energy saved is sufficient enough. The loan is financed by the energy saving: the owner of the house return the loan thanks to the less amount of money he has to spend for energy. The bank this way has the guarantee that the loan will be repaid.

• Within a programme called “Energy Renovating Project, local craftsman open programme”, there is a model invented by a municipality and now used by most of them all over Denmark. Within this programme, there is an on line application allowing the citizens to enter the characteristic of their flat and their energy consumption for getting an answer about the potential savings.


Service sector

• At the beginning, the rules were not followed and there were some problems regarding the development of ESCOs and the rule of the public procurement. The problems are now solved.

• The white certification system were quite complicated to establish and to maintain and it is still missing an appreciation of the real energy save


• There are voluntary agreements signed between the industrial sector the National Energy Agency. A CO2 tax reduction is foreseen if the industries promote energy efficiency. These voluntary agreements are well respected, the industries report every year on the achievements. Some voluntary initiatives at regional level are done such as the green networks/clusters (35 companies involved.) The company pays a membership fee to get an energy efficiency diploma.

• Many companies want to be “green” and to save energy costs so they make investments even without national incentives.

• A percentage of the electricity bill paid by the citizens goes to the utilities (3 energy suppliers’ but practically just one large company) for promoting energy efficiency. The utilities must report on the campaigns and the energy regulator controls if the money is used for this purpose (such as informational campaigns (including also practical interventions) and brochures….).

Transport sector

• No regulation and no funding programmes • Energy efficiency in Transport is probably the weakest sector

For promoting the use of the public transportation, the most effective lever for improving energy efficiency within individual private transport is the level of taxation on new cars and on fuels. Government is trying to introduce a pay zone in the centre of Copenhagen but the citizens are quite reluctant. At the same time, in order to reduce the traffic, Copenhagen is developing a new metro line and doubling the bike paths in the centre of the city doubled.

• Denmark is promoting the use of electric cars on large scale with the cooperation of the company “Better place” (http://www.betterplace.com/) .


• It is part of the Danish culture to promote energy efficiency so all the Institutions play together to reach the targets, because the price of energy is really high. People have to pay attention to save money to be able to afford life in Denmark.

At national level


• The Ministry of Energy and Climate is in charge of energy efficiency. • The National Energy Agency which is the operational organization for the

implementation of the policies • Utilities are the main actors for promoting energy savings and Energy Services

Companies.

At Local level • Municipalities and local NGOs who promotes Energy efficiency and renewables.

Estonia The most important negative and positive developments Estonia suffers from a major financing problem. The general economic conditions are not conducive, the government has little funding for energy efficiency investments and the banking sector has a lack of competition, making it difficult to even get loans. However, there is funding available from the sale of AAUs (Assigned amount units) under the Kyoto Protocol. Without that support to develop a successful grant scheme for the buildings sector, the country would be finding it much more difficult. The legislative and administrative framework is also a concern. There is no energy agency that provides leadership to co-ordinate, implement or undertake necessary analyses. There is no follow-up and no adequate analysis of the potential for energy efficiency. There is no long-term strategy, although that may evolve now that the EED has been approved. There are still wide beliefs that the market will regulate everything. Add to this, there are still conflicts with climate change policies and renewable energy policies. It is not quite certain whether this is due to the fact that there are binding targets for carbon dioxide emissions and for renewables but not for energy efficiency. Given the situation, the private sector has also given no priority to energy efficiency. Given the context, there are some successful developments. The most successful is the grant scheme set up by selling AAUs under the Kyoto Protocol. This has been widely seen as positive. There are also more companies now providing energy efficiency (renovation) services for buildings. Finally, there is greater use of combined heat and power in the generation sector. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector While the legislative framework and funding is considered acceptable, the public sector has not shown an exemplary role. A good example is in the area of procurement where the


cheapest option is always chosen. There are no targets for improving energy efficiency in the public sector, and a more coherent approach is necessary. The structure of the administrative system is a problem. There are many small municipalities, and this leads to a shortage of capacity for implementing measures in district heating and existing buildings. Administrative reform is necessary. The residential sector Financing is the biggest obstacle and Estonia is heavily reliant on Kyoto funds (sold AAUs). There is a supply capacity problem of energy efficiency services. The demand of those services is higher than the market’s capacity to deliver. Less than 1% of houses have been refurbished in a 15-year period. It is believed that Energy Efficiency Obligations could help. While there is considerable renovation activity for multi-family buildings, it is believed that too little is undertaken for single-family dwellings. The industry & service sector While capital is available for large industry, there is a lack of competence for more efficient management. There is generally, however, interest in energy efficiency. SMEs have a problem with access to capital and motivation. The service sector has similar problems as the residential sector. There is still insufficient understanding of the cost-effective potential for improvements. There are no incentive programmes to promote energy efficiency for this sector. There is also a poor understanding of technical opportunities Service: Related to info and data on energy use. There is a very poor knowledge, so actors cannot take action based on available information. The transport sector The lack of car taxation is considered a big problem. There are only fuel taxes and it is too easy for consumers to purchase large, inefficient vehicles. There are no incentives to buy efficient vehicles. While public transport is underfunded, funds from AAUs could help significantly.


Institutional framework No central energy agency is a major problem and the central administration has poor capacity in energy efficiency policies and programmes. There are simply too few people in the ministry’s energy department working on energy efficiency. The KredEx Credit and Export Guarantee Fund administers the revolving fund and contracts under the funds built up through sales of AAUs. There is a small regional/local agency but that is not enough. The lack of capacity means it is also difficult to form a comprehensive framework. Municipalities could be key actors but they lack resources and also lack capacity. All that said, what legislation and institutional arrangements that exist, are due to EU policies. The EU is the major driver for energy efficiency policies in Estonia and, because of that, there is a need for strong, ambitious policies and legislation to drive action in the country. The interviewee points out institutional legal frameworks as important external pressure that helps form drivers for EE, such as EU legislation and JI through the Kyoto protocol. In fact, most of the policy is driven by the EU. If EU policy ambition is too low, the ambition in new MSs will also be too low. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues EU policy is crucial to help weak governments. Estonia has used JI and AAU wisely to make sure they used the funds for the right thing. There is pressure from the surrounding world to use it that way and countries that bought these quotas would not have bought them if Estonia had not committed to these funds or similar usage. Finland The most important negative and positive developments The main concern in Finland is about the implementation of both the newly approved EED and the recast of the EPBD. Existing buildings are a priority but there are several problems. First, the ministry of employment and economy is taking a minimalist approach to implementing the energy performance certificates and there are issues whether they should even be for existing buildings. For consumers, there is confusion, lack of a portfolio of measures for them and quite a serious lack of concern for making improvements. Consumer advice is limited All of these are related. There is reform of municipalities in the pipeline (amalgamation) and that is a concern although many welcome such a change. But municipalities, for the most part, do not invest


because they really do not see the benefits. There is no motivation. In part this is because of lack of capacity and resources. SMEs suffer the same lack of resources and motivation, as do municipalities. On the positive side, industrial voluntary agreements have been a big success and they now cover a large segment of the industrial sector and have branched into other sectors. Smart meters are starting to be deployed and they will help. R&D funding has remained strong, with no cuts. In transport, the differentiated car purchase tax is considered a success. The legislative base has improved, with the EPBD and the energy performance requirements. Now it is a matter of implementation. Positive developments Finland has built upon some of the policy framework it established in the 1990s. For example, since 1993, there is an energy audit framework. It is successful and growing and target towards different needs. The voluntary energy efficiency agreements were revised several years ago and they have now expanded into other sectors such as the commercial sector. While there are concerns about consumer advice, a system for advice is starting and that is a major improvement. There are now more companies offering monitoring and feedback. As said previously, some major successes include the rollout of smart meters, the differentiated car purchase tax and strong R&D funding. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector There are several critical issues. First, budgets are – not surprisingly – tight and that affects investments in energy efficiency. Nevertheless, there are many small successful projects but there is no overall comprehensive policy to expand them throughout the economy. With the plan to amalgamate municipalities, there are problems and opportunities. The involvement and commitment is low for many municipalities, in part because many are burdened by debt. Yet, they also have a capacity problem and small municipalities do not have the resources to dedicate staff to energy efficiency. There are also big differences between small and large municipalities, in terms of resources and capacity.


The residential sector This sector has several issues to address. Citizens are still not receiving adequate advice, there is insufficient support for existing buildings and there needs to be complementary activities with energy performance certificates to help motivate owners. Because of a lack of incentives, owners are reluctant to have audits. While there are some tax breaks, they are not dedicated to energy efficiency. Because of the entire context including that there is a high share of single-family dwellings, owners undertake sub-optimal retrofits instead of more holistic approaches. This is not helped because of the lack of competent installers and poor, often conflicting advice. The industry & service sector 80% of the Finnish industry energy use in covered by voluntary agreements and there are complementary measures to help participating companies. However, they miss out on SMEs. There are very few of them participating in voluntary agreements. This means they are caught in the middle. Large industry is helped, consumers are helped (to a certain extent) but there is a big gap in the middle. Even for large industry, however, there is more interest in investing in renewable energy than in energy efficiency, for the most part. The process industry, which is energy intensive, is rather interested in energy issues and often sells energy as well. So they are often positive towards energy efficiency. The transport sector While there are programmes and voluntary agreements for public and freight transport, the companies are small and are reluctant to take new initiatives. Public transportation has financial issues but large companies have developed some mobility management schemes, such as car-pooling, that help. Some municipalities have created bike paths and they have more plans for low-carbon mobility. There have also been cuts to inter-urban bus transport. While there has been a switch to 10% ethanol, there has been little to change consumer behaviour. There is a great fear and reluctance to change from old habits. The major focus needs to be in greater efforts for public transport. Institutional framework There are good signs of better co-operation amongst relevant ministries (environment, renovation, public sector, employment and finance) and that is a welcome sign. The cooperation amongst ministries shows there is a growing common understanding of co-benefits. The energy agency, Motiva, is an important agency and it is well known among citizens and important for all actors.


While local government is weak, as mentioned above, the provinces are increasingly involved and that is seen as a positive sign. Local energy agencies play a strong but limited role. There is still concern that the central government framework has to be re-visited in order to help municipalities play a stronger role. France The most important negative and positive developments

• Launched in 2007, the "Grenelle de l’Environment" creates a debate at national level involving public authority, companies, trade associations, NGOs etc. on environment issues. Among all topics, the debate on energy efficiency issues culminated in the enactment of several important laws and a number of decrees. The impact of the Grenelle is still strong, but the success of the program depends from many factors as for example the real involvement of the all actors. The general feeling is that after an initial satisfaction of the stakeholders involved, there was a general disappointment mainly due to the reduction of incentives.

• The building code (RT 2012) sets the new minimum standard of thermal insulation of dwellings and other types of construction came into force this year. The problem for new buildings is likely that 1/3 of buildings will not comply with the law requirements for 1, 2 or 3 years mainly due to the building sector who starts to be regulated in a proper way. One of the most important issues is to implement renovation policies and to create a support system aimed at promoting a massive renovation. The objective of 600,000 major renovations per year is difficult to reach. It is planned to combine the zero interests’ loans with tax credits (the first should be used for the external structure and the tax credit for the insulation and installation of more efficient materials. The criteria of the material are regularly reviewed and linked to the energy saving certificates. The Program for the renovation of buildings has ambitious goals, but at the moment it is not sure that the results we will be achieved.

• Difficulties to assess the impact of energy efficiency in terms of jobs creation • The crisis affected energy efficiency policies: the incentives for the building sector

are now decreasing. • Need to assess the social impact of the measures, only rich households benefit

from energy efficiency measures as tax credit or the incentives for the replacement of the appliances (ex. refrigerator A+++). In the economic context, solutions have to be found in order to tackle fuel poverty.

• The ETS schemes (directive 2009/29/EC) for the Industry do not give the wished results. Furthermore, the above mentioned directive is not effective for the promotion of energy efficiency and for the reduction of the energy demand.

• Transport: research is not enough. We have to give support for the development of new technologies.



• A large map of energy audit was performed for all the buildings of the central government. It has been set up an action plan that appears to be well structured for state buildings with a bonus/malus system (the value of the incentives is based on the implementation of the actions).

• A public procurement process was launched. • The strategy for local authorities imposes to cities of over 50,000 inhabitants to

design Territorial Energy & Climate Plans (Plans Climat Energie Territoriaux – PCET) aiming to fight against climate change.

• Despite ADEME support via Energy Information Centres (Espace Info Énergie), there is still a lack of human resources in small towns. A recent proposed measure should provide financial assistance for the renovation of public lighting in smaller communities.

Residential sector

• Thermal regulation 2012 following the recommendations of the EPBD (2010/31 EU).

• There is a lack of policies aimed at encouraging people to make major renovations. • The main financial Instruments known and popular are: tax credit & Zero Rate Loan

and the energy saving certificates The tax credit level varies according to the chosen equipment (energy efficient of renewables). The list of technologies is regularly changed and the subsidy rate has been drastically reduced (from 30% to 15%). The state allocated 3 billion, the supplier about 5 to 10% of the total cost to cover the tax credit. The tax credit is mainly for the rich households because the poor ones can not advance the money. The tax credit had a strong influence on the demand but the interventions were not made in the right way and we missed a good chance (preference done to the windows instead the insulation). The Zero Rate Loan (PTZ) cover new and existing buildings. With 0% interest loans and tax credits, citizens can create a portfolio to make interventions. PTZ was not a success because there was less demand than expected, probably linked to the crisis. The success of the energy efficiency certificates is certainly due to the success of tax credit. The government introduces this measure step by step, the goals set by for energy providers who have to reach 0.3% of savings at the beginning and this goal was reached after two years instead of three. The second phase 2 fixed 0.8%. The third phase is currently under negotiation, it should be between 1 and 1.5%. The idea is to increase the rate to reach the 1.5% stated by the Energy Services Directive (ESD).

• The Banque Populaire to influence sustainable behaviour and investments introduced CODEVair which is the first ecological and fair savings account in France. Giving the guarantee that 100% of the money will be used to finance ecological projects it is possible to benefit of a below-market loan. This first initiative has been followed by other banks.


• Fuel poverty - is a new problem. The difficulty of working on fuel poverty comes from the multiplicity of the actors involved.

• For the dissemination of information, ADEME supports the Top 10 tool which allows consumers to quickly and easily find information regarding the best energy efficient products for homes and the more efficient car.

• 340 Energy Information Centres were set-up to give free advices on energy to all sectors but especially residential and commercial.

Service sector

• RT 2012 - there is less effort in the service sector than in the residential. • Tertiary sector could apply to Energy savings certificates but not to the tax credit

incentive • The idea is to make a combination of actions in the service sector as in the

residential, by grouping the buildings, public housing, services etc.. • EPC contracts are in a development phase in the public sector.

In the private sector it might be a good business for large companies but for some types of contracts the profit depends on the customer behaviour. Many corporate headquarters were renovated using this model, but they were only pilot projects. EPC system is not enough to finance actions mainly due to the energy tariffs in France.

Industry sector

• Industry has an economic approach focused on the return of the investment and Manufacturing industries are implementing interventions for upgrading their industrial processes, the renovation of the envelope and other energy efficiency interventions are not a priority.

• There are no voluntary agreement, everything is focused on ETS • Industry could benefit from energy certificate • Some support for energy management and energy audits.

Transport sector

• There is no areal energy efficiency policy in the transport sector including the transportation of goods. Regarding the freights there are several infrastructure projects under construction such as Seine-Nord Europe Canal and others in the pipe.

• Thanks to technological gains that are starting to pay, there was a stabilization of the increase in the transport demand.

• There is no CO2 tax, but the fuel tax (TIPP-Domestic consumption tax on energy products) is quite high. Energy savings Certificates now cover all the transport sector included the fuel sellers.

• Regional and local authorities are very important in transport issue. They manage the public transport, they are designing mobility plan, they set up many initiatives such as Velib, Autolib, tram etc. and adapt the infrastructure such as tram lane, bike path etc.


Links with the initiatives in Paris: http://www.velib.paris.fr/ or http://www.autolib.eu/ but also developed in a lot of large and medium cities

• There are in smaller cities or rural communities which have done good initiatives so far (such as shuttles that take people home to prevent the use of the cars). These initiatives are funded by public money.

Institutional framework At national level The Ministry of Ecology, sustainable Development and Energy is responsible for State Environmental Policy (Energy, Air and Climate, Water and Biodiversity, Risk prevention, sustainable Development, Transport, Cities, landplaning and sustainable construction, sea European and international agreements …) . ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency) is a public agency under the joint authority of the Ministry for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy and the Ministry for Higher Education and Research. Its main Missions are encouraging, supervising, coordinating, facilitating and undertaking operations with the aim of protecting the environment and managing energy. ADEME has 26 regional branches in all regions. At Local level Regional and local authorities: The Regional and local authorities have no competencies in the field of energy nevertheless they are conceiving and implementing energy efficiency policies Regional and local Energy Agencies

• 10 Regional Energy and Environment Agencies, working on behalf of the regional authorities, are promoting the environmental protection and the implementation of sustainable development. They are member of the RARE (Network of Regional Energy and Environment Agencies)

• 28 Energy and Environment Agencies are a driving force energy in planning policy and sustainable development in their communities. They are member of the FLAME (Federation of Local Energy Management Energy Agencies)

Energy companies & Utilities Despite of the opening of the market, this market segment is dominated by are EDF (Electricité de France) and GDF-Suez (Gaz de France-Suez). NGOs The NGOs are active and play an important role at the "Grenelle de l’Environnement" Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues

• A debate about energy transition is expected in September 2012 and it should bring new measures.

• France is looking with interest the Green Deal launched in UK


Germany The most important negative and positive developments

• Energy efficient electricity use (building and household equipment, pumps), bringing to an end the conflict between Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Environment about the establishment of an "Energy Saving Fund" or an "EE-Commitment"

• EE in the industry sector • EE in the transport sector • Concrete design of the German Energy Scheme especially related to the upcoming

EED • No binding energy efficiency target for 2020 (and above) • The roadmap on extensive building renovation is postponed from year to year

(minister showed the same transparent as exactly a year before) • The up tightening of the EnEV related to existing building stock seems to be

cancelled as well as the introduction of Zero Energy Houses, only triple glazing will become mandatory

• EPBD not well transposed, energy performance not relevant for the price of the building

• Legislation and regulation is good, however there are is a deficit in the implementation, no real supervision (lack of political will and means) e.g. for the EPBD and the Ecodesign Directive, sometime no timetable for transposition of certain regulations for the regional level

• Energy Tax: not sure if the amendment will bring real results • Tax funding of building renovation today blocked in the Federal Council (Bundesrat) • Energy policy in Germany is in general still more supply side orientated than

demand side, there is no overarching EE policy strategy • Promotion and extension of combined heat and power installation in existing

buildings/flats, etc. • Research on the future of district heating systems, high energy performance

standards versus economy DH systems • Extensive use of waste heat from industry and service sector • Central power generation (or CHP) versus decentralised cogeneration

• KfW Energy-Saving programme for buildings (about ½ billion € annually) • Creation of an EE-Electricity Fond (agreed upon in principle) • EE programmes to support the industry sector • Amendment of the tenancy law: new regulation in relation to renovation, possibility

to take into account the energy costs for calculating the “typical” (comparable) rent • EE is a key pillar of Germany’s energy action plan • Tightening up of EnEV 2009 including announcement of continuous increase of

standards every three years • “Kommunaloffensive” of the ministry of environment (support for climate protection

schemes, employment of an energy manager, renovation of city districts, and others)

• Re-entry of the KfW funding programme for small cogeneration units



• In general good situation. Many LA have established an efficient energy management for years but still can to more to comply with their role as a model, mainly in deep renovation of public buildings

• Many LA construct new buildings in Passive House Standard only • Green procurement widespread but could still be improved • many activities to improve EE of buildings managed by national organisations

(namely German Army) • Still missing a general overview about the whole public building stock • Many demonstration project realised, now time for more extensive programmes • German building legislation is good, however regulation is not sufficient,

implementation needs technical and financial support, there should be made more use of contracting for realising EE project

• Many LA don’t make use of contracting, they don’t this as a model/alternative to own investments for improving the buildings energy performance

• Optimisation of the EPC and Intracting “models” • German government opposed to the 3% renovation rate, obviously they realise only

2% for their own buildings; a road map to improve state owned buildings exists • City have to do more deep renovation on their building stock (at least 3% a year) • New definition of city budget lines in order to permit higher investments into EE

technology and insulation measures (i.e. install a CHP unit instead of a gas boiler and refinance through electricity sales)

• Climate protection remains a voluntary activity but needs to become mandatory

Residential sector • Positive

- KfW funding programme for deep renovation and construction of Passive Houses, programme succeed in setting up new standards, promotion of the programme can still be improved especially to elderly people

- Good awareness and knowledge about EE at house owners and housing associations’ level

- Good legislation for new buildings in place - Regional and local networks get in place and start coordinating activities and

advice to the residential sector - Initiative from LA and their Stadtwerke related to EE in the electricity

consumption of households

• Critical - “Jungle of funding programmes”, State, regional and local governments have

set up their own funding programmes, not always well coordinated - Advice to house owner sometimes poor (complex matter) - German Energy Passport (EPC) not well introduced, no effect on the market


- Electricity efficiency not recognised as a challenge. No state funding programme on electricity savings in households (e.g. more efficient pumps, more efficient household equipment

- A too small programme for electricity savings for low income households - Sometimes EE regulation is in conflict with RES regulation, we need

synergies and not a competition - Discontinuity of nat. funding programmes - Tax deductibility of EE measures for house owners (for bigger investments) - Introduce “burden sharing” for renovation actions (1/3 by the house owner,

1/3 by the tenant via higher rent and 1/3 by funding programme) - Development of new financing schemes, even by banks and energy utilities,

numerous citizens have money in Germany, that could be invested into EE instead of company shares

- Lack of trained craft men, need for more education and training programmes - Off is off, instead of promotion of “switch off” multipoint connectors industry

should be obliged to eliminate stand by consumption (off is off) Service sector

• Commercial/retail sector: EE in electricity equipment remains poor, no real activity to improve the situation

• National government supports audits for SMEs and establishment of energy performance contracting

• Too many "black sheep" proposing EPC, more clear rules needed, positive development EE networks like LEEN

• No initiative for electricity savings and efficiency in this sector from the nat. government

• Commercial/retail sector: contracting is an opportunity but poorly used, government has to promote and support EPC

• Discrepancy between commitments and actions, only few visible actions • Pressure on the sector via laws is missing • There is a need for “new thinking” of the key decision makers towards acceptance

of longer pay-back periods • Lack of know-how and interest (e.g. the City of Freiburg doesn’t find enough SMEs

interested in participating in a Ecoprofit programme • Probably higher EE potential than in the industry sector but very difficult to mobilise

Industry sector

• Today funding programmes for energy audits and advice • Local Energy Efficiency Networks– LEEN (base on the project Model Hohelohe),

project launched for clustering medium sized companies in 30 special network; facilitating exchange of experience and advice

• Ökoprofit following the Graz (and Munich) model in several cities in Germany • Voluntary commitments with the sector haven’t show so far any success • More projects following DK or SE approach should be transposed


• No real coherent policy in this sector, too many companies exempt from taxes, so poor pressure for the energy intensive companies to make savings or introduce EE technologies because of “high” energy prices

• No benefits from the ETS. Prices too low, no incentive for EE technologies. In general too many MS reluctant to a stronger ETS

• No legal influence of local authorities on this sector, however sometimes initiation of specific projects within the implementation of the local SEAP

• Cooperation industry/LA possible, city needs to develop (initiate) economically interesting projects (as for example between Rhodia and Badenova in Freiburg: use of waste heat)

Transport sector

• No real political will to act in this sector by the actual government • Progressive policy to promote soft mobility as bikes stopped • Poor interest in investing in the railway infrastructure, only a few mad prestige

projects (e.g. Stuttgart 21), little support to LA to further develop public transport, but big investments in roads

• No speed limit on motorways • No real effect of the Carbon tax on vehicles, no change towards less emitting

vehicles • Bad transposition of the EU requirement for a “Car” label as the performance is

calculated not in line with the EU directive, it is based on the specific weight of the car which favours big ones (shame package!)

• Germany citizens use in general still too often their own car • Germany is not a nation of “small car drivers”. EE improvements of car will be

invalidated by buying bigger cars • No “rethinking” of the car industry managers • Privileges need to be cancelled (e.g. tax exemption of aviation fuel, commuter tax

allowance (Pendlerpauschale), a toll for cars needs to be introduced

Positive • The public transport is well developed in many German cities thanks to the cross-

subsidisation • Introduction of the road charge for trucks • Positive : increasing use of electrical bikes

Insitutional framework Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Environment

• Always in competition about competences, strategy development and funding programmes

• In general the ministry of Economy is very much influenced by the lobby of the tertiary and industry sector, strongly opposed to any regulations

• The energy transition is not really transposed and supported by the government • Some regulations have been set up last minute thus their implementation fails


• Funding programmes partly too bureaucratic, funding rules to sophisticated

Ministry of Environment • Progressive but not always leading

Ministry of Economy

• In general the ministry of Economy is very much influenced by the lobby of the tertiary and industry sector, often Industry Policy is in conflict with Energy policy

• More blocking initiatives than launching themselves ones • Sometimes in favour for funding programmes

Ministry of Finance

• Not very much in favour in providing a budget for EE initiatives/programmes • Support the KfW funding programme and wants to finances this in the futures

trough taxes Ministry of consumer protection

• Completely inactive, no promotion of the building’s EPC

Umweltbundesamt • Very important player because very positive, consider EE more important than RES • They promote intensively EE labels, however too many on the market which creates

confusion and generates low interest at consumer level (e.g. Top 10 household equipment not well known)

BAFA

• Department of the state in charge with EE, should create a market for EE technologies

• Set up a list of EE technology and service providers, but very badly designed* • Not enough staff to do the job properly

National energy agency (dena)

• Dena is an ambiguous agency as they manage national programmes but act at the same time as consultant (conflict of interests)

Local authorities

• Several comply very well with their role as a model, lots of creative initiatives • Several still have to develop their “corporate identity” related to climate protection

and EE, the political to implement measures is weak • Not enough (independent) advice of the citizens • Solution on the “social dilemma” on high EE standards = high rents respectively

lower standards = high energy costs (and vulnerability for prices increase) not solved


Regional/Local energy agencies • The is a lack of EA on local level and even in a few number of Lander there is no

regional agency • Regional agencies do partly good jobs, namely the one of NRW and Berlin (who

promote Contracting and IT) Utilities:

• A favourable institutional framework is missing. • Some services are offered in case they are considered as improving the company’s

image and/or keeping their clients, often funding is given to move from oil to gas (or district heating)

• No real motivation for EE, as four companies have more or less a monopole they see no need for changings

• ETS complete failure, offers utilities even the possibility to make benefits instead of stimulation EE and providing money for funding programmes

• To many exemptions of companies on the EEG Stadtwerke

• In general more active as the utilities however funding programmes reduce the Stadtwerke benefits

• don’t succeed in integrating EE as a business segment in their activities • Interesting and helpful player for a local authority if they are able to work

economically, re-municipalisation of the energy supply not always reasonable • Warrantor of decentralised close to citizens energy production • A tool for a LA to transpose political objectives • Permit to subsidise the public transport, however this sector should also become

balanced in the near future, because this money should be used to implement other measures

• Some have set up progressive initiatives (e.g. Hannover ⇒ proKlima, EWE ⇒ micro-contracting)

ESCO

• In Germany quite well represented in the market as quite a lot of LAs make use of PPP (and EPC) to improve the EE of their buildings (or street lighting, etc.)

• 90% of EPC is related to building equipment • A model contract is missing which can stimulate also the co-financing of building

insulation through PPP. Difficult procedure, because the PPP would become part of the cadastral register. Therefore there is a need for tax incentives or funding programmes, the UK green deal model might be an alternative worth to be investigated

• However no PPP in the housing sector • Contracting is a question of confidence and sometime very difficult to develop

NGOs and Trade Union

• Great variety, very different in priorities and activities, need for more “concerted actions”


• Get more and more powerful and are very much engaged in EE issues • Work more and more in cooperation (e.g. common appeal to the national

government for a more powerful EED) Others

• Association of tenants: engaged actor for EE • BDI: represent the industry sector, in fact some companies are much more active

than their association • Residential trade and industry: more opposed to EE than a supporter • Many lobbyists are working in the sector, in general we have to observe that the EE

lobby is less successful and powerful as the RES lobby Greece The most important negative and positive developments

• High priority in EE in all sectors, already quite a lot of activities in the past, e.g. in the building sector energy consumption was high and a little has been done for years, however since the EPBD has been transposed and national regulation entered into force three years ago the situation has changed and work got started, first demo projects have been realised

• Refurbishment of the existing building stock which is performing very poorly • Coal is the main energy source and also crude oil which is mostly imported • More support of fossil fuels by RES is needed, • To replace fossil fuels by RES and in this context to implement EE measures and

processes • Offer of public transport needs to be enlarged and cars have to consume less fuel • Finding investors for EE measures and RES installations is limited due to current

economic limitations • EPBD implementation weak, poor number of energy certificates edited • Bank gives only few loans and the national electricity company (D.E.H ) the

last few months has difficulties in sustaining the guaranteed fee , to the small scale electricity producers from photovoltaic panels.

• Peculiar situation linked to the economic crisis as this leads to a decrease of the energy consumption (less activities in the service and industry sector), thus not easy to draw conclusions for a normal situation

• Driving force for the moment: reduction of expenditures and not energy efficiency

• Municipalities are still active, mainly on street lighting and eco buses • Thessaloniki has built 2 biogas power plants from landfill gas, a third one is under

construction • A state programme for refurbishment actions • People/citizens change mentality, use already more public transport


• Good situation in legislation (approved by the parliament), as e.g. enacting the EPBD and the building code or a new law stimulating the establishment of ESCOs

• Political commitment to reach 10% RES fuels in the transport sector. There are business activities

• Support thought funding programmes of EE actions in the public sector • Incentives for industry sector and SMEs


• A few funding programmes in place to create demonstration projects - EE in school buildings - Green roofs - Museum (Zero Energy) - Green Neighbourhoods - Subsidies for Low income residential buildings - Bioclimatic renovation of open spaces - 7 Performance Contracting projects are currently realised

• EE measures realised in schools and hospitals, however in Greece local authorities don’t own so much buildings, more renting

• Local authorities rely on state money only poor own resources, however little support from national government

• local authorities active in educational programmes and awareness raising • Weak, procurement procedure is still based only on the cheapest offer, no quality

and lifecycle analysis criteria • No follow up and control of the implementation of national regulations and

performance standards, no evaluation of actions • A few funding programmes in place

- EE in public buildings state owned and owned by local authorities or public companies (wider public sector)

- Bioclimatic Renewal of Urban Spaces - Green Pilot Urban Neighbourhood - Green roofs - Cooperation with ESCOs

Huge interest in proposal submitting but so far no results available Residential sector

• Good and strict regulation for new buildings. EPBD well implemented, new buildings are well performing and people see and become aware of EE, high quality of work, and low energy bills. Even the Greek regulation is not such ambitious we have to be aware that for 30-40 years the legislation that was in place was not enough. There was a big risk that the market will not accept the regulations and thus not application of the laws.

• For existing buildings an Energy Performance Certificate, after inspecting the building, is required before signing any contract


• Significant programme for renovation of buildings has been set up (no funding for new ones), in the beginning limited success as rules were very strict, now growing interest as rules have been revised: Co-financing as it is difficult to obtain loans from banks

• Government is working with a committee of experts on the EPBD recast transposition

• A few funding programmes have been set up - Supporting low and medium income households for building renovation (co-

financing of 75% of the investment costs – 100.000 applications) - Building the Future: private sector offers services, measures, and/or low

interest rates - Green neighbourhood, Nearly Zero Energy Homes for low income

households Service sector

• No important programmes, Legislation and regulation in place • sector relies on third party financing • very low interest due to economic crisis • Still limited number of activities even frame is good (law about ESCOs and funding

programme available), a lack of awareness about the benefits of such type of partnership. Idea still very new.

• there is also a lack of successful demonstration projects but a programme has launched and has generated big interest (45 candidatures). A big dissemination campaign is planned as soon as the projects have been realised

• there are various supporting programmes from banks, but due to economic situation there is very limited interest

Industry sector

• Lots of efforts from heavy industrial sector in Greece, CHP units popular as well as use of RES

• Only limited industrial activities in Greece, not such an important sector • Same problems as for service sector • A few projects have been realised in the past

Transport sector

• Incentives given to replace old cars by new ones (car scrappage scheme) • state funding programme for purchasing new public transport busses, bio-fuels and

hybrid cars, however very limited success as vehicle market almost disappeared (economic crisis)

• Decrease of consumption (less use of cars due to the crisis) • Increase of the use of public transport; reform of laws are requested to improve

public transport but lack of political will • Need for new and modern railway (trains and tracks); foreign investors are needed

succeed this issue • Electrification of the railway lines and renovation of the net has been stopped (lack

of resources)


• Ships: Serious problems due to high fuel prices, connection to some islands has been reduced

• Efforts on the introduction of bike lanes and stimulation of their use, however mentality of Greek people is not very open for this means of transport, only sportive guys.

• construction of bike lanes (along main streets) co-financed by EU programme Civitas, however state and cities have to much more stimulate the use of bikes and public transport

• construction of a metro line (in Thessaloniki) • In Athens bus fleet quite new thanks to the Olympic Games + effort to equip busses

with natural gas


• Ministry of Economy most important actor on laws and regulation, good work in the past two years, however a little has been done for 40 years

• Big problem is their implementation which is in the hands of many ministries • Ministry of Environment and Energy defines policy

Local authorities

• City administrations need to be reformed, quite bureaucratic structure at the moment

National energy agency (CRES)

• Implementation of the state policy • Unfortunately budget cuts, but probably still enough money for designing policy and

preparing actions • Zero Emission Islands • Has to create and support third party financing opportunities/projects (see above) • Information & demonstration projects • Intermediate agent towards EU funding programmes (Community Support

Frameworks and National Strategic Reference Framework) • Drives and pushes stakeholders

Local energy agencies

• Only very limited number still active, depending on the regional governments, some have projects with CRES

• Energy centres have been numerous 10 years ago, today 3-4 are remaining but without resources for applying for EU funding schemes

Utilities:

• One big national company (PPC – Public Power Cooperation), quasi monopole for electricity supply, do declaration but no real interest in EE actions, a bit more in RES


• 2 private utilities have been closed recently due to mismanagement; • New companies are emerging to the market, the national company ( D.E.H ) is

planning a public –private partnership (PPP) investment in the RES/ Photovoltaic sector

• There is a need for more ESCOs in Greece, existing ones are not yet well organised, working better in the RES sector

Others

• Banks have no means/resources to be really an important player • Citizens are more aware and active

Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues Conclusions:

• EE can generate lots of resources in Greece could be a solution to survive and create new markets and activities, however no tools available for activate this market and the private sector and tremendous lack of public money - needs at least administrative support

• Despite crisis there are efforts related to EE actions, however with limited results. • CRES and municipalities try to keep EE as a key topic in Greece

Hungary The most important negative and positive developments

• No real acknowledgement of EE beyond retorics; although if we look at National Energy Strategy (adopted in October 2011) EE is in first place: energy savings and energy efficiency. Institutional responsibilities unclear.

• There is no real legislative and financing linked to EE. Each ministry has their own priority which does rarely result in effective legislations and programs

• EPBD requirements and timeline is neglected. (Eg. Construction standards aiming at higher EE was put off by 2019 – based on last minute government decision)

• Financing – there is no state subsidies for EE; although it is stated as highest policy priority (see above)

• ETS / effort sharing auctioning income (approx. 30bn HUF = €100M) will ultimately not be spent on EE in buildings; but rather on ETS derogation

• No financial resources available for basic studies, and preparatory works for policy making, feasibility studies – although they use studies produced by NGOs / experts (e.g. the work of Energiaklub)

• No specific / aggregated data available – eg. from NFU (Hungarian Development Agency – managing ERDF money) on government spending and impacts: eg. EE improvements, potentials etc.

• No real transparent public consultation on policies


• Energy intensity in HU (on GDP/PPP) is not so high; low hanging fruits are picked (due to industrial structure improvement; it is less energyvore. HU is not anymore a transition economy in energy terms; potentials are closer to those in Western Europe.

• HU energy prices have increased considerably; in CEEC, and especially in HU; therefore market and prices drive efficiency.

• In residential sector energy expenditure can amount to 15-20% (higher growth in last year than CPI)

• Energy and esp. fuel consumption has high price sensitivity; which has led to approx. 25 % of gas consumption reduction in residential sector since 2006 (taking into account weather correction factor)

• Highest EE potential exist in buildings; approx. 111 PJ out of total 190 PJ energy savings potential estimated by REKK. It requires though state subsidies.

• Reliable, long term policies and implementation measures are missing to attract investments from industrial actors.

• EE has become an explicit political priority (at least in rethorics) • Some basic connections are known – eg. we can only achieve our national RES

targets if we reduce our overall final energy consumption • Existing studies are used, (such as Energiaklub are considered as stakeholders • HU government has decided to support EED goals (incl. 3% for buildings, 1,5% for

utilities) • Ministry of Development (NFM) proposed innovative financing for EE from new

Cohesion Policy • Under current Cohesion policy programme (KOZOP – Public Sector Operational

Program) > 160bn HUF (approx. €530M) is proposed to spend on deep renovation of public buildings (if no suspension of ERDF by EC under budget-deficit procedure). But contracting this huge amount of money until end 2013 is still unrealistic and unfeasible.

• Positive developments are rather linked to the private sector or local governments / cities; which is market/ energy price driven (Nb. In cities mostly happen in the field of RES though – eg. Geothermal district heating)

• ESCOs are well developed in Hungary and policies are supporting their operations. But low hanging fruits are picked and unstable local government finance make them cautious to invest in cities.

• From 2013 CO2 auctioning should have generated further revenues for EE investments (eg. 5bn was planned for smart metering); but due to last minute derogation it would not be realised


• Central government buildings are very clearly defined and restricted to certain buildings (where government allocated money for the 3% EE renovation – annual 5bn HUF needed)


• Public sector 3% is not accepted (upon proposal by PL) – thus not includes schools, hospitals

• No data available on public buildings consumption; no financing available to gather this data (could be from the 160bn)

• Huge uncertainty about the regulatory environment: eg. HU government started nationalisation of municipal buildings (to gain influence on public buildings management – while infrastructure management remains under municipal control); which raises landlord (Gvt) – tenant (LA) issues and creates split incentives. This raises on the short term the biggest issues for schools and hospitals.

• No real policies or financial support targeting this sector [In RES: public employment program supports small settlements to apply biomass boilers (but no EE measures known)]

• Implementation of the EPBD for public buildings is obligatory, but still not applied… • Fossil energy subsidies delay implementation of EE measures (Eg. subsidized

district heating VAT (5%) should be more effective, if invested as EE improvements!); Residential sector

• Existing investment subsidies (eg. under ERDF /Cohision policy funding for EE improvements / solar collectors) were depleted within few weeks time and after long evaluation of proposals implementation must be done within few months

• so there is rather a campaign-like spending of just available public money, then a well elaboarted and implemented subsidy program or support scheme

• In 2011 only 3bn HUF (approx. €10M) was for allocated for EE investments in residential sector – since then no open call for proposals – and new resources currently planned until end 2013 amounts to only 1.9bn HUF (approx. €630k) not exactly defined for what type of buildings and what type of investments.

• Construction standards do not support EE improvements, new construction standards are far less strict as in Western Europe

• Construction itself – no quality insurance of mechanisms; expert’s quality level is low due to low pay / lack of regulation

• Long term policy framework and financing missing • Gas subsidies for residential sector is cross-financed from higher industrial gas

prices. Service sector

• In the private sector market automations work; higher prices drive EE investments and energy savings

Industry sector

• Virtualis Erumu Program (Virtual NegaWatt power plant) – 200 MW power plant capacity is planned to be dismissed via voluntary EE commitments by industry

• Very diverse picture; from ultramodern factories (eg. Audi factory, Gyor, MOL, etc) to very unergy unefficient companies

• But the market / increasing energy prices resolve here the issues • ESCOs market work well – but local governments are indebted; not good

customers.


Transport sector • Weakest part in Action Plans both at national and local levels; although the biggest

issues are here. • Biggest issue here is the modernisation of energy inefficient infrastructure (where

often less energywore, but used vehicles imported from Western Europe) • Legislation – new ‘Green Cards’ for cars mark also the environmental performance

of motors / CO2 emissions • Cohesion policy spent on a lot of motorways (and not enough on rail infrastructure):

HU has become a road logistics hub, while cities do not have strategies / concerns to avoid this

• Last governmental strategy (Szell Kalman plan2) – Pigou type taxes address road transport externalities (eg. congestion charges to finance public transport > starts from July 2013 in Budapest and electronic motorway-payment system > which would apport annual 150Mrd revenue from 2013)

• Increasing petrol prices have very strong effect on individual road transport (demand elasticity is high)

• At national level – largest problem is public transport (BKV, MAV); it cannot be as attractive as it should be

• Integrated tickets / pricing; for urban developments • Cycling culture has developed; infrastructure follows more or less

Insitutional framework National Government

• Ministries do not talk to each other; although responsibility for EE is split between 3; NFM (cohesion policy priorities), NGM (money); BM (standards)

• Non-transparent and non-technical recruitment policies – eg. if someone is dismissed from one ministry (and this can happen upon vague, personal grounds) cannot be recruited to another ministry or in the whole public sector (even if he/she is a competent expert.

• Ministries’ background institutions are built down with often no clear responsibilities, accountability

• Ministry for Internal Affairs (BM) has good ideas; some competence (eg. Suggested to levy a tax for real estate developments) But often other non-technical / political priorities inhibit to realise them: eg. More EE construction standards proposal abandoned based on the argument that it would increase import (of boilers in this case)

• Big changes in HU government last year effected unfavorably EE staff as well; there is still no final setup;

• EE action plan should be finalised and responsibilities among many actors (NFU, EK, NFM) defined clearly


Ireland The most important negative and positive developments The current financial crisis is affecting energy efficiency policy. There have been budget cuts and any priority for energy efficiency appears to be dwindling. The government’s capacity to implement and enforce laws has been affected. There is a lack of commitment at the top and this may be affected by the lack of binding targets. And many wonder why there cannot be binding targets. This context leads to too much complacency. A global carbon tax had been planned to be comprehensive, with the proceeds ring-fenced, but in the end, it is only for some activities and there are no earmarked funds for energy efficiency. There is a lack of good analysis. While there are problems with ex ante analysis, the lack of ex post evaluations is a greater problem. While there is a good statistical base, there is no commitment to do the needed analysis. While energy suppliers such as ESD have played a major role over the years, their role in promoting energy efficiency is too ambiguous and needs to be better defined. And the role of local authorities could also be strengthened and better defined. The dialogue between the two levels of government could easily be improved. The local level government’s lack of autonomous significant income streams make it difficult to pursue ambitious policies. All this said, there are some positive examples from some sectors, but there are still too many gaps in certain sectors and sub-sectors that are not sufficiently addressed. Improving energy use in buildings provides the greatest, yet missed opportunity, even though there are some programmes in place. There are many reasons why activities to improve energy efficiency could make important gains in Ireland. To start with, energy is expensive and that can be a big motivator. There is good capacity in terms of professionals for renovation or other energy efficiency activities (but this is eroded as many companies risk go out of business in the current economic climate). This is complemented by many international energy management schemes in place, bringing good know-how and best practice to Ireland. The energy efficiency legislative framework is in place. About 75% of national legislation is based on EU policies. The framework includes good building codes and the implementation of measures such as the energy performance certificate. The 2011 regulation gave a 60% improvement compared to the 2008 regulation. While the certificates started to be well implemented, more could be done at present. For buildings, there has been a national retrofit programme for residential buildings that has expanded to include commercial and public buildings. This programme is seen as an important element of the economic recovery strategy. The goal was 1 million buildings to


be retrofitted. The programme is now switching from grant scheme to supplier obligations and there are some concerns on what that will mean to impact. One EU requirement is the creation of the NEEAPs under the Energy Services Directive. This has been a valuable exercise and has led to local and regional sustainable energy plans. ESCOs are starting to play an increasingly important role in the market. In transport, the tax system for cars is deemed a great success, promoting smaller more energy efficient vehicles. The change in car taxation in the past years has had a very strong and positive effect. The new taxation since 2008 encourages people to buy fuel-efficient cars. Between 2007 and 2011 the CO2 emission dropped from 166g/km to 133 g /km. This was much more effective than policy makers had anticipated and was also a significant drop compared to other countries with a similar car park before the tax was introduced. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector There is a lingering malaise with senior management at the national level considered to only pay lip service to energy efficiency in the public sector. This is exacerbated with no or poor delivery at the bottom. At the national level the senior management level pays lip service to public sector EE. It is felt that there is no delivery at the bottom. Ireland has a very centralised government approach and the local level suffers from a lack of capacity and resources to undertake energy efficiency actions. Added to this, there is a poor knowledge of how much and where energy is used in the public sector. While there is an ambitious target for energy efficiency improvements, there is no baseline to allow for any meaningful monitoring of progress and to allow the government to lead by example. While buildings represent 60% of public energy use, little specific buildings work done. And there is weak enforcement of public EE procurement requirements in the buildings sector. On a positive note, data gathering, however, has begun. That said, there is no plan how to address energy use in the public sector. Only some public bodies have adopted targets, and there is no comprehensive approach to implementation. This is also hampered by the lack of incentives, whether they be carrots or sticks. The residential sector The legislative base is there, as mentioned above. However, it is felt that EPBD is not adequately being implemented, and this is leading to domestic retrofitting contractors are going out of business. There is no incentive to certify buildings, both among house owners


and among landlords. The recast of the EPBD has not been transposed yet, but under the new rules the certificate must be displayed. Because of the economic crisis, few houses have been built in the last three years and there is little knowledge in the industry on how to comply to the new building code. There is also a problem with compliance and in 2002, for example, 13-14% of buildings were non-compliant. Activities in the residential sector are inherently grant-led programmes that are limited in scale and funding (but have been positive nevertheless). The programmes are not comprehensive and more to be seen as pilots and demonstrations. Social housing has a budget problem and this sector faces all the typical textbook barriers. There is a widespread concern about too much complacency and lack of focus. The new, stricter national standards for new buildings are important, but very few houses are being built in Ireland at the moment and few contractors will therefore gain experience on how to implement these new standards. The industry & service sector Because Ireland is a small country, large companies can be dealt with individually and there are activities underway. Industry is motivated by the high energy prices, as mentioned above. For the service sector, there are many SMEs and they suffer the same problems as for buildings, since much of their energy use is similar. Yet, there is a data gap and this leads to a lack of mobilisation and measues. There is a poor understanding of the potential. Essentially there is no coherent programme in place. The networks and mechanisms are there for industry to come together to share experience, but there is need for greater support for this to happen. the transport sector As stated above, there are positive results for vehicles with the promotion of smaller, more energy-efficient vehicles. There is a problem with public transport. The inter-city rail infrastructure has been seriously neglected. This leads to an unbalanced set of priorities, focused on private cars, electric vehicles and biofuels. The freight sector gets very little attention and there is no focus on inter-modal shifts. Aviation improvements are ignored. There are opportunities. There is room for improvement in inter-city rail systems. At the local level, there have been improvements in public transport systems, in terms of real time information, integrated ticketing, better cycle paths and urban schemes, IT-based information on congestion.


While the 2008 taxation system cars has had a significant impact, there is currently no incentive to go below 100g CO2/km. The new tax is now being eroded with new energy class bands för cars Institutional framework There are mixed signals with respect to the institutional framework. Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland has been a major implementing agency, respected throughout Europe, yet it has suffered from budget cuts. It is felt to not work efficiency and it has a poor relationship with working with civil society and local energy agencies. While the SEAI is responsible for implementing the NEEAP, it suffers from inadequate resources to fulfil the task. There is good capacity in many of the ministries, although there is poor dialogue amongst them, leading to inadequate co-ordination. It is felt that the civil service, as a whole, is not concerned with energy issues. There is also poor dialogue between the levels of government. This is not helped by the local energy agencies which have no clear structure or institutional framework to work efficiently together. Nevertheless, overall there is good understanding how to analyse and implement. The problem comes down to inadequate human resources to take on the tasks. Italy The most important negative and positive developments

• Need to integrate the NEEAP and assessments in an Energy Efficiency strategy for

medium and long term. Implementation of the NEEAP remains a priority.

• Give continuity to the strategic agreement signed by Confindustria and the three largest trade unions, CGIL, CISL and UIL, for a National Energy Efficiency plan which would create 1.6 million new jobs in Italy.

• Give continuity to what has been done with the most successful incentive for Energy Efficiency: the 55 % deduction from the income tax for the renovation of existing buildings. This measure has created already over 1 million euro interventions with over 12 billion euro of private investments. Type of interventions covered:

- reduction of energy demand (heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting) - insulation of the buildings (windows) - installation of solar panels


• Another priority is the implementation of an energy efficiency plan for public buildings with a legally binding target of 3% Energy Efficiency increase. Not only central government buildings which are a small percentage (1%), but also national, regional and local government buildings.

• The main critical issue is the implementation of the new energy efficiency directive EED (which will be published at the end of 2012).

• The energy performance contracts are rarely used and not in a proper way, in the public and private sector standard contracts should be available. In the residential sector there is a lack of incentives (for the apartment blocks for example). Very few banks are active in this sector.

• Need to homogenize the implementation of EU Directives in Italy in order to avoid the Implementation of the Directive 2002/91/EC on energy efficiency in buildings: some Regions (Lombardia, Emilia Romagna, Liguria and Piedmont) and the autonomous provinces of Bolzano and Trento, have adopted regional/provincial legislative provisions for the classification and certification of energy, in accordance with the principles of the Directive 2002/91/EC. At the moment, among these, only the Region of Lombardy and the autonomous Province of Bolzano have their own legislation on the energy certification of buildings.

• A positive point of our energy efficiency policy was the introduction in 2004 of the white certificates . Recent development related to the White certificates (WC) after the adoption of the D.Lgs.28/2011. Before the duration of the incentive was for 5 years and 8 years for interventions on the building envelope. Now it will considered the real life time of the action, this way the actions related with the building envelop will have a higher amount of certificates. On the other hand, actions related to highly efficient cogeneration have been considered eligible for the White certificates. This is a bit confusing because it seems that now even the production sector can be eligible for the White certificates, as well as, actions related to energy efficiency improvement in the distribution grids (electricity and gas). The major problem of the White Certificates is defining the targets for the future years.

• Fund to finance Energy Efficiency investments: Kyoto fund. This fund, which accounts for €600 million, will provide easy loans (0.5% interest rate for 6 and 15 years respectively for private and public bodies) to private citizens, local administrations and small and medium enterprises for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. The Italian regions will be in charge of the administration of this Fund.

• New initiative coming from the Prime Minister Mario Monti introduce the idea of the “Project bonds” (article n. 54 of decree 1/2012 which has been converted into the law n. 27/2012): the companies listed in the legislative decree 163/2006 will be allowed to release project bonds for building infrastructures; the bonds can be guaranteed from private capitals and financial institutions, with no implication for the national budget. This concept could create cash flow for investments.



• Until now EE was not recognised in the legislation as a top priority with the exception of the 55% tax reduction and the White Certificates. The CONSIP is the public body supposed to implement public procurements but it is not doing it efficiently.

• Beside the general lack of funds, there is also a lack of competences which do not allow funds available to be exploited at a municipal level. There is the need of consultants with the proper knowledge of how to get funds and how public tenders have to be published. Energy Performance Contracts must also be included in public tenders.

• Need to cross information coming from energy companies and from municipality in order to have a picture of the performance in the building sector. It will be useful for EE actions if the information related to energy performance in building could be crossed to energy consumption.

• To avoid the reduction of the value of the green certificates, the mechanism of the

green certificates, which could bring benefits, is too complicated; it should be simplified. The incentives for renewables should be reduced to the European average.

• Italy welcomed in a very enthusiastic way the initiative of the Covenant of Mayors; many Municipalities joined it but the Covenant of Mayors is a only voluntary initiative. Italy is the Country with the highest number of municipalities which formally joined the Covenant of Mayors but the number of SEAPS approved is low. Few Municipalities developed and implemented the SEAP. In our opinion at national level there should be foreseen an obligation for the local authorities to respect the commitments taken signing the Covenant of Mayors.

• Italy is in the 2nd phase of the European project Build-Up Skills Residential sector

• Need to promote energy efficiency among the citizens before the certification and the renovation of buildings

• Here we have the best score due to the 55% tax reduction. But there are some rules that have to be respected: the EE results must be proved/certificated to get this tax reduction

• The residential sector is very fragmented. It has been mainly addressed by the White Certificates however very simple measures have been implemented while the insulation is not so common. In Apartment blocks new approaches should be developed as for examples Energy Performance Contracting, but there were some pilot cases that created problems between the owners and the tenants. It is difficult to take decisions related to energy efficiency investment in apartment blocks because an agreement among the majority of the owners is needed.

• Hope that, in the future, the improvement of the White Certificates will have effects as well as the tax deductions.


• The problem of the Tax deductions is that there is a maximum of 10,000€ and these can represent an obstacle for a deep renovation The actions listed in the residential sector (updated every 1-2 years) are: efficient windows, insulation measures, energy efficient appliances, measures related to the buildings envelop etc. These actions can also benefit of a 9% VAT reduction.

Service sector

• The service sector in Italy should play a more important role. The minor role played by the service sector is due to the fact that energy efficiency has not been a political priority for the national government so far.

• Regarding the Energy Service Sector, energy utilities have carried out lobbying activities for assigning to energy efficiency a low profile role in our Country.

• About ESCOs we hope that the new directive will help their development. Also in this case there is a lack of control and support at national and regional level. In the market of the White Certificates the ESCOs play an important role. In fact they have the opportunity to make profit because they have the right to obtain White Certificates in a number corresponding to energy efficiency achieved by the energy efficiency interventions they implemented.

• There is a legislation related with the obligation of having energy managers for any entity consuming more than a certain energy amount. But in general it seems that energy efficiency is not considered as a priority by stakeholders in this sector. Managers are supposed to analyse the energy performance of the companies that they are responsible for and they are suppose to implement actions related to energy efficiency. But they don’t have formal obligation to take the measures.

• ESCO: more than 1000 energy service companies exists, however, a few of them are really active: probably around 100-200. They are obligated to register under the White Certificates scheme to operate. Basically there is a distinction between ESCOs which work with large energy suppliers and small ESCOs. The small ESCOs have more technical competences and they can make energy audits, implement measures. However they suffer of lack of funding so they do not have capability of investment. Whereas large companies are more active in the public sector; however due to the crisis, investments on the public sector are decreasing. ESCOs under with the system of the White Certificates manage to get more than 80% of the total amount of the certificates issued. In addition, actions which are related only with energy efficiency are not combined with the energy supply and the monitoring of the Energy saving achieved is not common in Italy.

• Kyoto fund (revolving fund) will create incentive for the ESCOs. The main issue always is how to attract investments to finance energy efficiency investments.

Industry sector

• No specific legislation except the one referring to energy managers (see above) • Three years ago, the industrial organizations presented a strategic plan which

would have led to the creation of 1.6 million jobs and to massive investments in


energy efficiency interventions in the various manufacturing areas. For doing that they asked the government, without success, a national extraordinary energy efficiency plan.

• The White and Green certificates are mainly used in the industrial sector and it is positively considered. There has been an increasing of the actions addressing the industry sector which have been certified. Around 20% of energy savings from the industry sector

• Utilities don’t have obligations to make energy savings. However some of them do it on a voluntary basis.

• The industrial sector, as for example the large factories of steel, makes and made energy efficiency interventions. Industries need to save energy due to the electricity and gas prices. Structural funds were devolved to industries to reduce the energy consumption, but there are no obligations.

• Initiative related to Industry “ Industria 2015” to help the Italian economy to emerge from the recession by defining strategic lines for the development and competitiveness of the Italian manufacturing system on the basis of an analysis of future economic and production scenarios in the medium and long term (up to 2015). In particular it aims to centralise the role of industry in the context of a new attitude towards the real economy, which combines traditional manufacturing production with the development of new services and technologies, exploiting the synergies between manufacturing companies, service companies, and industrial research. Initiative already documented in the NEEAP.

Transport sector

• Except the EU legislation do they have the will to develop sustainable transport? • There is a lack of culture on public transport and efficient energy-environment

friendly transport; it’s a dramatic situation. • Over the 80% of goods are transported by road, our cities are among the most

polluted in all EU, also because the public transportation does not work in a proper way.

• The mobility policy is left to municipalities, there is not a national transport plan. The Ministry for economic development, infrastructures and transports allocated some funds for the improvement of existing infrastructures now it is up to the municipalities to use the funds for activities in the transport sector. Municipalities are quite active in promoting initiatives such as car-sharing and the use of electric vehicles, etc. In this sector the main actions are developed at municipal level (mainly in large cities).

- Bicycles available in cities are becoming more common. - Mobility plan: (car-trains) there are some examples. - Some examples: in Milano some areas are closed to cars time to time with a

view of the creation of pay-zones; in Genoa various and valuable measures were implemented to facilitate mobility to make it more efficient.



• The coordination always depends on the political will. If there is no political will to make energy efficiency a priority it is not relevant which institution is involved. The lobbying activities carried out by who could be disadvantaged from the promotion of energy efficiency are one of the reasons why energy efficiency has not been considered as a priority so far. Therefore, the lack of coordination in the institutional framework is a consequence and not the cause.

• Main actors involved: - Ministry of Economic Development (MSE) There is a lack of targets from the

Ministry of Economic Development (which creates uncertainty for the future). It is not active and committed in the field of energy efficiency.

- Authority for electricity and gas (AEEG): energy regulator. - Operator of energy services (GSE). - Market operator (GME): White certificates, energy efficiency activity,

emissions trading scheme, green certificates, etc. - Energy agency (quite active in North Italy). - The National Energy Agency (ENEA).

• Shift of responsibilities of the actors involved: there are also conflicts of competences between the GME, the authority for electricity and gas (AEEG) and the MSE. until now only AEEG was in charge for the White certificates system, in the future we will have fragmented competences.

- ENEA will be in charge of the administration of the scheme, the evaluation of the saving and also for the annual evaluation.

- On the other hand, the GSE will become responsible for the activities related to cost recovery, etc.

- The AEEG will have a minor role in the administration of the white certificates; this is a pity because the AEEG did a great job so far.

Latvia The most important negative and positive developments In Latvia, a common or shared vision between national stakeholders and partners seems to be missing. Even if financing is pointed out as a crucial issue that needs to be solved in order to get energy efficiency investments started, it is clear that a lot of things can be done just be having a common vision, goal and a shared understanding of how to get there. The ministry of economics is currently developing a long-term strategy for 2030 (expected autumn 2012), and this may present ideas how some of the issues can be solved. In terms of sectors and as an important issue as such, residential buildings are pointed out as the main sector that needs to be addressed. Residential buildings represent the largest saving potential in the NEEAP. However, this is also a very difficult area to reach. It is not


only because of financing, but the picture is more complex. In Latvia, a large share of the population has borrowed money to buy their apartments, and with the financial crisis most have to focus on paying their bills. The financial weakness of home owners is clearly displayed by the fact that many housing associations have problems paying their district heating bills, which also creates cash flow problems for the city of Riga, and other district heating systems. The problems in the buildings sector are many, such as:

• The process to implement the energy performance certificate system appears to be in a haze.

• Financing of costs and co-financing of measures in the buildings sector is quite an issue, and even with co-funding occupants have a problem financing refurbishments.

• Audits are of low quality and so is the quality of refurbishments. • There is a misconception among inhabitants in buildings what energy efficiency will

mean and what the costs vs. benefits are. Since members of a housing association need to approve a large investment with a solid majority, this becomes a problem.

In the near future, some of the funding vehicles will also expire. The current financial support system expires in the end of 2013 and no one knows if and how this will be replaced.

• Despite all the problems, the awareness of energy efficiency has really increased through campaigns carried out the ministry of economic affairs. These campaigns were carried out during the last two years. Local authorities have also become much more involved, taking concrete actions. NGOs have seen their number of staff increase. Latvian pro-sustainability NGOs and think tanks have an increasing realisation of the role of energy (efficiency). There are now two local and regional energy agencies, Riga and Zemgale (and two smaller as well). They have started to engage stakeholders and politicians in energy efficiency.

• In terms of financing, the first ESCOs (from NL) have turned up in Latvia. Together with local authorities they have started some action. Some state-managed funds are available for support, although they are not sufficient. These are available since 3-4 years. In general it seems as if climate finance vehicles are efficient in achieving results. There is also a green investment scheme. A revolving fund has been set up but does not appear to be so successful yet. Finally, there are structural funds as well as private (Norwegian) funds that invest in energy efficiency.

• The fact that there is existing regulation in the buildings sector is a great step forward, compared to a situation without a legislative framework.

Critical issues in different sectors The public sector It is very hard to separate the public sector from the residential sector. A lot of houses are publicly owned. Also, the public sector’s non-residential buildings are important. There is a resource and competence problem within the public sector. Few know what can be done and how to do it and there is also a very strong focus on first price.


Public schools and kindergartens etc. receive special support (co-funding) from specific funding programmes. No work is done to encourage behaviour change in renovated buildings. Due to financially strained consumers who can’t pay their heating bills, the municipal district heating companies have poor cash flow and this makes it harder for the city to invest in efficiency (as well as in other things). The residential sector Latvia has a large percentage of multi-apartment buildings, which are in need of refurbishment. 73% of dwellings are in multi-family buildings, most of which were built under the Soviet era. It is difficult to carry out refurbishments since most apartments are owned by those who live there, and a solid majority is needed to agree on measures. There is a misconception about costs and benefits, which deter investments in addition to the financial strain that many Latvians are under at the moment. Comfort is also an important issue: People who have many walls towards the outside have cold apartments and would like to improve the thermal standard of the building, but those who live more in the centre of the building don’t find the retrofits so urgent. Costs are typically shared on a square meter basis, regardless of a particular apartment’s thermal capacity. Latvia has a highly centralised heating sector with very high costs for district heating. Many residential blocks have large unpaid bills, so there is a problem for both the utility and the owners. Since the utility is owned by the city of Riga. The forms of ownership are also a problem. With many flat owners, a 61% quorum is needed for decisions on measures, and this is difficult to reach, especially since many owners don’t understand the benefits of the investments. A large share of the population has borrowed large sums to buy their houses so they have little available funds to spend on renovation. There are specific earmarked funds but good funding vehicles are missing. 6000 apartments are planned to undergo renovation, but it has only started in about 60 buildings. The revolving fund that has been set up is not so successful yet. In Riga there are no ESCOs active. Energy performance certificates are thought be helpful, but the problems with implementing EPC have not been solved. The certificates are still not mandatory. The industry & service sector There is not enough awareness in supermarkets, shops etc., although the energy saving possibilities are large (in both heating and cooling and in electrical equipment). As for the logistics in this sector, it is not sophisticated and petrol prices are low


As for industry, Latvia is not a major industrial country. A lot of industrial buildings received funding from EU structural funds, but there is no general energy efficiency requirement linked to this funding. There is not common strategy for energy efficiency improvements in the industrial sector. There is a CO2 tax for the industry outside the ETS, but it is considered too low to have an effect. Latvia only has six companies in manufacturing that are covered by the ETS. Two additional instruments have recently been introduced: There will be financial support for Industrial building renovations and for the installation of new efficient equipment. There will also be voluntary (“negotiated”) agreements, but no real activity. Energy management schemes are to be established, but the process is very slow. The transport sector Latvia has focused on capacity building rather than real activities in the transport sector. The 1st NEEAP’s target for the transportation sector has already been reached, and no new targets were set in the 2nd NEEAP. The targets were easily met since many left the country in 2009 due to the financial crisis. The main problem with the public transport system is the optimisation of the system. In Riga, for instance, the system is centric and it is difficult to move along the perimeter. Further, timetables are not synchronised. Finally, there are networks within the cities but it is hard to move between cities. Structural funds have provide large sums to infrastructure, and there are some things happening in relation to green transportation, but the logistics networks and systems are very unsophisticated and energy intensive. Fuel prices are low. Institutional framework Institutional framework/actors for energy efficiency (importance of different actors, strengths/weaknesses, changes in the institutional framework in recent years) In general the structure appears to be very good and logical, but there is lack of coordination and collaboration between the different parts. The capacity of the government is strictly limited. For instance, the agency for construction has been removed and the ministry of economic affairs have too little staff working on energy efficiency. The ministry of environment deals with local and climate issues. The structure is organised as follows: Ministry of economics are at the top. The ministry develops projects for the EU structural funds. There is the Investment and Development Agency, an executive branch that develops projects for the residential sector. The Latvian Environmental Investment Fund


develops projects with industry etc., and is supported by climate finance. The environment and regional development ministry is responsible for the green investment scheme. On the local level there is the Riga (local) energy agency and Zemgale (regional) energy agency. The local/municipal actors are very active and have an increasingly important role. There is three regional and one local agency (Latvia is a small country!). There are very strong fossil fuel lobbies: natural gas is supplied from Russia via Ruhrgas and Gazprom, and Latvia is also supplied by a Lithuanian power plant. Municipal heating companies are important players and they are involved in energy efficiency. The NGO sector is increasingly important,. Another group that has become increasingly active is Latenergo, a group of producers and importers of energy saving materials that recently started to promote energy efficiency under a common banner. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues EU activities are very important, especially for a small country who cannot afford to develop their own legislation. No one mentions ecodesign measures, although they will (almost) by default generate large savings in all countries. Again, these are the result of EU policy. Lithuania The most important negative and positive developments

• Energy independency from Russia is the central objective of the Lithuanian government. Last week two very important decisions have been taken by the parliament that will significantly influence and dominate the Lithuanian energy policy in the next five to ten years. Thus they will also affect frame conditions for the calculation of new cogeneration plants and RES installations (new economic parameters) 1. Construction of a new nuclear power plant (1 350 MW) to provide the Baltic

states with electricity 2. The construction of a liquefied gas terminal at Klaipeda city to import liquid gas

(which can replace the Russian gas) • Which future for the district heating system? There are big systems providing

basically the existing residential building stock. Buildings are in very bad “conditions”, in average they use much more energy as the average building in Western Europe. They are poorly insulated and the gas price is increasing continuously (maybe the most expensive one in the EU). Four years ago when the actual government has been elected they planned to deeply renovate 2000 flats a


year, in reality this project has never started even the government may announce actions in this sector.

• Refurbishment of the multi-family housing stock (flats); buildings are responsible of 37% of Lithuania final energy consumption Process must be much more stimulated, today very slow and low annual refurbishment rate

• In fact in the last legislation period nothing happened in terms of EE

• National programme for multi-apartment buildings renovation with quite favourable conditions providing subsidy for investments (up to 30% of eligible costs) and soft loan with fixed interest rate for up to 20 years; however not as many people (Flat/House owner) as expected claim for the programme

• Local authorities (LA) start to be more active, promote building refurbishment and the respective nat. funding programme

• Government the last years more active pushed by EU policy and legislation; good effort to transpose on an quite ambitious level, the national EE programme and action plan

• Energy Labels well introduced and thus starting stimulating purchase of EE products


• Insufficient motivation to save energy in public buildings by the building users as they there is no incentive for them (e.g. a kind of share of money savings realised)

• EPBD has been transposed, what is missing is a supporting programme that encourages LA (and house owners) to go beyond the regulation standards (e.g. for nearly zero energy houses). Funding programmes only support the nat. standard and give no extra support for more ambitious projects

• At municipal level: lack of knowledge and capacity • Most attention has to be paid on renovation, structural funds are well used for

renovation of schools but need also to be used for other building types • Different programmes for renovation are available but need more used • Highest price for natural gas in Europe • Some cities do green procurement • Good effort also to improve the EE of the street lighting system. Investments have

been realised with the Structural Fund too • Structural Fund has also used to improve the District heating system (replacement

of tubes and boiler, part by biomass boilers) • There have been good plans to build further cogeneration plants, but this will

certainly be reconsidered after last week’s decision • No state funded programmes

Residential sector

• Building standard: compared with neighbourhood countries quite high


• Majority of citizens lives in flats built before the 1990s with very low standards, in consequence high energy bill creates social problems

• Renovation funding programme doesn’t work extensively, problem is that in Lithuania flats are in private ownerships, so in order to do renovation the majority (51%) has to approve the measure, decision process complicate and often no agreement achieved

• In addition low income households get support to pay their energy bill, so no real interest in savings (people are afraid to take a loan)

• Lack of information/awareness at citizens level, partly they are even bad informed as media mostly report about bad example of building refurbishment, rarely reports about successful projects

• In general lack of money for doing higher investments in deep refurbishments. Apartment owners pay maintenance fees, but this money is only sufficient for basic works and can never cover the cost of EE measures

• A national funding programme was available to support energy renovation by up to 50% and had a good start but the funding rate was rapidly reduced to 15% so no real market uptake is taking place

• Structural funds (Jessica programme) can to defray up 15% costs of renovation (implemented energy efficiency measures).

• EPBD has been transposed. Regulations for new buildings are in place and standard is increasing. If nearly zero energy buildings can be build will be shown by 2020 Sweden gives good support to set up an ambitious legislation and energy standards.

• Energy Performance Certificates serve for nothing in Lithuania. People don’t understand the certificate which is based on asset rating. Their interest is to know the real consumption and the cost. Data are available from the house owner or the district company. Analyses by LEI have shown that the real consumption (operational rating) is at least 2 times lower than the consumption calculated on the EPC

• No EE in households • Challenge 1: To provide house owners with the financial means to realise

necessary investments • Challenge 2: promote the introduction of CHP units to the DH systems

Service sector

• In general service and industry sector look after energy (and money) savings. • In Lithuania there are almost no ESCOs (there are some examples on energy

generation side, but on end-use side) and not a single EPC has been concluded. There is lack of legal clarity no guidelines or comprehensive model-contracts, etc. have been edited nor any promotion is done nor any support programme set up

• No specific national programmes • No ESCOs in Lithuania, poor activities in this sector • New building (most shops) are well performing


Industry sector • Voluntary agreement could accelerate the mobilisation of EE potential • In general not big industry sectors. Many companies closed in the past years, new

companies have been set up and have taken care of the energy use from the very beginning There is potential for electricity saving but no support programmes

• District heating/ Funding available for renovation, replacement of pipes and heating plants, support for biomass boilers and CHP units

• Good success in the past in reducing specific energy consumption. Old technology has been replace by more EE schemes and production units

• However in general this sector is not going well Transport sector

• Almost no direct action to support energy efficiency (only indirect ones, e.g. construction of roads and bike lanes , technical inspection of vehicles, use of biofuels)

• 2 years ago an eco-driving was integrated into the education of drivers system, but in reality almost nothing has happened

• Some success in the past as the overall consumption and CO2 emissions in this sector have been reduced in the past 10 years

• More efficient car park • Much money is invested in national roads and motorways however street in cities

are in bad conditions • Rail system operates well • Infrastructure (road and rails) between cities has been significantly improved. • Bikes are getting popular and more independent lanes are created • Funding available for modernisation of the public transport system • Public transport, bus fleets have been reviewed and services extended • Public transport: needs to be improved. The image of public transport is marked

from 50 years under Russian hegemony. Cities do as much as they can to replace old bus and equipment by new and modern one.

• Mentality of Lithuania citizens is very much focused on an individual car (family possess in general 2 cars) since the iron curtain has fallen. It will certainly take years again to change mentality and to make citizens understand the advantages of public transport and smooth mobility (or the fuel price is increasing tremendously). For the moment no national activities to promote public transport.

Insitutional framework Government Three ministries in charge with energy efficiency issues:

1. Ministry of Energy 2. Ministry of Environment 3. Ministry of Transport


The Ministry of Energy has been created only 3-4 years ago is a very motivated player but not powerful enough. In general Ministry of Energy is in charge of energy policy. Lack of staff! Set up good laws and regulation however the implementation process is by far too long. Building legislation is at the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment whereas actions/funding programmes in this sector are split between those two. Decision and policy making process is more complicated in such situation. In general after each election not only the government but also the responsible staff in the ministries changes. Today there is relative young staff working in the ministries, but unfortunately inexperienced, lack of know-how and capacities. The actual team is not interested in the opinion and collaboration with research institutes, work partly with external expert but in general quite self-confident. Local authorities

• In Lithuania exists 60 municipalities. Municipalities are preparing action plans mainly for usage of renewable energy. Action plans include awareness raising actions.

• Public buildings: many have been refurbished thanks to wide use of EU structural funds and national programmes, still a lot to be done, Structural fund need to continue under next framework programme

• Big need for training and capacity building, lack of qualified staff. Number of people work on energy issues should be increased but due to the bad economic situation in general it is not so easy to be implemented

• EE is not a priority, e.g. social problems much more burning • Number of municipalities are engaged in EU funded projects, look for opportunities

National energy agency The national EA is based in Vilnius, they are responsible for the implementation of laws and regulations, don’t manage any funding programmes. The agency is “owned” by the Ministry of Energy. At the moment they are in a weak position. Good and competent staff, liable partner of the research institutes. For the moment their role is (despite their personal competences) limited to administrative work, no time and order for development of a policy strategy. Their role has to be strengthened. Local energy agencies

• Only one local exists (KREA). They propose services as energy management (for smaller communities) or energy audits or elaboration of local SESAPs. In order to work properly KREA needs more funding (might come also from the EU) and to comply with their function as catalyst and motivator. There is also a strong need for similar local EA in Lithuania)

• Impact difficult to evaluate


Energy Companies • Consider themselves only as supply companies thus looking for the cheapest

energy sources and good business. • Take care of the efficiency of their plants • No action on the end users or efforts to promote EE • No interest to develop services as EPC; district heating companies are even not

allowed to act as ESCO LEI (Lithuanian Energy Institute) 300 people working at the institute. Budget is assured government (50%) and contracts (50%). In former years more influence on national energy policy. Others

• Many companies from abroad are proposing their services for research, financing, etc., however have always their business in mind

• No independent organisation in place that gives energy advice to citizens and SMEs. In the past a few EU programmes that have supported such action, never any national programme

• Different Lobbyists are acting for their cause (e.g. Association of District heating Companies; Wind energy association, etc.)

Luxembourg The most important negative and positive developments The financial situation has worsened recently and this is affecting energy efficiency policy to some extent. However, energy prices are relatively low and the country is highly dependent on imports. This has meant that energy efficiency has not had the priority it deserves. With limited potential for increasing energy supply, there is a need to concentrate on energy efficiency. The big challenge is in housing and it is difficult to give incentives to homeowners to renovate. Unfortunately, homeowners do not see the importance to improve energy performance of their buildings. While a 2010 law was good in providing incentives, a communications problem meant that the uptake was poor and this led to much time lost. There have been proposals to provide tax relief for renovation but it is still waiting to be put into law. This could be dropped, given the financial situation affecting government budgets. Overall the legal framework is good. This is true for the 2010 law, but there is need for a better communications strategy. Increasingly municipalities are getting involved in energy matters. On October 4th, the "Pacte climat avec les communes" was presented and will take force as of January 1, 2013. This should see increased activities by municipalities.


The institutional framework including Myenergy as the agency for information dissemination is good. There are positive steps for buildings with a standard for passive houses planned for 2017 as the leading step to meet full NZEB requirements. Also, new more ambitious building standards came into force as of July 2012. The new EED will provide an important obligation to retrofit state buildings. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector There is a significant difference between buildings owned by the state and those owned by municipalities. New state buildings are not a problem because they must soon have a “B” level. Some municipalities are generally not a problems because mayors want to showcase how responsible they are. But for existing buildings, funding is limited, interest is not there and there is no tradition of making such changes. The obligation for state buildings under the EED will be a positive step forward. Public procurement is no barrier and if a ministry or agency wants a passive building, for example, there is no problem. The residential sector Overall the EPBD is well implemented. Financing remains a problem, as discussed above, and it is particularly a problem for single-family dwellings. Population growth is high and any efficiency gains are eaten up by the growth. And energy consumption per square metre is very high – about double that of Germany. There is need for a buildings strategy to 2050, similar to the 2050 roadmap the government prepared. This became law in July 2012. The industry & service sector The service sector has similar problems as the residential sector. Energy prices remain too low to provide motivation. Investors do not want to take a risk investing in the best technology and renters also do not want to have increased energy bills, so there is a stalemate. The law for non-residential buildings is relatively strict and NZEB coming for new buildings will be important. Industry is a delicate problem because there are many energy-intensive industries. However, they have fairly good awareness and there is a voluntary agreement to improve energy intensity in the cement industry. Work with SMEs is starting and some consultants are working directly for them. However, there is a low potential for savings for SMEs. Energy efficiency investments that have a payback greater than 2 or 3 years are no longer approved by the shareholders. Thus, many cost-effective investments which have longer return on investment are not undertaken.


A centre for expertise on energy in industry is needed to help the sector improve its energy performance. The transport sector Private transport represents a high share of total transport. While there is an objective of having 25% public transport, it is difficult to achieve, given that most of the population live in the countryside and drive to work. Domestic consumption is also growing. Also, many foreign vehicles come to Luxembourg to take advantage of low taxes. Three-quarters of the sales are for export and many diesel trucks moving through Europe transit through Luxembourg to take advantage of the low cost. A further 100,000 living in France, Belgium and Germany drive to Luxembourg daily to work. This makes it difficult to plan public transport. There will be a new tramline but overall it takes too long to plan, authorise and build new infrastructure. Institutional framework The capacity within the Ministry is good and Myenergy is an important actor, informing the public. It is well funded and has good competence. The Ministry is efficient in taking proposals and transposing them into law. Climate and energy issues are in two separate ministries and that can pose problems since the ministry responsible for energy has focussed on the supply of cheap energy. Municipalities have not been very active but they are important as both consumers and local channels to their citizens. Municipalities have not been active so far. Hopefully this will change with the new “Pacte Climat avec les communes.” Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues The European Union provides a strong policy framework. The location of Luxembourg as a transit point in the centre of Europe is an issue. Malta The most important negative and positive developments

• Malta is small Country and has to face economical challenges. Implement energy efficiency measures will cost a lot for the country. The public and private sectors will have to identify solutions, so it means through the increase of taxes and finding new investments. Specific energy efficiency measures (such as insulation of the roofs for examples) are not popular and they


require grants from the government. The directives were adopted when the European economy was healthier. With this economic situation doing investments is difficult. Water in Malta means energy but is not covered by any Energy efficiency EU Directives. There is an urgent need to reduce the use of water, it will be probably done by increasing the water price.

• Lack of human resources: to implement a policy, a larger team able to motivate the population is needed. Maltese authority should manage properly the energy efficiency policies but they don’t. The number of the employees involved (mainly engineers) is not enough to implement a proper energy efficiency policy.

• The most important issue in Malta is the enforcement of the Energy policy for the residential sector. There are laws which regulate the buildings codes but in practice, it is not being implemented due to the lack of human resources. The renovation of buildings should be a priority. The construction companies don’t want to include energy efficiency measures as long as the legislation is not in force because people don’t want to pay more for the new materials if they are not obliged. There must be a campaign which explains the benefits. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU (EPBD) is not fully transposed and there was not a national campaign which informed people.

• The government gives grants to citizens which implement energy efficiency measures. For example for the replacement of the old electrical appliances and for the installation of solar water heaters. Change the user behaviour about the air conditioner use could be an easy measure to save energy

• The total absence of energy efficiency in industry. Between 2006-2008 there was an increase of the electricity price (30-90%) due to the oil price increase (in Malta electricity is produced by oil). This increase generated a lot of problems, specially for the industrial sector, commercial sector and residential sector (for heavy consumers). The only motivation that drove to the implementation of the energy efficiency policies in industry was the sudden increasing of electricity bills. To reduce costs, Industries were forced to implement energy efficiency measures. In industry there were grants/incentives. Industries which implemented energy efficiency measures could benefit, through call for proposals, of grants which covered the 30-50% of the investment costs. The programme was co funded by ERDF.

• There were significant effort to reduce of energy consumption and increase the use of RES). For example in the residential sector there was an increase in the installation of PV power plants and solar heating systems (about 7000 households are using photovoltaic systems, solar heating is relevant and very popular).


• There is a general policy to implement energy efficiency in buildings but it’s up to the owners of the buildings to implement it properly (there is not a legal obligation).


All government buildings (state buildings, municipal buildings, county buildings, etc.) should have done the energy audit (except social buildings). The way the Energy performance building directive was implemented was not effective, only 400 energy certificates have been done. In Malta, when you do an energy performance certificate, the energy performance of the buildings is overestimated and the methodology used does not take in consideration all the aspects. In general, there is a lot of potential but there is no political will to develop action plans and to develop energy efficiency projects/measures. The public owners don’t link those measures to economic development.

• As mentioned before, the lack of human resources doesn’t help neither. But it is not a question of education, actually, they are over qualified, it is a question of quantity, there are not enough people in charge of those questions. Even if thanks to the energy end-use efficiency directive: green leaders have been appointed in each department, they were meant to find the energy efficiency measures to be implemented in public buildings. It was a good initiative but it is hard to monitor the real improvement brought by the intervention of the green leaders.

Residential sector

• 60 % of the buildings in Malta were built in the last 5 years and all of them are not efficient.

• Building regulation for new building efficiency + RES not yet in force. • The Energy performance certification of buildings has been implemented and It is

working well. The format and calculation tools are ready (except for the commercial sector).

• Several financial incentives were/are existing: - Some years ago there were incentives on efficient light bulbs but it is finished

now. - In 2008, incentives for replacing electronic appliances. Good initiative there was

not the obligation to return the old ones. - Grants of 500€ to use double glazing (expensive and not essential in Malta) and

also for roof insulation (which might be more effective but it needs too large investments for the buildings built in Malta).

- Support scheme for thermal water heater: 400 € financed (back on the bill). - Solar is not successful even if the government is giving incentives : 3,000 € for

installing photovoltaic plants. These interventions are decided every year and are part of the annual national budget.

- Grants to install micro wind plants, but it did not work well, because the permission to build the plant is not given without the signature of the architects. The administrative procedure discouraged people.

• Through MIEMA (Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency) a pilot project in households with low incomes / revenue is being developed.

• National education programme for Energy Efficiency needed. There is one in Gozo (2nd main island) at the moment, but it is not at national level. University is currently investing more in RES than in Energy Efficiency and particularly on the implementation of solar heating system.


Service sector

Touristic sector • Grant for EE + RES: 30 % of funding (ERDF) but it is finished now. There were 3

successive calls for project but now it is closed. • There are not special incentives except the ones on appliances. • Due to the huge increase of the electricity bill, service sector had to take care of

the energy efficiency as the industry or the residential sector. There is no need of new laws; the increase of the electricity bill is enough. The increase of the electricity bill pushes the service sector to act such as: → energy audits in hotels. → Energy efficiency measures (the installation of double glazing) were

implemented in hotels. The largest 4 stars hotels were interested in saving energy but the small 3 stars hotels were not aware of the saving they could make raising the energy efficiency of the building.

• a successful specific campaign as done a few years ago, even for hospitals it have been stopped. There are still campaigns on Energy Labelling of Buildings.

Escos • There are a few Escos operating. Some from Italy are coming but they seem to

be not very successful until now. The business model has not been designed in Malta yet and the but the escos concept is not popular in Malta

• Escos offer some services as for example insulation but the market is not developed (no energy audit).

Industry

• Medical and electronic are the most important industry in Malta (the industries are highly specialized). A 20 M€ programme (ERDF funds) for energy efficiency interventions in the industrial sector has been mainly used to install photovoltaic power plants which is not the best value for money. There is a lot to be done, lighting system, second class water and insulation, etc.. but they don’t have the money to invest. Specific national programme: tax credit up to 1.4 times the value of the investments done in energy efficiency measures. This incentive was not so effective due to the reluctance of the industries to declare the real turnover of the company.

• Grant for EE + RES: 30 % of funding (ERDF) & soft loan from local banks • Utility sector: a generation plan has to be closed this year due its inefficiency. • Enemalta (the main provider of energy generation and distribution in the Maltese

islands owned by the government): is commissioning a new and more efficient power plan (combined cycle plants).

• Enemalta: Malta should be connected to EU grid through Italy.


Transport sector • In Malta there are too many cars and too many big cars. There are high taxes on

the importation of new cars (40 % of the value of the car), so companies import second hand cars which are not efficient. The “road tax” law has been introduced for the less efficient vehicles. The costs of having old cars on the roads are expensive. However, there is not yet a study on the impact of this tax.

• Biofuel: Some companies are producing second generation biofuel. In 2008, biofuel represented the 2 % of the total fuel production, but now is decreasing due to the second hand market (the cars come from Japan and they cannot use biofuel) despite of the measures implemented to adapt the biofuel to the Japanese cars.

• Public transport : The national public transport has been privatised. This change was followed by an increase of EE in public transports: all the buses were replaces with new and efficient ones. The problem is that the Minister of the Transports tried to change everything in once even the buses routes. But people got confused because of the lack of publicity about the new routes, and they stopped to use the public transportation. Gradually the situation is now improving and people are using again the public transportation.

• Electric cars : The government is building charging points in the city, but the cars are still too expensive and the Maltese market is small. The government, for promoting the purchase of electric cars, gives incentives (15 % of the value of the car and to whom use photovoltaic power plants to charge the car up to 5.000 euro grant) but the market is not mature enough.


• 2 Ministries responsible of renewable and energy efficiency. There is a lack of synergy within these competent bodies. - MEPA : Ministry for Environment and Planning Authority - Ministries for Resources and Rural Affairs: responsible of energy efficiency

quality and for building regulation • The national authority is the regulator for electricity and gas prices • MIEMA: Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency who is the national Energy

Agency working on behalf of several ministries • MEEREA: Malta Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies Association • Enemalta: main provider of energy generation and distribution in the Maltese

islands owned by the government on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. Its statutes will probably change when Malta will be connected to the European grid.

Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues There will be an Electricity interconnections by the end of 2013 (to connect Malta to Sicily) Gas interconnections with Sicily is being investigated but it depends if EU will support it.


The Netherlands The most important negative and positive developments

• Discussion about the EED Accounted at societal profitable for each MS, EU approach is end user orientated but doesn’t take always into account societal view,

• Which potential are available for EE and RES Sometimes EE and RES are in a competition, Dutch Parliament is reluctant to 1,5% EE target, they want no savings target next to the target for GHG emissions. According to ECN analysis it is not possible to implement the 1,5% cost efficiently, very little number of tools available, however good monitoring system in place. At the moment the annual EE rate is 1% (technical savings); real savings average is

difficult to determine, only parts are economic • getting a government that beliefs in energy efficiency as the former was thinking EE

is nonsense and a hobby only • Remaining questions: How to cover electricity demand? Former government in

favour for coal and nuclear but didn’t succeed in finding an investor, coal plants may be build, is EE an alternative? – all decisions postponed as no real government in place

• former government was leader for construction new nuclear power plants, since Fukishima more a fan of RES

• Getting our policy in line: Today only implementation of EU legislation without any ambitions and enthusiasm

• Not a stable climate for investment, no long-term assurance for investors as regulation/legislation changes as often as the government, sometimes every 6 months

• Renovation of the existing building stock is the biggest challenge, however no funding programmes by the government

• New energy sources (and technologies), even district heating are not sufficiently supported, no long term assurance on price regulation (tax regulation) as it was the case in the past through shifts from money gained through ETS. Utilities need to be supported for the construction of the DH system

• Previous government very ambitious; current government not, however they kept

old legislation. • After breakdown of Rutted-cabinet negotiations between parts of the government

and opposition in order to assure the budget. Small margin for EE targets but opportunities for developing more ambitious CO2 reduction and RES targets

• Increase of the fuel tax (mainly coal) as result of the negotiation in Dutch parliament in relation with the state budget 2013, now higher potential for energy savings

• VAT for PV installations and solar thermal collectors will be reduced from 19% to 6%

• More and more companies and private organisations engage personally in EE, ignoring the national policy and making agreements with regional governments



• Nat. policy not strong enough • existing buildings: don't reach the targets, no obligations for savings • New buildings: ok, quite ambitious standard • quite well organised! A special services unit (Name?), working like an ESCO looks

for the state owned buildings • Rotterdam has renovated all its swimming pools (with an ESCO?); other buildings will

follow • Municipal level: Nobody gives attention (and incentives) for the implementation of the

EPBD • Positive: Local authorities could claim for a funding programme to compete climate

change. • In NL many cities rent office buildings, therefore poor possibility to act on EE. • In Delft a new town hall is under construction, will be towards nearly zero emissions

(EPN: 8½) Residential sector

• Research result: awareness raising campaign and behaviour (number of hours that people are at home, and temperature settings) significantly influence the economy of the different measures, however impossible to stipulate behaviour in laws and regulations

• follows the obligations of the EPBD; labels in place but seems not to be a driver for building renovation however a study recently showed that better ranked buildings get higher prices for rent and sold, obviously it works better than expected

• EPBD in place, but still weak. Certification scheme still voluntary, will become mandatory in 2014

• Social housing, new legislation has passed and enters into force in July 2012 related to the “users/investor” conflict. Now possibility to rise the rents for the flats after refurbishment of the flat/building

Service sector

• Lower taxes for the EE equipment skipped • 10-15% vacancy of service sector buildings, therefore not much activity in

renovation • buildings have to comply with the EPBD • no additional efforts neither from the government nor from sector stakeholders • Energy utilities proposes services as energy performance contracting, realise RES

and EE installations Industry sector

• weak policy, no real incentive for EE • Dominated by ETS • EE & RES inventory established


• long term agreement between government and industry sector till 2020 (or even 2030?). Companies implement a certain number of measures with a payback time of less than 5 years in return they get support at administrative work. Rutte government doesn't like this agreement but industry sees benefits

• EIA – VAMIL subsidy, companies buy EE equipment and get tax benefits (easy procedure)

• Green deal (seen sceptically) with the private sector, they promise savings – government removes barriers. Creation of a revolving fund to support market penetration of new technologies

Transport sector

• EU policy dominant • Bad decision recently: Increase of speed limit on the motorway from 120 to

130 km/h • EE stimulation through tax regulation. Low taxes for cleaner vehicles, thus visible

transformation of the market towards cleaner cars. New regulation planned for 2016 • tax for owning cars • E-cars not a success yet (despite fiscal advantages) • the idea of a congestion charge (passenger cars) was abandoned (however there is

a big potential for savings, mostly in terms of avoided km) • Rail system, not well performing at the moment (not very punctually) might be

renationalised as maintenance standards are badly performed too • Constant programme to build more and improve existing bike lanes (NL cultural

habit to use bike as often as possible) • Public transport in cities well developed • Good interconnection of public transport between urban areas, excellent

cooperation between local and regional authorities on this issue • Financial stimulation of gas powered vehicles and electric scooters by Haaglanden

(region) Insitutional framework In general: Good involvement of all stakeholders but also they do lobbying of their own interests, very open for dialogue. Bottom up trend, cities and NGOs get more influence, but possibilities to implement ambitious measures are limited at this level. Green deal which is not a financial support programme but a removing of administrative barriers if an actor realises EE measures with almost every actor (including cities, housing associations). National government

• does not more than requested, weak policy, opposed to EU legislation • A separate Ministry of environment doesn't exists any more (part of Infrastructure

and Environment) • Many working groups (led by NL agency) on sustainability, energy and climate

issues have been abandoned


• Cut of funding programmes Agency NL:

• Significant decrease of financial means and staff (reduction of 1.000 employees from 2.400 to 1.400). A number of services has been abandoned other reduced, not yet clear which direction Agency NL will go as reorganisation is still on-going. So far no more advice services to the industry sector, no investment in RES, no director and no more international activities

• in the past important player, future role unclear

Local energy agencies • Only one local energy agency (Delft/Zoetermeer) exists in NL. There have been

more in previous years. There is a need for independent consultancy for citizens and local authorities, but there are is no funding programme to support the set up of such local energy agencies. The Delft/Zoetermeer one is funded by both local authorities.

Utilities:

• Laying low at the moment; do a bit marketing and some small campaign related to EE, no real change in their policy

• totally opposed to the EDD • ESCO market immature, 10-20 companies existing, 90% of their work is advice

services, energy performance contracting poorly known in NL. ESCO stick to traditional structure

• One of the three biggest energy companies ENECO proposes green electricity in its portfolio, promotes thermostatic valves, smart meters, etc.

• Other companies are following the movement • However no big utility provides own funding programmes

Industry

• extra legislator (?) are aware that they need to be more efficient than the government requests

Housing associations

• work hard in the implementation of the EPBD, however money shortage. Doing EE-renovation is recognised as not the cheapest solution therefore low interest from the sector

• no new build at the moment Others

• Consumer organisation started to put pressure on EE market. Launched a campaign “change your energy provider every year”


Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues EU level

• EU policy in general to optimistic on EE targets that could be achieved. • ECN has a lot of inside views, knows the barriers and is monitoring actions since

more than 20 years. Fact is that the EU overestimates the impact of their actions, politician need optimism (and ambitions) for getting their targets accepted public needs to be prepared.

• If measures are not cost-effective MS should not implement them, suggestion to introduce a legal disclaimer that allows MS not to implement certain measure.

• Stable policy is requested, clear definition of acceptable costs • Less ambitious EE targets or a policy and actions providing the respective means,

mainly financial: Cheap loans are requested, Use of 20% of structural funds for EE is an excellent proposal

• IEE budget for EE is well spent and must be maintained and secured. Not all money has to be reserved for R & D, there is a need for real demonstration projects and market implementation

Poland The most important negative and positive developments

• Implementation of the energy efficiency law The law concerns all sectors, was accepted in April 2011 but is still not implemented. The law is introducing White certificates. Until today no detailing decrees, regulations or so have been published yet for probably two reasons - The issue is complex (especially for the industry sector) - No real political will (it is even worse as for the moment the government is discussing amendments to the law in order to weaken it, especially the demand on the qualification of the auditors will be significantly reduced). From the beginning of the preparation of the EE Law the Ministry of Finance was against it. Today it exists already a “Thermo-Modernisation Programme” which works well but the new rules for the qualification of the “energy experts” will probably also effect this programme and weaken its outcomes. Experts expect that the EE law will get into practice in the beginning of next year.

• Proper definition and fast implementation of NZEB • Use the unexplored EE potential in the industry sector. Companies know nothing

about EE and the upcoming lot, a lot of awareness raising and advice to be done • Transport sector on all levels • Politically

- Thanks to EU directives and regulations things are happening in Poland - EE is considered as very important by the nat. government, however the

government regards the discussion about climate change as dangerous for the PL economy


- Common sense of understanding through all parties. EE Law was established in strong consultation of national stakeholders. It has been subjected to consultations 19 times before it was accepted. That was because so many entities took part in this process. A long process but successfully finished.

- Elaboration of a system of certificates (yellow red, white, green) which provide energy producers with the information about CO2 emission and environmental impact (of the energy plant/boiler).

• Institutionally - On one hand no real progress concerning actions from the government, no new

or existing “structure” (e.g. energy agency) as driver for the implementation of a PL EE policy

- On the other hand huge progress thanks to the work of the “National Environment Fund (NEF)”. Private organisation who is managing a big fund, they are very active, motivated board; risk to disappear when board members change, not yet a stable institution. In the past NEF has promoted and funded very successfully solar panels in PL (big increase in number of installed capacity in 2011, second biggest market after Germany in the EU)

• From the view of the market - A programme managed by NEF will be launched in 1-2 months to give subsidies

for new buildings in case they approach NZEB-standard. This programme is supposed to:

- Accelerate the NZEB standard implementation - Transform the construction market - Spent about 300 million Zlotys in the next 4-5 years

• Technological progress - LED is penetrating into the market - For the first time established energy law contains provisions for metering, - No other technology seems to come up


• Legislation/regulation is ok in PL; weak point is the implementation • LAs show a big interest for EE action, mainly in order to reduce their energy costs

and at the same time to reduce the CO2 emissions. They make a maximum use of the available funding (basically structural funds) in order to reduce the energy consumption in the building sector. Investment in street lighting the was done through PPP with ESCOs, but huge regress since last year as the government considers today PPPs as long term depths. All in all a complex problem as mainly there is a growing lack of money for investments, LAs are on the edge.

• Renovation of public buildings is quite good in PL. Could be a bit more ambitious towards deep refurbishment. Will become more successful in case ESCOs and PPP can work properly.

• Specific problem: city/town planning which is basic for the transition into a low energy city! This issue is unfortunately rarely considered in local/regional SEAPs. A


mandatory scheme is under development and will hopefully adapted by the government and accepted by the cities

• EPBD not well transposed in Poland. Experts have never seen any EPC in a public building

• Building code still weak in Poland, economically spoken much better performance standards could become mandatory; public sector is aware of this. In particular bigger cities participate in EU funded projects and realise these higher standards

• On local level governance is not yet working well, people have to be trained and encouraged to take part in public consultations and round tables. The key point is that taking part in public consultations for some groups of representatives of our society is still not common. Very often only few people or entities are taking part in such process in particular from the social sector. In this situation it is hard to say that the consultation effect is positive because you receive only a few opinions and the whole sense about such consultations is to receive it as many as possible. As a result, there is a lack of faith in relation to the legislature that the comments received during the consultation are taken seriously.

Residential sector

• Officially the government runs information campaigns (as stated in the NEEAP) however in reality nothing happens.

• The EPC doesn’t influence the decisions of futures house owner. Often the quality of the EPC is poor. However with the recast transposition things might be improved. Many suggestions from the “ground” to improve the procedure, mistakes will be corrected.

• All in all the impact of the EPBD is low, even lower than expected. • Existing building stock: a lot to do, but progress was made. Two funding

programmes are available: 1. Regional Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management is

proposing high grants that’s why many private person and institutions choose this option

2. “Thermo-Modernization fund”, however the funding rate for building renovation from the this programme has been decreased from 25% to 16% of the eligible costs. Quite good scheme (even it should be a bit more ambitious on the requested standards), however there is no evaluation of the results. For the moment this “non-evaluation” is arranging all parties, the government because they can report high figures to the citizens (and the EU), the banks as they do their business, the house owners as they get funding without the need to proof the quality of the measures implemented (not excluded that they request more money while doing less)

• Remaining problem: Single family houses! There is no special support programme (and in general for this building type specific renovation costs are higher than for flats

• New buildings: good EE standard in practice (confirmed by analysis realised in Krakow and Warsaw)


Service sector Poland is in a such dynamic and complicated period of economic transition that many companies will go bankrupt before they finishing the implementation of energy efficiency programmes. First priority is to substantially reduce the production cost because the companies are uncompetitive, or they will change the product portfolio for one that has a lower energy demand. This is the main reason why the textile industry in one city was broken down. Modernization funding programmes have too long and complicated systems for its implementation so that many companies were not able to benefit from them.

• According to the NEEAP this sector is the best working, reasons are the interest of money savings and the economical thinking of the companies but reasons might be different. (see above)

• National support programmes exist, see MURE data base, today only for bigger companies but in the future there will one for SMEs too. There will be the possibility to get either loans or grant for investments in EE. First experiences with the programme for bigger companies are promising; programme stills needs to be much more promoted.

• Smart meeting gets popular in SMEs Industry sector

• As for the service sector the question was either to die or to find an investor for the modernisation of the energy generation plants or respectively the energy efficiency of the technical equipment. That is why many of these energy plants have been purchased by major (worldwide acting) companies (mainly utilities), which resulted into the introduction of new technologies making the plants and their products more competitive on the market.

• EE in the sector is a permanent process the most important driver are the energy costs which are continuously increasing

• A potential should still exist in this sector (e.g. in the power generation plants the average performance is 42%, but 45-47 seems economically feasible

• A special policy for this sector needs to be developed by the government. Transport sector

• No perception of a problem by the government so no progress • Focus since many years on cars and roads (individual transport) • Poor investment (and focus) on railway system • Cities don’t care about EE and mobility in their city planning activities, however this

is crucial for well-functioning public transport • No real debate in Poland about transport and mobility issues

Insitutional framework General impression: No big changings since many years


National government EE is in the hands of 5 ministries, namely:

• Ministry of Economy Has the strongest influence on energy policy, they have to promote EE. However only two people work on this issue in the ministry. Completely understaffed, poor competences no time for any coordination with the other ministries. Totally opposed to EU climate policy

• Ministry of Environment Is responsible for climate policy, small budget, in conflict with ministry of economy

• Ministry of Regional Development LA are relying much on this ministry, as they manage the regional development funds

• Ministry of Finance Have to deal with the ESCOs

• Ministry of Infrastructure Responsible for transport/mobility and the definition of the NZEB standard

All in all the ministries have not enough qualified staff to deal efficiently with their tasks, the competences are dispersed and nobody is coordinating the activities. National Energy Agencies Poland is supposed to have two; at least they consider themselves as national ones

• A private company • A public one created by the government, but sold to the National Env. Fund

Both agencies work in reality like consulting companies. They don’t have an official mission set up by the Polish government, don’t manage any national funding programmes or have to set up policy strategies/recommendations The National Environment Fund is doing today a good job, but don’t follows any PL government instructions In fact today there is no intermediate organisation acting as a “national energy agency” that is working on visions and strategic decisions Local Authorities

• Becoming more and more active, not directly encouraged by the government • Acting not only for economic reasons but also for a better environment. They

recognise climate protection ask their task Regional/local energy agencies Number rather stable over the past years, small changes; they are an important player but no influence on the Polish energy policy Energy companies/utilities There are interested in the topic as it is their business. Some actions, e.g.:


• RWE is running a large info campaign in Warsaw • A few run pilot programmes for white certificates (this might become a market), but

give any incentives to their clients • Larger companies are promoting smart meters • No real trend visible, but show more interest in collaboration with other actors as

before In general they do nothing or even play a negative role by permanently increasing the energy prices (especially when cities are doing group purchasing) ESCOs Have in general not a good image in Poland, however there is a huge potential for PPP and energy performance contracting as local authorities (and companies) are tremendously lacking of money to do the necessary investments in EE measures. There is even a discrimination of ESCOs as in certain national funding programmes they are excluded. This means a city can get a subsidy for an investment in building renovation only in case they are able to finance the action by themselves, if they do it through a PPP they won’t profit from the subsidy (nor the ESCO who even is obliged to add at least a small margin to cover their own costs). There is a dialog between different players and the government to change the rules and facilitate ESCO the entry into the market. Things are changing very slowly. This is why:

• No ESCO exists at the moment • Government states that they are an important player. Rules for establishing PPP

still unclear, a real barrier, something has to be done • EU wide acting financial institutions are interested in setting up PPPs, but as stated

not favourable framework at the moment, this might change next year NGOs Several NGO’s (smaller and EU wide acting one) are active in PL but no idea how to evaluate the impact of their activities. In general it can be assessed that citizens and the government consider EE as very important today. Others

• Unfortunately one of the biggest disadvantages is that grants are transferred by the fund of “less popular” banks, meaning banks which fees are usually higher than in bigger commercial banks so that translates into a lower percentage of funding received. However some actions are treated by the Parliament as a priority. To encourage people to fulfil these tasks, the State decides for example to cover part of the bank charges so that the beneficiary will receive more favourable terms.


Portugal The most important negative and positive developments

• Portugal has to decrease the energy dependence on other Countries; the reduction of energy consumption in the transport and buildings sector could be a solution.

• The major difficulties in the implementation of PNAEE (Portuguese National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency) are:

- Mobilize all the bodies involved in the implementation and integration of all the measures defined in the PNAEE; Problem to get the data about energy consumption from the main stakeholders.

- Monitoring the implementation of the planned measures The positive points regarding the implementation of the PNAEE are:

- The measures are dynamic, they help the economy of the Country and the implementation of new and more efficient technologies;

- Due to the achieved results, Portugal can reach the objectives and that it is starting to be an efficient country.

• The mobility/transport sector is not well linked to the economic development. Due to a public transport not well developed the traffic constantly increases.

• The Escos market does not exist in Portugal. Since 2011, there is a law to regulate the esco market, but the market is still not developed.

• Creation of the ECO-AP program targeting energy efficiency in public administration • Due to the crisis, almost all the activities for the promotion of the RES and retrofit

interventions were stopped, and most of the companies closed. • The positive developments in terms of new laws or funding programmes were

acquired in the last decade. At the moment there is a lack of laws implementation and of funding (since 2008).

• In 2006, the transposition of the Energy Performance in Building Directive brought some positive results in the construction sector; but from 2008, the economic crisis blocked all the investments.

• The lack of financial incentives/mechanism available. The main problem that the companies are facing is the crisis. It is difficult to borrow money from the bank, enterprises and costumers wait for financial resources for investing; Banks are not supporting EE activities. On the other side, they are also afraid to invest because they don’t know how the future will be. Optimal allocation of resources: In terms of energy efficiency, there is an urgent need of an optimal allocation of resources. The government has to establish priorities, and strategic planning for energy efficiency. This has to be well defined according to the costs-benefits, because money cannot be wasted.



• In the public sector, the greatest difficulty lies in its complex organization., there are numerous bodies with different priorities. It represents the 3% of the energy consumption. To “force” the public sector to implement the measures of the PNAEE was created the ECO-AP program. This program has the purpose to make the local administration 30% more efficient. The program is mainly focused on the behaviour of the civil servant, but the government is currently defining the ESCOS market and the creation of a fund, FEE (Energy Efficiency Fund), for attracting the investment of private companies. The FEE is a national fund which could be used also for energy audit, nevertheless, If the refurbishment is not done, the money have to give it back.

• Due to the public debt, municipalities can not make any investment. • There is no regulation and no agreements between municipalities and escos. • According to the NEEAP, 18 % of all public buildings should have been certified, but

in reality only 1% has been done, mainly due to the high cost of the building certification and for the complexity of the certification process

• The European legislation of the building (public, residential and services sectors) has to be adapted at the Portuguese reality. In particular the air quality regulation is promoting the use of active actions instead of passive action, and this is increasing a lot the energy consumption in buildings. For example, some public schools were retrofitted recently and the consumption increased 3 times due to the installation of devices for air quality! The same happens in restaurant, offices, in all services in general (public or private).

• Local authorities are waiting for the new rules about the Structural Funds for the period 2014-2020

Residential sector

• The weaknesses in the residential sector are undoubtedly the lack of funding for the implementation of more efficient equipment as well for the installation of renewable energies plants (example: solar thermal).. There were incentives such as: VAT at 13% for renewable energy equipment and IRS (personal income tax) deductions for the purchase of energy class A appliances, but, due to the economic crises, all these incentives were removed.

• In 2006, thanks to the laws on EE (transposition of the Energy Performance in Building Directive) and the obligations to install renewables on buildings, a lot of energy certifications on new residential buildings have been done. Since 2008, the investments in this sector are blocked and the certification system as well. The certification schemes were well welcomed by the households but at the moment they can not afford the investments and banks don’t give loans for such interventions.

• The new energy tariffs (increase + withdraw of days & night tariffs) and the economic crisis made people poorer, they can’t afford energy efficiency investment.


• Building certification: the certificate gives some recommendations but many people do not understand the impact of those measures and they don’t implement them. There is a need to inform and to make people more active.

Service sector

• Lack of financial mechanisms - The banks are not financing at all companies even if their energy savings

projects are highly profitable with a very short payback time. - All funding incentives for the sector don’t exist anymore, for example: the

VAT at 13% and the IRS deduction or as well installation of solar thermal installations in the hotels sector.

• ADENE is finalizing the first standard contract for the ESCOS Industry & service sector

• Due to the crisis, the total energy consumption of the sector decreased. • In terms of laws, the SGCIE (Management System of the Energy Intensive

Consumption), carried out by ADENE, fixed obligations for the industries (except utilities) and obliges them to draw up a plan and to implement measures for reducing the energy consumption.

- Large consumers (>500 toe/y): are forced to do energy audits, to present a plan, and to reduce of 4 % the consumption of energy in 4 years

- Smaller consumers (< 500 toe/year): energy audit, presentation of a plan, and reduction of 8 % of the energy consumption within in 4 years

• The lack of financing makes the implementation of the measures a very difficult task.

• Utilities are under the ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme ) regime • The obligation schemes of the future Energy Efficiency Directive is very well

perceived Transport sector

• Currently, there no specific policies, programmes or actions. Lack of financial incentives, due to the crises the ones existing in the transport sector are closed now, for example:

- Mobi.E programme: this programme installed 1.300 charging stations, in order to make attractive the purchase of electric cars. A significant number of municipalities invested in charging station in order to stimulate the development of electric cars, but these cars are too expensive within the actual context.

- Another programme aimed at encouraging people to replace the old car with a new one..

• In the last decade there were many investments on highways. For this reason other types of transports have not been developed. Due to the fuel cost citizens avoid to use their cars and transport companies meet financial problem for the freight.

• Currently, urban mobility plans to promote a lower use of cars and Eco-driving programs in some public companies are under development; the PNAEE are introduced the Car-Sharing service


Institutional framework • The Energy Directorate of Ministry of Economy (DGEG) is in Energy Efficiency is

managed by • Both agencies ADENE, the national Energy Agency working on behalf of DGEG

who implement the national energy policy and APA, the Portuguese Agency for the Environment have supported in the implementation of the energy policies.

• Municipalities do not have specific competences in energy efficiency • EDP (Electricity and Gas Company). More than 50% of EDP is now Chinese, other

shareholders are the Portuguese. • Due tot he lack of public funding, most of the local energy agencies have to be

restructured. Romania The most important negative and positive developments

• Lack of financing sources for EE investments. The lack of education of Romanian people and the financial crisis negatively influence the investments in EE interventions. Furthermore there was a reduction of the financial support for national energy efficiency programs. The Subsidies given by the State (central and local authorities) are not enough and the bureaucracy slows the procedures down. There are incentives which cover the 80-100% of the interventions costs but only for a limited group of beneficiaries

• The EU funds are not used in a proper way (17 % of absorption of EU Funds of which 20-25% are Structural funds).

• Lack of statistical data. There is not a database to record the progresses done in EE, energy consumption and CO2 emissions reduction in buildings.

• The Energy certification schemes are not functioning well. This is due to the lack of penalties. There is a penalty system, but the procedure is too long and the directive was not fully transposed.

• Modification in institutional framework: in this moment a new legal act is under discussion, regarding the new status of National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).

• The Romanian Parliament approved the Energy Efficiency Law (Law no 199) in 2000. The main revision of this legal framework has been done in 2008 by the Government Ordinance no 22, in order to assure the full transposition of EU Directive no.32/2006.

• The implementation of second NEEAP is a burning issue involving a lot of ministries and regulatory. New orientations are expected after local and general elections in 2012.

• Implementation of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) Project. • National programmes for block of flats (5% are refurbished).

3 programmes:


- 1 national programme 80-100 % of the expenses covered. - Loans from banks guaranteed by the State. Subsides cover the interest (zero

rate loan) to stimulate households to improve EE in their house. - Programme for blocks targeting the 1950-1990 constructions that will start in

September with European money. • Energy efficiency program in industry: the merging process between the Romanian

Agency for Energy Conservation ARCE and ANRE was very helpful for creating data bases of industrial energy consumers acting according to the provision of the Govt. Ord. no. 22/2008. A very detailed identification process has been done, based on data provided by energy retailers and energy distributors.

• Development of energy services market, especially by dissemination of energy contracting concept in public sector: a transfer of know-how on energy performance contracting based on contacts and training/dissemination activities with local authorities have been promoted and followed by identification, preparation and implementation of pilot projects. The National Public Procurement Agency (ANRMAP) and the Ministry of Public Finance (MoPF) were invited to participate in the clarification process of the legal framework for energy contracting in public sector;

• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) initiated a study to evaluate the energy service market potential in order to introduce relevant financial mechanism able to help ESCOs to operate in this field;

• Improvement of existing financial mechanisms to facilitate investment in energy efficiency projects in industry (by Energy Efficiency Financing Facility, initiated by EBRD) and in thermal rehabilitation of block of flats (program coordinated by the Ministry of Development).


• There are limited financial resources at local level and a lack of knowledge and experience to address private financing for energy efficiency. Incentives as the governmental programme for energy efficiency in public sector was cancelled in 2012 because of lack of funds in the national budget.

• The Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings is not fully transposed; and, in any case, there are no funds to implement the measures listed in the national law.

• There are not resources for the development of a local energy efficiency master plan ( a specific obligation for cities with more than 20 000 inhabitants is included in Govt. Ord. no 22/2008); local councils are elected every 4 years and there is no

enough continuity in addressing medium or long term objectives. • The mechanism of the energy performance certificates is not working in the public

sector (only the 5% of public buildings have done it).


Residential sector • Very weak institutional framework to address energy efficiency in residential sector • A good measure is the national Programme which covered the 80-100% of the

costs for EE investments in private flats. Due to this programme multiannual investments were made for the renovation of “blocks” and flats. The interventions started in 2009, until now 50 0000 apartments were already refurbished. This amount will increase in the next years. The owner associations apply to get funds, local authorities ask money to the government (50 % of the funds come from the national Government, 30 % from local governments and the 20% is covered by the owner or the local authority). For applying the owner associations have to present the project including energy audit and all the technical documentation. After implementing the interventions they have to deliver EE certificates to prove the savings.

• Another measure in this sector is the tax reduction offered to the citizens who decide to invest in EE. They benefit of taxes exemptions for 5 years. Furthermore, if they asked a loan for those interventions, the interest rates are paid by the Government.

• Special attention was given to thermal rehabilitation of block of flats (through the above mentioned National Programme), but some aspects still need to be clarified. For example, individual metering systems for heat (thermostatic regulation valves and heat cost allocators) were already installed at large scale, but there is uncertainty on the effects and on the possibility of extension; in addition there is a lack of relevant monitoring activity about the technology used for in private dwellings.

• In this sector there are still the following main problems: - low quality of work because of the low prices. - the ventilation is not well treated. - fuel poverty: is not well approached because the subsidies are the same for

everybody. - the 80-100% of subsidy (national programme for the refurbishment of flats) is

too high for the public budget. Service sector

• The ESCOs are not well developed. Banks don’t give loans for Energy Efficiency interventions and if they do the loans are too expensive, due to the return of the investment which is not short (at least 10 years). Furthermore the national law for public procurement is not in force. There are not standard contracts even though ANRE was in charge to work on a standard contract.

• The sector is blocked because about 97% of the residential sector is private; there are few social buildings and it is very difficult to deal with the owner of a private dwelling. Another reason is that the Suppliers encourage the energy consumption.


• Big industries have the obligation to conduct energy audit every 2 years, and to plan energy savings. Small industries don’t have obligations, but they have subsides for EE interventions (technical assistance also provided).


• Industries have to report the energy consumption each year, if the consumption exceeds a certain amount they have to find and implement EE solutions.

• Very slow actions in addressing Structural Funds for energy efficiency in industry. • Failure in the implementation of a pilot project which aimed at introducing the

concept of Long Term Agreement. Transport sector

• The institutional framework to address energy efficiency in transport sector is weak. • The national strategy takes into account all sectors (NEEAP) but there are not

specific laws for the transport sector. • There is a National programme (on-going) for private vehicles (RABLA), which

encourages people to replace the old car with a new one (first class) giving a 1000 euro grant.

• The public transportation is not functioning well but thanks to some national programmes aimed at promoting the use of biogas and biofuels there are buses which use these technologies.

• At the moment there are national programmes aimed at financing the development of bicycle routes.

• Good progress in the implementation of GPS fleet monitoring system. Institutional framework

• The Ministry of economics is specialised in large renewable projects (wind energy and also PV).

• The Ministry of environment and forest is in charge of the mentioned programme aimed at replacing old cars, of the promotion of solar thermal power plants, biomass and heat pumps and more in general of the increase of RES in the Country.

• Several agencies were created to deal with energy National authorities for energy. It depends on the sector with which authority the agencies have to deal, for the building sector it is directly involved the Ministry of Regional Development.

• Municipalities have problems in developing the SEAPS because Energy companies do not share data. There should be a provision in the law to oblige the companies to share data with the public authorities.

. Slovakia The most important negative and positive developments With a low focus on energy efficiency, the challenge for government is on implementation. This includes the recently approved EED but also the other directives, especially the EPBD. Because it is a small country with a relatively small administration, it is difficult to have the capacity to meet the legal and reporting obligations required under EU legislation. Also, implementation is slow and state inspection is understaffed to be fully effective.


The focus is poor and too often actions are taken because it is required by EU legislation and not because officials in Slovakia believe it is necessary. Financing is crucial and there is a need to find more financial support. And even when there is financial support, often the required impact has a low level of ambition. This is true for all sectors, but particularly for buildings and for municipalities. There is a need for longer-term strategic thinking. Concepts are often only for three years and this is not adequate. There has been no comprehensive study on the potential for energy savings, thus the current policymaking is based mainly on expert estimates. There is a need to get local workers more involved. Yet, they need better information and training. There are still conflicting interests such as support for bioenergy versus support for energy efficiency, or support for CHP versus the right to disconnect from district heating systems. The legislative framework has significantly improved. In 2005 there was essentially no relevant legislation. Now all EU legislation on energy efficiency is in place. And there has been a start in monitoring energy efficiency with a focus on energy savings. This has given feedback to the preparation of legislation and for implementation. It was partly funded by EU structural funds. In part, this is due to increased human resources working on energy efficiency at the Ministry, although people working on implementation is still limited. A much more positive attitude to energy efficiency has developed. They are much more interested in retrofitting buildings. An energy audit obligation started for large industrial enterprises and agriculture enterprises, although the start was relatively slow. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector Public sector buildings are crucial but the users are generally not aware of energy issues and opportunities. There is a lack of experience and knowledge. Financing is a major problem. Public entities are required to balance budgets. Yet, there is a need for more financial support. Budgetary rules make it very difficult to use ESCOs.


There is a problem with public procurement because the rules are controversial. The main criterion is price and energy efficiency is not a major consideration. Tools are needed on public procurement to allow officials to do proper analysis. There is a lack of local and regional concepts which leads to a lack of proper planning. With the obligation to retrofit state buildings under the EED, one problem is in knowing what buildings are to be included. There is a definition problem and no sufficient inventory yet. The residential sector The sector has changed significantly over the years. Since 1993-94, 94% of the residents now own their flats. There are now 900,000 flats but one obstacle is that there needs to be over 60% of the residents of buildings to agree in order to undertake measures. There is a state fund for retrofitting. Unfortunately, the retrofit rate is high but the quality and level of ambition are not. There are no deep renovations. Much of the focus has been on windows. There is no state support for single-family dwellings, even though they represent half the building stock. The fund does not prioritise according to level of ambition and so there are too many sub-optimal retrofits. Compliance of the EPC is not followed up and there are no site visits. There are no sanctions if new buildings do not achieve an A or B energy class. Unfortunately, there is no increase in the budget for monitoring and there is a low capacity for monitoring. Generally, consumers look at up front costs and not life-cycle costs. There is no unified calculation methodology for the EPC and no one trusts it. The industry & service sector The service sector has very little activity underway. The sector is similar to the residential sector but there are no state funds. Structural funds have been used for some hotels. Buildings tend to be built as cheaply as possible and sold as high as possible. There is the common landlord-tenant problem affecting energy efficiency actions as well. Energy audits are obligatory for industry but there are no requirements to implement recommendations. There have been some measures funded through structural funds. Large industry appears to have done fairly well on its own, although it is not known what this has meant in terms of energy consumption. Energy management systems are needed but no market has developed for them. Decision makers have been reluctant to invest in them. Energy distribution companies could play a role but they still work out of the old business model that focuses on the sale of kWh/GJ. District heating companies do not want to change the business model because they have high fixed costs and are afraid of losing customers.


SMEs are a major challenge. The transport sector Transport is a big problem, in part because of the lack of good data. The modernisation of the rail transport system and improvements in road infrastructure have been funded by EU structural funds. Some intramodal terminals will have to be established, but this is delayed because of delays in the structural funds. The trend of freight from rail to road is difficult to tackle. There are some rebound effects due to highway construction, however, these have not been assessed Public transport is a major issue and it is a challenge to increase its attractiveness. Most investments go to highways and the rise of private car ownersihp is rapid. The share of public transport has decreased. There is a need for quality improvements, integrated tariff systems, etc. The private sector has provided some services to improve trains. There is the need for a detailed concept at the state, regional and local levels. Institutional framework The Ministry of Economy is the co-ordinating ministry for energy issues, (e.g., construction, transportation, regional issues). It prepared the strategy plan for EPBD and is responsible, for example, in the 2006 Energy Services Driective. There is a working group including several ministries, but coordination can be improved. With so many ministries involved, there are inter-institutional barriers, particularly related to buildings. Overall institutions are under-financed. The Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency has several hundred employees but the emphasis has been more on innovation than energy. Relatively few staff work directly on energy efficiency. Staff only have one year contracts that partially limit the development work and strategic planning. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues The priority for energy efficiency at senior levels is hampering overall impact. The EU directives on energy efficiency form a strong foundation and provide the momentum. EU structural funds are very important.


Slovenia The most important negative and positive developments While funding has improved, implementation of such as the EPBD is still far too slow. For example, there are still no energy certificates for buildings. There is a need to better train those undertaking the certificates. There is a need to support more than implementation of technologies. There is a need to undertake R&D, have demonstrations in each region, increase awareness of opportunities and develop sectoral strategies. While energy companies are starting to run schemes, they are not convinced of the need to do so and they simply do not believe in promoting energy efficiency. It is counter to their business models. There are concerns that simplifying regulations (such as building codes) to reduce the requirement for verification might be a major weakness in the future. Yet, green public procurement, while very important, is far too complicated and there are no significant results. There is a need to give much more attention to improving the energy efficiency of the industrial sector. There needs to be a greater link between energy efficiency and economic development policies in the sector. There is an increase in funding, including funding from EU cohesion funds and the eco fund has enhanced its activities and been quite successful in dispersing the funds for such as energy-efficient windows and the envelope. Building refurbishments are picking up speed accordingly. There are many more actors working in the field of energy efficiency and that is important. Local energy concepts are taking off and there are now action plans for renewables and energy efficiency for the public sector. Energy companies are increasingly being involved in implementation and there is a supplement on energy bills that is used by the schemes of those companies. Slovenia is now preparing a decree on NZEB. Now 25% of heating must come from renewables. Critical issues in different sectors The public sector There is much room for improvement, although municipalities are limited in their ability to borrow. Currently they can only borrow 8%of their budget. But activities are fragmented and energy management is poor. While energy bookkeeping is mandatory, it is still not implemented. There are many local authorities but they are small and have limited capacity. Unfortunately, they own a big share of public buildings such as schools. There is much fragementation of responsibility at the state level and thus knowledge is dispersed. Yet, the problem is awareness, not money. The people paying are not the


people operating the buildings. While there is green procurement, it is complicated and more can be done to promote energy efficiency. There is much work to do to produce technical guidelines for green public procurement. The public sector wants to support publicly visible projects and energy efficiency is simply not seen as “visible” enough. Thus, they get little attention from mayors. There is a need for local concepts. Only about half the municipalities have them and there are virtually no control/compliance systems. Nevertheless, under the building codes, public buildings have a stricter energy performance requirement than private buildings by 10%. The residential sector The legislative framework with building codes and labelling requirements is in place. The implementation of the EPC is going slowly and the government is trying to find an institution to undertake the surveys for the certificates. Verification is poor and some question whether this is due to simplifying the regulations. This could become a major weakness. There are good incentives, mainly through the eco fund, but also through energy efficiency obligations. Private homeowners are much more aware of heating costs and are more active improving energy efficiency. Yet, there is a high share of multi-family dwellings (about 25% of the building stock). There was a 2011 deadline for them to install individual metering. The impact is now being evaluated but it is expected to bring about 10% savings. The industry & service sector The service sector is similar to the residential sector. There are not many incentives and there is a lack of expertise. While there is awareness, there is no priority given and energy audits are not considered important. Building codes apply to this sector and there are no legal weaknesses. In industry, audits are not yet required. The sector, led by the steel industry, is quite aware of energy costs and they keep improving their systems. For example, the aluminium industry remains quite competitive, even though it is highly electricity intensive. There are few incentives for large or small companies. There were some voluntary agreements under the CO2 tax, but that expired and no new scheme was implemented. There is some support for energy management systems and other measures through tenders from energy suppliers and efficient use of electricity funded through the EU cohesion funds. There is slow progress on CHP industry. Feed-in-tariffs were introduced in 2009 and there has been limited progress. However, Slovenia’s largest PV installation is in this sector, supported by the tariffs.


The transport sector Slovenia is a transit country, with many freight vehicles passing through. Many are heavily polluting. The eco fund has supported some electric cars and there is some infrastructure for them. There is quite poor public transport, particularly inter-city, although there are some subsidies available. There is effectively no strategic policy for public transport. Slovenia is amongst the top five countries in Europe in cars per capita. There has been some promotion of the use of bicycles. Institutional framework The energy agency was dismantled several years ago and the functions were integrated into the ministry. It is felt that it was better before, yet there have been positive steps forward in the last four years. There is poor co-ordination amongst ministries that have responsibilities related to energy efficiency and energy policy. There is no strong national institution providing leadership in energy efficiency, but only 7 national or regional agencies. The national agency acts more as a regulator. The eco fund has good capacity and is well managed. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues There is a need for demonstrations, not only in Slovenia as a whole but within the specific regions if better deployment is to be achieved. EU cohesion funds have made a big difference in supporting national schemes. Spain The most important negative and positive developments

• Energy Efficiency is not a priority within the general energy policy agenda; the budgetary problems are so important that Energy Efficiency seems an additional problem.

• The objectives stated by the EU Directive 2006/32/EC on energy efficiency and energy services for 2016 (to save at least 9 % of final energy consumption) were already reached in 2011 by Spain. The national action plan (2008-2012) is ambitious (12 % of savings). The problem is how to fund the energy efficiency policies.

• Another problem is the number of actors involved and the people awareness. • More efficient lighting systems have to be better promoted in public and private

buildings. • There should be a better promotion of the smart grids. There is a lack of information

about the benefits that people can get with the smart grids.


• Call for proposals are open at different levels (local, autonomous and national) to perform energy saving contracts. This is the only way due to the financial crisis to promote energy efficiency in private and public buildings. Under the framework of the last action plan a renovation of 2000 buildings is planned.

• There is now a clear definition of ESCO. The development of the ESCOs market is necessary for attracting private investments. Banks are starting to participate. At the beginning just a type of banks as for example Banca etica was interested in financing energy efficiency interventions. Now also other banks start to be aware about these topics.

• The Industrial sector is now open to energy audit. • Regarding the Transport sector a positive development is the introduction of electric

vehicles and the creation of a company which manages the charging points for the electric vehicles (a network of charging points was created). The Company is owned by eve/Basque country and Repsol (50%/50%).


• The main problems are: administrative barriers and the lack of public funds to invest in EE.

• In this sector all the measures are coordinated by the Regions. The regional government owns the 90 %of public buildings.

• About new buildings the European energy performance in buildings directive (2002/91/EC, EPBD) was transposed. But regarding the renovation of existing buildings there is a lack of regulation.

• Many municipalities are using energy performance contracts for renovating public buildings. Standard contracts were developed. The Basque Country launched a new programme to involve ESCOs in the renovation of public buildings (100 buildings). It is difficult to implement this programme because of the lack of competences. There is not specialized staff, for this reason training courses for municipal energy managers were organized.

• About the street lighting, the politicians don’t take into account this issue in the legislation. They pay more attention on the renovation of the public buildings. Nevertheless in the Basque country, Andalucía and Catalonia many measures were implemented for renovating the public lighting.

• There is no culture in energy efficiency which is not considered as a priority. More information and campaigns needed. The price for heating is not high enough; if the price would be higher people would be more interested in saving energy. The tariffs are regulated at national level.

Residential sector

• There are a lot of buildings which were built in the 60s and 70s which are not efficient but the owners normally are old people who don’t want to invest money on energy efficiency.

• The energy performance of buildings directive is respected, but the interventions are not efficient because the installers are not specialized enough (training needed).


Moreover, even though new buildings are efficient people don’t know how to use them. At least the administrator of the buildings should have knowledge about that.

• There are national Programmes to promote the energy efficiency in buildings but the administrators of the buildings don’t participate and there are no laws which oblige them to do it.

• An interesting initiative was carried out for the replacement of electrical appliances in buildings. The Programme was managed at local level: shops received incentives for making discounts on the purchase of new electrical appliances. To benefit of the discount it was compulsory to return the old appliance. The funds of this programme came from the electricity sector. According to a national Law of 2011, electricity companies are obliged to support the measures taken for the promotion of energy efficiency. 270 M € for implementing the measures listed in the action plan came from the electricity producers.

• Another positive measure is the Renovation plan for windows, which was successful, but for the other parts of the building envelope (such as the roof) there is the need of standardization of the materials, taking into account the different climate conditions of the regions.

• A lot of work has to be done at Regional level. • Energy efficiency is not a priority for families. More campaigns at local level are

needed. Actions at local level in a friendly way to raise awareness should be implemented.

Service sector

• The crisis had a strong impact in this sector. • 120 M € per year were allocated for strategic projects on energy efficiency in

different sectors (mainly for industries and service sector). The State gave grants to companies which wanted to do Energy Efficiency investments or energy audits. Many supermarkets received grants from this programme. The 70 % of the total of the budget was managed directly by the regional government and the 30 % by the national energy agency.

• Utilities are not obliged to make energy savings investments but they have to give financial support for the implementation of the measures listed in the action plans for energy efficiency.

• Hotels and offices use natural gas for heating, the air cooling is used 1 or 2 weeks per year, and for that they install normal equipment with lower costs, they don’t feel the need to invest in energy efficiency equipment.

• There was a campaign aimed at promoting heat pumps. The idea was to save energy but the heat pumps were not efficient and they were removed.

• In this sector there is a lack of training and promotion.

Industry & service sector • All the activities related to energy savings were already done in the past by the

industries. At the moment industries don’t invest big capitals for implementing new measures.

• Many industries were involved in the programme mentioned in the previous section (strategic projects on energy efficiency).


• In the Industry sector more than 47 % of the energy used comes from natural gas. • An energy audit Programme was implemented to renew systems and equipment. • Even though there are no voluntary agreements with the industry, the “Energy

management system” Programme analysed what industries need to do for saving energy.

Transport sector

• In this sector grants were assigned for developing urban mobility plans and for incentivising the purchase of electric vehicles. In the framework of the urban mobility plans the use of bikes for the citizens was promoted and for the industries the use of electric vehicles in the industrial area. The urban mobility plan is not an obligation but the Government is trying to promote it as much as possible

• New and more efficient infrastructures are needed. The national energy agency has no responsibility on the infrastructures.

• The Maritime transport should be improved. • High speed trains are too expensive and people don’t use them. • The Public transports in the cities are cheap and efficient (the condition of the

vehicles is perfect). • A lot of investments were done on Bio Diesel but there are no materials to produce

bio-fuel (it costs too much). • Recently there was a good development of electric vehicles and of sharing cars

initiatives Institutional framework

• In the public sector all the measures are coordinated by the Regions. The National Government, for example, did not allocate funds for the refurbishment of schools buildings. It is a regional exclusive competence. The regional government owns the 90 %of the buildings.

• In the Service sector there was an involvement of the Regions and the National Energy Agency for implementing strategic projects on energy efficiency.

• The Energy tariffs are regulated by the State. Sweden The most important negative and positive developments Sweden has a long tradition promoting energy efficiency but policy development is in a form of paralysis. Policymakers do not see the potential for further savings, there is too strong a belief in the use of market forces as opposed to policy instruments, there is no long-term vision or political will. The ministry of finance requires evidence of the societal cost effectiveness of EE policy measures. The financial crisis has made the government focus more on jobs and the economic health of companies, but there is still a need for


long-term policies since energy efficiency needs consistency and explicit policy goal setting to truly effect market transformation. The understanding of innovation systems is poor amongst policymakers. While there is knowledge and tools, there is a reluctance to apply regulations effectively. This applies to building regulation, some Ecodesign regulations and concessions for new plants and activities. Thus, a good structure for implementation is missing. And the application of Corporate Social Responsibility could be much better utilised in the business community. Unfortunately, there are poor structures to get the private sector more involved. The government needs to be much more proactive and it needs to better integrate economic policies since improved energy efficiency can significantly contribute to jobs, energy security, reliability, robustness and the economic health of the country. Political will is particularly important when there are conflicts with other policy objectives. This is the case for instance now regarding the housing development policy where investment in new housing is the priority. As a consequence the ministry of interior and social issues (now responsible for housing) do not seem to prioritise a longer term perspective (LCC approach) for the definition of NZEB. There is a great challenge for the EE practitioners: to produce evidence of the cost effectiveness of EE policies in terms of economy including job creation, environment and energy security. Since the cabinet is a coalition, it is difficult to get consensus of what needs to be done. The importance of adopting EE goals is thus greater than ever. There have been some limited but good results. There are many more resources available and that has helped organisations such as the Swedish Energy Agency fulfil its responsibilities and activities as well as take a longer-term approach to planning and implementation. There has been more information exchange through conferences, studies and seminars. Local and regional networks have matured and become more active. Municipalities have been important drivers. There is a better ESCO market for public buildings. The PFE programme for industry has been very successful. This provides tax discounts in exchange for auditing and the introduction of energy management systems. Savings have been about 100 times the value of the actual tax credits. There is an increasing market for passive buildings. There have been a number of permanent “buyer groups” (such as Belok and Bebo for commercial and residential buildings and Belivs for the food sector), made up of professional buyers in the buildings and municipal sectors. This has led to the successful deployment of new technologies and solutions.


Critical issues in different sectors The public sector The public sector should be a driver and trend setter for promoting energy efficiency. It should be a testing ground for new technologies and solutions and it can play a role as a market leader. And it can play a role in achieving volume and quality in technology deployment. Activities at the national level are relatively weak while there are strong actors at the local and regional levels. There is a problem of definition. There is a tendency to define it as the state sector but this is quite vague. There is a need to increase the level of professionalism, especially when it comes to manage buildings for energy performance. The Swedish model of centralising the O&M and even the ownership in some cases of the public real estate has great advantages over decentralised property management, as it becomes the core business of the organisation. Also, while the environment management council developed procurement guidelines, they are not utilised to their full potential. The challenge is to extend the approach to the private sector, e.g. through voluntary agreements. The residential sector There are many problems in this sector. Energy requirements are not ambitious enough. The Housing Agency is responsible for setting all building regulations. Energy requirements are therefore not a priority. The result is that the level of the requirements are below the cost opimal levels and the regulations do not favour energy rehabilitation. Property managers and construction companies are unwilling to take a lead, waiting instead for government support. Tenants associations act as a brake on development and they have no interest in more ambitious energy efficiency requirements. The quality of energy performance certificates is questionable. Yet, there is the need for a massive renovation programme if the sector is to fulfil its potential. The industry & service sector The service sector is exploding in terms of energy use. The existing building stock is a big challenge, exacerbated by the weak building regulations. One of the problems is that services are so diverse that energy really is a hidden part of the services delivered. Examples are display of merchandise, open doors in shops to lure in customer. Comfort requirements are too high. The strong commercial drivers are seldom good for energy efficiency. Energy efficiency needs to be established as the norm in the sector. Policymakers cannot rely on the belief that actors are just trying to save money and that they will do rational cost-benefit analyses.


The PFE programme for industry (mentioned above) has been a big success; however, it is too limited and it will be terminated. There is no policy for non-energy intensive industries, although there is support for energy audits. Industrial companies seldom make new investments if the payback period is longer than two years and this misses a large share of the cost-effective potential. Energy management systems are needed together with more complex measures to support improvements in energy efficiency. Sweden has given far too much attention to the vehicle industry and far too little attention to traditional, heavy, commodities-oriented industries. The transport sector A much more holistic approach to the sector is required. There is a tradition of big, heavy cars and progressive taxation is needed (a bonus malus system). Road pricing has proven successful and it should be used more extensively. There is a problem of accessibility for disabled and others who cannot use cars. There is a need for more investment in public transport infrastructure as well as better maintenance. There are relatively large investments for bike paths. Institutional framework A lot of responsibilities are divided between the ministry for housing and the ministry for enterprise (which has responsibility for energy). The ministry of interior and social issues handles building regulations but has too few resources. It is positive that the Swedish Energy Agency is responsible for most of the energy issues, from research to implementation. However further coordination is needed. Resources and responsibilites are scattered among several authorities and agencies. Many feel that the Swedish Energy Agency has an ambivalent attitude towards energy efficiency, in part reflecting political leadership. Both the energy agency and the housing agency are located outside the capital and this affects the recruiting and maintaining of skilled, competent staff. There is the need for a strengthened Energy Management Committee to better co-ordinate and harmonise the activities amongst the various government actors. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues Interesting discussions came up regarding mental accounting. This challenges the idea that we are economic rational (in the sense that we count plus and minus and make a perfect cost benefit analysis). Empirical evidence shows that people hate losses more than they love gains, and this can be used when designing energy efficiency programmes.


United Kingdom The most important negative and positive developments

• Make the Green Deal a success All players have to get familiar with the system and they have to be prepared to play their role, big risk for failure

• Green deal takes not into account what consumers want. Poorly business orientated, no actions related to awareness-raising

• There is still a strong need for awareness-raising actions in the UK; however the government is very much reluctant to this. Nevertheless they should enable other stakeholders/associations to pass such messages, support is strongly needed

• Aging housing stock, low replacement and very low renovation, people enjoy living there but are not aware of the energy consumption and losses

• In the non-domestic sector nobody pays attention to the SMEs, no programme/action is targeting them

• Government lets as much activities as possible to the market, who is not at pace with the needs

• Government very much technology oriented • Electricity savings in public buildings (big potential)

• Green deal: the objective is to overcome financial barriers. Framework of

accreditation and quality for all bodies who act on EE in properties (banks, craft men, architects, etc.); private companies offer financial means (market rates for loans, there are no subsidies). Procedure similar to Energy performance Contracting (EPC), but no guarantee for savings Quality brand for EE measures Golden rule: A loan is given only for economically liable measures. Repaid by the house occupants (in case of changes it is the new occupier who continues to repay the loan)

• Green deal brings new players and money to the market (i.e. Tesco), also local authorities (LA) can become energy supplier too. Companies and LA see Green Deal as an opportunity, consumers are more sceptically, however only short term measures will be realized with ESCOs , no perspectives for long term investments

• Energy Commitment Obligation: Energy suppliers have to give subsides to their clients who aren’t able to pay their energy bill - savings cover repayment (golden rule)

• Carbon Reduction Commitment for the industry sector and Carbon reduction scheme for local authorities


• The former Labour Government has given local authorities (LA) a key role and defined performance indicators for them, which led to an important increase of interest from LA in EE actions


• The current government removed these indicators, in the meanwhile new indicators have been set up and some of the old ones reintroduced. Obviously the UK Gov. doesn’t like local control

• Local authorities (LA) have to report their carbon emission for their own buildings which has stimulating effect towards systematic energy management

• Energy performance of public buildings is in general 10% higher than in the private sector

• A few faults in the implementation of the EPBD have to be remedied to get the best out of it. The EP Certificate is not well promoted to get higher prices for the buildings (same for the residential sector)

• In the UK many poorly-performing buildings, no consolidated action plan to increase the EE

• Energy performance Contracting happens (i.e. North Summerset) but not yet well known and promoted

• National government is working a bit on its own building stock but is not really a driver for EE renovation etc.

• A few LA still committed and active, work on energy and climate, try to form local partnerships

• Less committed LA are doing nothing anymore • Some cities have difficulties to make strategic decision for building renovation

programmes • the EPBD is effecting Leicester City’s policy on its own building stock; DECs are

edited annually. • Leicester cities is purchasing 100% green electricity • Energy performance contracting concluded in Leicester, plans to expend as budget

cuts limit the possibilities to realize the measure with own means, PPP might be a solution

• CHP still a tricky item, there is a need for a subsidy programme Residential sector

• Need to engage the private sector. Landlords show low interest in implementing EE measures as they don’t benefit from the savings (investor/user conflict)

• ECO gives incentives to all sectors • New buildings will have to be zero carbon from 2016 (four years earlier as

requested by the EPBD recast), however so far no clear definition of what is a zero emission house

• Since 2001 request set up in the building code get stricter and stricter, housing associations more and more reluctant to this, also effects refurbishments but there is no obligation for any renovation

• Chronic shortage of money in the sector • Biggest potential for EE and biggest challenge, however entirely relying on the

market/private sector • Private sector offers advice to house owners and landlords and financing of EE

measures, however no preferential rates so financing through mortgage is cheaper • NGOs request independent advice and for free


• Today no demand for advice from households because of the lack of trust towards the private sector and no incentives in place (only 1-2 banks offer special rates for implementation of EE measures/building renovation

• Fuel poverty: Warm fund scheme for low income households has been stopped. Not to be proposed by the utilities (less fair)

• Government and utilities support technologies by not really low income households • It looks like that the EP Certificate is not influencing decisions/prices/rents in the

housing sector • Green Deal seems to be the magic solution, however it looks like that the

introduction planed in autumn will be postponed to end of 2012 early 2013 • Green deal provider will be responsible for all EE actions and claim repayment

through higher electricity bills. Golden rule is introduced which doesn’t allow that the total costs (energy saving/higher electricity bill) will be higher than before. The green deal is attached to the electricity meter. In order to allow also the realization of insulation measure providers make use of the energy company obligations. (whatever this is)

• Social housing is probably the first sector where the green deal will be launched, as LA can play an important role to get the critical mass of housing association on board

• All other funding schemes are stopped! • Social housing have been quite well renovated as cities keep an eye on this, in the

private sector there is still a very big potential for EE • Awareness campaigns and Incentives to make people act are needed

Service sector

• Key: Carbon Reduction Commitment for private companies that consume more than 6,000 MWh a year (e.g. hospitals). Real driver for EE (6,000 organisations are concerned and are ranked in a league table) / was a driver for a while but today on stand-by

• Tax reduction scheme for smaller SMEs if they sign a climate change agreement and can record the efforts they make. Not a significant success as this measure doesn’t need to be really implemented

• Nothing targeting smaller SMEs, Green Deal is supposed to become the magic tool for this sector

• No campaign/programmes to stimulate behavioural change Industry sector

• ETS is working well • No campaign/programmes to stimulate behavioural change (as for service sector) • Actions in the energy intensive industry sector but too much emphasis on carbon

and not really on energy. Not enough assistance to the companies, on simple things realised but no real major improvements done

• Green deal might become the magic tool, however rules still unclear


• All other funding programmes are cancelled so big risk that skill, know-how and capacity will get lost when green deal not starts successfully and people are “reemployed”

Transport sector

• Labelling of cars not yet mandatory but label can be seen more and more in car show rooms; however the label is not very comprehensible and not necessarily assigning the best performing car (in term of fuel consumption), the label needs to be redesigned

• Market shift to less-consuming cars is becoming perceptible • Public transport. No real policy to favour the use of public transport, policy still much

more individual car oriented; rail extremely expensive, no policy to bring costs down, more discouraging than encouraging

• No coherent approach on transport/mobility between country and district level. Too much splitting of responsibilities to work effective

• Public transport in Manchester and London is working well (good examples as for the development)

• London is a good example for limiting individual traffic, many cities are convinced that this is the right model; however they are scared about introducing a congestion fee in their own city. They think they will have economic losses as people go for shopping in the neighbour city

• Some smoother activities happen as reducing of parking space • P&R not well used, has a bad image in the media, lot of promotion to be done to

improve image • Government puts emphasis on electric vehicles, but no real solution for the problem

of smarter travel options and mobility planning proposed • Leicester City plan to purchase a small number of electric vehicles to replace diesel

vans, but costs still too high; diesel vans will be replaced mostly by better performing diesel vans

Insitutional framework National Government

• Department of Energy and Climate Change (DEC) : a new department which tries to set up an EE policy and specific work programmes, give permissions to LA to set up an ESCO and to sell electricity, quite active and doing a good job

• DEFER working on understanding consumer behaviour (and to change) • Energy Saving Trust (EST): Advice centre (national network) gave advice to the

domestic sector but has been abolished (bad decision). EST tries to transform into a service provider

• Competences for housing, city planning, local governments remain in different ministries, no interdisciplinary cooperation, LA are not involved in the national policy development

• Lack of leadership in the ministry of housing concerning the implantation of the EPBD. Regulation is good but not working properly


• In general the UK policy is moving in the right direction, however there is a great lack of means

• LA have been consulted in the past in policy development

ESCO In reality only a few ESCOs exist, they are seen as the “magic tool” to implement EE and RES projects but in fact only poor work behind. Even LA can found an ESCO, as it has been done so far by Manchester and Bristol (with support from EU Elena programme). Bristol also engaged in Green Deal Utilities:

• Strong domination of the market. Domestic sector plays a major role here. Energy supplier obligation is quite successful, however no demand from consumers. No real thinking about the real needs

• Energy companies are not really transforming themselves into an ESCO Regional structures:

• Have been recently dismantled. Brought together sustainable partnerships & networking expertise. Were very successful in some regions in advising consumers/Households and created own dynamics

Local authorities

• In the past years a growing number of LA committed and active, work on energy and climate, try to form local partnerships, in Leicester the so called “Environmental Partnership” chaired by DMU and involving players as EoN, British Gas, larger organizations and NGOs.

• Signed the Covenant of Mayors, for the moment not that many but citizens put pressure on LA to get more committed

• Today, the effects of the budget cuts by national government can not be overestimated, front runner cities still motivated but for how long? Most cities are obliged to reduce their activities to the basic services; energy and climate get more and more out. Might become catastrophic from 2015 onwards

• LA will continue to improve the EE performance of their building stock to save money

Local energy agencies

• A few cities run a local energy agency or advice centre • More energy agencies are needed • Number of energy advice centres has even been reduced (3 often merged in 1),

they have been supported by EST but EST budget has been cut dramatically by the government.

NGOs:

• Are drivers in EE policy • To some extend the national government is working with them (round tables in

some places)


• Working strongly with research organisations to get more publicity • A broader coalition is getting in place, common understanding that energy & climate

is an important society question, alliances of energy and health NGOs. In general their power is increasing

Carbon Trust Victim of the Cameron government, they had to change their way of operating. In the past they were able to lead free energy audits in the non-domestic sector (for companies with an energy bill of more than 50,000 £). Today companies have to pay for this service so no real demand. Other important issues raised in the interviews including transnational issues The question is how to make the Green Deal work, how to promote and get consumers interested, who are the providers of money, services and surveys?


Network report summaries EUFORES Various networks from the building, social housing, household appliances, CHP sectors and NGOs discussed critical and positive issues in the implementation of energy efficiency policies from their perspectives. The most crucial issues for energy efficiency polic ies and their implementation Proper implementation, better enforcement of and in creased compliance with the existing legislation . Better enforcement of and increased compliance with the existing legislation would lead to an increase in implementation of energy efficiency policies straight away. Lack of coherence in the EU legislation. Legislation is generally going a good direction but still consists of various “puzzles” that do not fit together. Policies are very segmented and not coherent. The pieces of energy efficiency legislation have to fit in the broader climate, industrial, renewables policy as well as sustainable use of resources. Government planning and interconnecting policies/pr ogrammes . The Member States should have a good strategy (roadmaps, action plans, financial mechanisms) in which policies and mechanisms are interlinked. National/local initiatives are often not ambitious enough or clash with the EU approach. Several national or local initiatives are not coherent with the EU approach because they follow different classifications, methodology etc. Public procurement criteria. The rules of the public procurement have to be simplified or at least clarified. Their interpretation can vary and some Member States can therefore be very restrictive. Lack of human resources on the EU level. Some departments/units of the European Commission and JRC are understaffed. Some topics such as eco-design which tackle highly technical issues require a lot of attention. A lack of financial mechanisms which would kick sta rt an effect similar to the one of KfW. KfW has been a front-runner in financing energy efficiency measures. The KfW example can be copied only to a certain level because other banks might not achieve comparable results in a different setting and with a different capital. Nevertheless, the same results could be achieved by other mechanisms by providing access to cheap capital and leveraging public money (e.g. UK Green Investment Bank).


A lack of (neutral) energy information, advice and guidance in the Member States. It is crucial to provide information to home owners, small and big businesses (i.e. one-stop shop). Such a service has to be organized differently in different Member States respecting cultural differences.

Long-term strategies for renovation of the building stock. The stakeholders involved in the renovation business need a clear long-term perspective such as roadmaps. The new Energy Efficiency Directive (Art 3a) mentions a long-term strategy for building renovation. It is a good opportunity for the Member States to draft well-developed strategies which would comlement the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans. Renovation of public buildings play a special role because they can showcase the benefits of energy efficiency and initiate the roll-out. Integration of building management (accounting, managing building etc.) and integration of RES technologies into the building se ctor. The set-up of the ESCO market because it is current ly underdeveloped. Continuation of the energy efficiency obligation sc hemes. It is crucial to guarantee continuation of the obligation scheme as drafted in Art 6 of the Energy Efficiency Directive because otherwise the investment security and incentives would diminish. Definition of nearby energy production from renewab les. The definition of nearby energy production from renewable energy sources is still open and differs among different categories of professionals (technicians, architects, etc.). A good urban planning would result into energy efficient communities based on a holistic approach of the overall energy consumption (not only buildings but integrated with transport and other urban infrastructures). A nice design of those communities could make the neighbourhood really attractive. Marketing of energy efficiency as something attract ive, nicer and more comfortable. The image of energy efficiency has to be changed and turned into something very attractive which increases the living comfort and not only saves the money. There is a lot that could be exploited, e.g. ICT devices, creating interfaces between the building and its occupants, providing easier and more convenient use. The co-benefits should be taken as selling points for energy efficiency. Positive developments in energy efficiency policies and their implementation in recent years Much broader recognition of the need to think about sustainable development in long-term up to 2050. The EU stakeholders start to look at the broader picture and in longer term.


The demonstration that an energy obligations scheme can work. There are several positive examples of obligations that function well (i.e. Denmark). The long-term strategies on renovation of the build ing stock – as required by the EED. The roadmaps on renovation of the building stock could help focus minds and address the issue in a structured way. The long-term planning would also attract investors and mobilize actors to acquire new skills and fill-in the gaps on the market. Financial schemes and standards for new buildings e xist in all Member States. All Member States have some financing schemes for refurbishing old buildings and standards for new buildings. Cost optimal methodology (EPBD recast). According to the methodology, the Member States should define where the optimum ratio between the life cycle costs lies and compare it with the existing building code. Based on the outcomes, the Member States may have to improve the building code. An obligation of nearly zero energy bulidings from 2019 for public buildings and from 2021 for private buidlings in the EPBD. Energy label and ecodesign measures is a positive framework which has delivered a very high contribution to the energy savings in some countries. Issues missing in the current policy framework

• Political will of the Member States and a clear vision • Binding targets • Holistic policy approach • Integrated approach and substantiation of policies with concrete measures • Integrated energy planning for districts

Financial issues The most critical issues are:

• Coordination, management and efficient use of the financial means (structural funds, public funds, etc.)

• Difficult access to the capital. Generally, it is very difficult to access the capital. The access to the capital should be made transparent and easy.

Institutional framework: strengths and weaknesses Weaknesses

• On the Member State level, energy efficiency is often a dossier spread among several departments or even ministries. Finance ministries in most Member States are not aware of energy efficiency at all. As they are quite important for policy implementation, their stake is crucial for acceptance of energy efficiency policies in the Member States.


• As energy efficiency takes more room in the public debate, even more actors with more diverse vested interests have entered the market. Some of them are competitors or enemies which makes the community very fragmented.

• Some units of the European Commission dealing with energy efficiency are understaffed.

Strengths

• The Coalition for Energy Savings organises a voice on energy efficiency in the EU. The cooperation of stakeholders on such a dispersed issue is vital.

• Municipalities, regions or local actors (e.g. Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland SEAI) are often major drivers for policy implementation and bringing new technologies to the market.

Energy Cities As Energy Cities is operating as a European association of local authorities inventing their energy future the focus of our activities is much more EU than nationally orientated so that the outcomes of the EEW2 sessions at our annual rendezvous and lunch discussions are not specifically targeted for certain Members States but generally relevant for the EU organisations (including the European Commission and the European Parliament) and the Member States. Therefore you will find only a few remarks on specific country issues, for more Member States specific outputs please refer to the Country Reports. Role of Local authorities in the implementation of EE policies - Local authorities, whatever their size, are ambitious as far as energy efficiency is

concerned within Energy Cities network and the Covenant of Mayors Initiative . They play already today a key role in energy efficiency issues and are willing to put even more emphasis on this issue but have their own decisional and management procedures that have to be taken into account.

- However especially in the new MS still only a limited number of cities has employed an energy manager, lack of qualified and trained staff remains beside some progress a big problem

- In Southern Europe there is a crucial lack of money in public sector especially LA suffer from the economic crisis and the ESCO market is not developed at all in these countries.

Financing issues - MS have to give clear information and instructions on how local authorities have access

to structural funds and they must know who the managing authorities are. - Access to existing financial programmes has to be simplified. - Future funding programmes (from 2014 onwards) and SEAPs have to develop not only

technology orientated aspects but also soft measures.


- In addition an EU building impulse-programme is needed (going beyond the Smart Cities and Communities initiative which is supporting only a very limited number of cities).

EE in (residential) building sector - Energy Cities’ members support strongly the introduction of the 3% renovation rate -

now as a voluntary commitment as the introduction of this rate in the Energy Efficiency directive has failed- when Member States put in place in parallel the necessary supporting programmes and respective financial means.

- Several MS (e.g. Poland-“Thermo-Modernization fund” , Germany-KfW programme) have set up funding programmes for (deep) renovation and construction of Low Energy or Passive Houses, programme succeed in setting up new standards, however funds are in most cases used up rapidly. In CZ there is no funding programme which stimulates to go beyond the weak legal requirements related to EE in buildings. In UK no funding programme, realisation of actions entirely relying on the market/private sector (great doubts that this will lead to high savings)

- Discontinuity of nat. funding programmes is a real problem. - New buildings: ok, quite ambitious standard in many MS; nearly zero energy houses will

become standard even before 2020 (e.g. Brussels Capital Region, UK, Germany) • Investor/user dilemma persists in most MS, a clear frame is needed to define rise of

rents in a socially acceptable way for the flats after retrofitting (no increase of the overall rent)

- MS have transposed the EPBD more or less successfully, for the moment at least there are no effects visible concerning the renovation of the building stock

- Electricity efficiency not recognised as a challenge, consumption is steadily increasing in all MS

Transport sector - No real political will to act in this sector by the nat. government. Politicians often see

transport as a technical and not as a political problem - No real effect of the Carbon tax on vehicles, no change towards less emitting vehicles - Bad transposition of the EU requirement for a “Car” label in Germany as the

performance is calculated not in line with the EU directive, it is based on the specific weight of the car which favours big ones (shame package!). France is a good example with the bonus/malus scheme

- Several efforts by MS (and LA) in order to develop the public transport systems, however no clear vision and strategy for the mobility sector

- In most new MS a lot of awareness raising activities and promotion towards a “different” mobility is necessary. People fell so happy with their “own car”; public transport has a poor image

- London is a good example for limiting individual traffic, many cities are convinced that this is the right model; however they are scared about introducing a congestion fee in their own city. They think they will have economic losses as people go for shopping in the neighbour city


Insitutional framework National governments - There is in many MS a global lack of interest in EE, particularly at the highest level of

governance – at national level, lack of political will to act in this field, the state does not lead by example

- Directives are being implemented but not really monitored/no controls National, Regional and local energy agency - National agencies are recognised as an important player, but sometimes problematic,

e.g. Germany Dena or Poland agency have an ambiguous agency as they manage nat. programmes but act at the same time as consultant (conflict of interests); in the Netherlands the budget and staff of the agency have been cut significantly, same for Greece in a little less severe way

- There is a lack of EA on local level and of human capacities in general Energy Utilities / ESCOs - No real motivation for energy utilities for EE, as they more or less a monopole in

energy supply, they see no need for changings - ETS complete failure, offers utilities even the possibility to make benefits instead of

stimulation EE and providing money for funding programmes - ESCO market very differently developed in the EU, in general overestimated. In some

MS quite a lot of LAs make use of PPP (and EPC) to improve the EE of their buildings (or street lighting, etc.): e.g. in CZ ESCOs and private consultancies in the field of EPC have founded a national “ESCO Association” (www.apes.cz); in Lithuania not a single EPC has been concluded. In the UK In reality only a few ESCOs exist, they are seen as the “magic tool” to implement EE and RES projects but in fact only poor work behind. In Hungary low hanging fruits are picked and unstable local government finance make them cautious to invest in cities.

- 90% of EPC is related to building equipment; a model contract (initiative) is missing which can stimulate also the co-financing of building insulation through PPP.

FEDARENE FEDARENE is the European network of regional and local organisations which implement, co-ordinate and facilitate sustainable energy and environment policies. FEDARENE members have a regional or local base that allows them to have an impact over a very wide range of areas, below national level but above local level. Despite their different legal status, they all depend fully or partially on local or regional public entities. FEDARENE members are all equally willing to participate within the scope of their competence in the energy and environmental sectors, in land use planning and in local economic and social development. In order to fulfil their role in the interests of the public, their priority is to meet the needs of society and the local population. In this way, they use their expertise and technical knowhow to help and advise local elected officials,


authorities, companies and the public. As an intermediary organisation, they provide a venue for mediation and for different actors of the sector to meet, creating an interface between local elected officials, government, public sector and the market. Most of the discussions on within the network are on the implementation of EU Directives such as: the Energy Performances in Building Directive, renewable Energy Directive and for sure the expected recent Energy Efficiency Directive. The financial crisis impacts all regional and local authorities and all energy agencies in EU; consequently impacts the developments of energy policies and actions have slowed in some areas, even if the most critical situations are in the eastern countries and the southern member states. Role of Local authorities / agencies in the impleme ntation of Energy Efficiency policies The regional and Local Authorities have a leading role to play in facing sustainable energy challenges. They are well placed to implement energy governance, and to build and share a strategic and integrated vision within a management framework covering different levels of government and cooperation between stakeholders while encouraging the active participation of citizens. They possess not only a thorough knowledge of local conditions, resources, and needs, but also know the expectations of citizens. In order to get a long term vision, to anticipate and facilitate energy sector changes, they are preparing the territories to the transposition of EU energy policies. They assign public financing; they complete projects with long term effects on key sectors (energy production & consumption, transport, waste management etc.). This way, they contribute towards shaping tomorrow’s territories. They provide the necessary impetus for undertaking action. They prove that effective action is possible. Sustainable energy is also an opportunity to strengthen local democracy by intensifying debates for negotiating changes that will have major impact on territories, on economy and on lifestyles. The regional and Local Authorities are able to provide strategic guidance, financial and technical support to municipalities with the political will to sign up to the Covenant of Mayors, but lacking the skills and/or resources to prepare and approve Sustainable Energy Action Plans. Financing issues In the actual context, the Regional and Local authorities were quite innovative regarding financing issues and their modes of intervention vary from a region to another one according to their specificities and competences. Regarding financing issues they support on their own territories:

- Regional Energy Efficiency Funds – public and private partnership;


- Large Energy packages allowing deep renovation; - Organisation of the framework for the development of Energy Performance

Contracting; - Zero rate loans; - Energy / Building cluster to stimulate the economic growth of the industries / SMEs - etc.

Regarding the European Structural funds, the Regional and Local authorities strongly welcome the priority given to sustainable energy. Nevertheless they regret the complexity of administrative management of these funds and that in a lot of EU countries they are not directly managing these funds (done by the member states – or their local administration). Finally, when the operational programmes are prepared it could me relevant to involve the energy agencies of the concerned territory for helping to the decision and for increasing the efficiency of these funds. The Regional and Local authorities welcome the financial facilities (such as ELENA, EEEF, …) recently created by the European Commission in cooperation with public or private banks, but regret the reluctance of local private banks to invest on energy efficiency. The Regional and Local authorities called for a greater focus on non-technological and accompanying programmes for the next financial period 2014-2020. Indeed, they remind that the success of sustainable energy projects or programmes is not only due to the availability of the money, it is mainly due to a set of measures (such as the adequation between the requirements and the legislative framework, the creation of stakeholder’s platforms, financial and technical supports, information and awareness campaigns, training sessions, monitoring, promotion ….). Energy Efficiency in (residential) building sector The Energy performance in Building Directive is fully / partially transposed in most of the countries which is a strong instrument to conduct energy efficiency in building, mainly for new buildings. The main worry of the Regional and Local actors concerns the upscaling of energy refurbishment of building. Indeed, this scale change requires a new way of multi-governance, a strong mobilisation of actors on the ground (public authorities, private stakeholders, banks, building builders, energy suppliers, land planners, etc. and households). The economical constrains and the discontinuity of the national funding programme slow-down or even stopped the development of the refurbishment building market. Nevertheless, a number of good initiatives for achieving this huge scale began to emerge, such as:

- The green deal in UK,


- The eco-pack in Belgium, - The KfW programme in Germany, - Fiscal policies (tax credit etc.) in France, Italy of Belgium - Zero rate loans in France, Belgium - etc.

Transport sector The transport sector is underestimated at European and National levels. The main actors of this sector are at the city level who implement, often with the support of the regional authorities’, mobility plans (by financing public transport, bicycle side way, car-sharing, intercity trains, limitation of traffic in city centre, change of citizen’s behaviour…). Even if it is not linked to energy efficiency actions, electric vehicles are at the heart of main discussion. The recent development concerns the electric vehicle in most of the countries even in the most economic affected countries. The biggest cities start to have electric vehicle charge infrastructure, even if the citizens are not ready to change their car (most of households cannot afford electric car prices). Institutional framework National governments There is today a huge disparity between the different Member States in terms of energy efficiency policies. Some Member States does not link the energy efficiency potential to energy security, green growth and social protection. National, regional and local energy agencies National agencies were considered as major players in all countries even if in some countries where their budget have been drastically cut or withdrawn (Romania ). Regional and local energy agencies are well considered in their own territories as a major player to spearhead energy initiatives for regional and local authorities. In the eastern countries the regional and local energy agencies worries on their budget cuts. Energy Utilities / ESCOs White certificates develop in some members states (DK, UK, FR, IT etc.) and are considered as a powerful leverage effect measure. The energy efficiency obligation schemes foreseen in the new Energy Efficiency Directive will probably favour energy efficiency measure in households. Nevertheless, there are some worries regarding the real impact of the energy efficiency obligations who will focus on light measures.


ETS is not considered as a scheme able to stimulate energy efficiency measures or funding programmes. ESCO market is well functioning in some countries (Germany, Austria, Sweden, …) but is under develop in most of the other countries. EPC, considered as an expensive tool, is raising hopes but also a lot of questions. There is a strong need of:

- Training of public decision makers, - Model contract, - Quality control or labelling for ESCOs, - Clarification to public authorities who intent to invest without increasing the public

debt - etc.

ECEEE This brief report is a summary of observations from the interviews and surveys carried out by eceee, the EEW event held at the 2011 Summer Study and discussions held at eceee board meetings. The observations are arranged topically, but the order of topics should not be read as an order of importance. The importance of policy Throughout the eceee network, experts point out that the ambition of policy makers and politicians are extremely important. Policy makers increasingly speak about the importance of energy efficiency, but the issue is still poorly understood and there is little willingness to introduce the measures needed to move the market. The simplistic view of the “economic man” is a burden on all of us, many of our experts claim. As long as we believe that more information in combination with “getting the prices right” will automatically make us reach the technical efficiency potentials, we are doomed to fail. We need a much more sophisticated understanding of incentives and how choices can be framed. In order to make efficiency the main-stream choice, a number of institutional factors will also have to be addressed. How can we make banks recognise–in terms of lower risk and a monetary value–the additional value of an energy efficient building compared to a less efficient one? How can energy efficiency investments and actions be coupled with lower insurance costs? And investments in improved buildings efficiency are important as a job creator, but as a rule not recognised as such. Instead, some politicians want to go for the quick fix and ease requirements as a way to start more buildings projects. The issue of energy security is often raised. Europe spends about 400 billion euro a year on energy imports, and more spending on efficiency in Europe would help to move more of those funds into the European economy. In addition, this would make Europe less


vulnerable. The question here is: How can we turn energy efficiency into an issue energy security, just as we spend billions on investing pipelines? Is efficient sufficient? One of the important topics raised by eceee and within eceee’s networks is whether increased efficiency is sufficient. Improved energy efficiency does not necessarily mean that we reduce energy consumption. With larger houses, larger TVs and more powerful cars, the energy consumption keeps rising despite improved technical efficiency. A common example is VW Golf, which has had a relatively flat energy consumption throughout the years, whereas its efficiency (particularly motor efficiency) has kept improving. This is very difficult issue that touch upon our way of living and what and how we consume. Albeit difficult, it remains perhaps the most important issue to tackle. In the area of ecodesign and labelling, the need to for progressive standards are increasingly being recognised. This would mean that the kWh/cm2 of a TV would be progressively raised with increased screen size. The new Energy Efficiency Directive does not address these issues at all. This is the same for the EPBD. Local issues The importance of local issues are increasingly being highlighted. Perhaps this is a reaction to the difficulty in getting member states committed to the EED and strong measures. The eceee Summer Study 2013 has introduced a panel on local issues. The response was overwhelming with 75 abstracts to this panel alone. This is a clear sign of the importance of these issues and local governments as one of the strongest allies in moving efficiency policies forward. Voluntary agreements for the local governments are being introduced in some countries. The public sector Public sector investments in energy efficiency and green procurement are important, but seem not to take off. The public sector is heralded in the EED and often spoken about as a model for the rest of our society. But far too little is still happening. It might be that we are all in a process of learning and development. Tools are coming into place, legal issues are being sorted out (and understood) and then everything will take off. But still remains to be proven. Roadmap 2050 and future targets There is very poor interest among member states in energy efficiency targets for 2050. On the contrary there is some interest in CO2 and/or renewables targets. This is strange in relation to the (upcoming) IEA WEO focus on efficiency. Intermediate targets are also important.


The Energy Efficiency Directive The new EED has been a great source of debate. It has been concluded that the Directive still fails to fill the “efficiency gap” (together with new transportation issues the EED will fulfil 17% of the 20% target, it is believed). but there was generally a great relief that the Directive came into place. Many see the new Article 7 (previously art 6 in the negotiations) as a good means to force MS into action: Those who do not want to introduce obligations are allowed to carry out other measures, but the requirements are very stringent. The debate on energy saving targets has calmed down a bit, but is still seen as important in the future. Many argue that the only real way to set targets will be on absolute consumption since these are possible to measure. The counter argument is that targets should be absolute in terms of CO2, but not on energy. Again, the discussion on primary energy surfaces. The (recast) EPBD The recast EPBD is becoming an increasingly hot topic in the autumn of 2012. Most countries have got their EPC schemes into place (but some have pointed out that these are not yet fully operational as they are intended to be, and there is little follow up). Stringer buildings standards are coming into place in several countries, but most of the experts in eceee’s network think the standards are far too lax. (See also note on compliance). The nearly zero energy buildings requirements stir debate, as do the relation to the cost optimality issue. Many struggle with interpretation issues, and many are eagerly awaiting the NZEB definitions. The NZEB issue has brought conflicts between renewables and building codes into the fore again. Some groups in the renewables sector believe that the NZEB definitions are too stringent and will lead to sub-optimal solutions. There is a poor understanding of what the EPBD actually means by “nearly zero”. The on-site or nearby generation issues cause discussions. There are particular conflicts between district heating and those actors advocating stringent standards (DH actors loathe the passive house standards that will eventually reduce the heat load in their networks and reduce the potential for CHP, for instance). Most people in the eceee network do believe that in the long term it is more important to reduce primary energy than using renewables. Financing buildings investments This is already a very important topic, but it has increasingly moved up on the agenda. Many MS in Eastern Europe have been able to use the funds created when selling excess carbon quotas to finance buildings investments. This has indeed been important in order to get activities started, but funds are far form sufficient and only available in a few countries. Moreover, they are also diminishing. Financing is a problem also in more affluent countries. There is a big housing stock that is growing old and it the renovation needs will be enormous. There is a strong awareness


that the renovation needs are a golden opportunity to achieve deep renovations, but there is not the awareness among policy makers. Compliance and market surveillance These issues were only raised a few times during the interviews, but they have often been pointed out by experts and industry representatives within eceee’s network. The point is, of course, that only having minimum performance requirements, labelling and building codes in place is insufficient. We need to make sure they are followed. In the area of buildings, the energy performance of a building is seldom, if ever, verified. The Energy Performance Certificates are often of poor quality. In the area of appliances and products, many European producers are worried that inferior products are being sold without a risk of sanctions. This will not only affect their ability to produce their products in Europe, but will also erode the faith in ecodesign and labelling as an instrument. A consequence is that producers become less willing to agree to strict mandatory requirements since that makes qualifying products relatively more expensive compared to those that are marketed with the same performance, but do not qualify in reality. Interestingly, the issue of verifying fuel efficiency of cars is seldom raised. This is probably due to the fact the transport issues get relatively little attention in general, compared to buildings and products. Industry In 2012, eceee held its first Industrial Summer Study. This was held in response to suggestions that industrial efficiency is poorly covered by European policy tools. It is underlined, for instance, by the fact the issues are divided among different Directorates in the Commission. According to DG Energy, only one thorough savings potential study has been carried out (to be compared to the numerous potential studies for the buildings sector). The fact the DG Environment is in charge of the ETS and much of the heavy industry has also created an unfortunate institutional “lock in” of many industrial policy issues within DG Environment. The underlying simplistic belief that decision makers make rational choices based on constant and cost benefits analysis is the root of this problem, and many other approaches are overlooked. Few countries have extensive industrial efficiency programmes. Sweden has a very successful programme, where industries that introduce energy management schemes and undertake a set of measures will get a modest rebate on the energy tax. The value of the savings undertaken by industries that joined the programme is much greater than the value of the tax break. This a small signal financial gain has unleashed investments that would have been profitable anyway. Other countries (e.g. Finland and Netherlands) have put extensive frameworks for voluntary agreements in place. These aim at helping creating an institutional infrastructure to help industries make wiser and better decisions and are seen as largely successful.


It should be noted that several ecodesign measures have a relevance for industrial energy efficiency, such as motor, pump and fan requirements. Transport Transport issues are becoming an increasingly hot topic, but they still receive far less attention in eceee’s networks than do buildings or appliances. Transportation is difficult, and hard to address through regulation. In many view transport energy use seem to be more linked to consumption patterns and personal preferences than do, for instance, building or appliance energy consumption. The local level is very important. Nevertheless, reform of car taxation have had significant effects on (car) energy use in Ireland and Finland. It has been underlined that there never is a one-time fix. The Irish car taxation reform is now eroded by the relative improvement of cars in general, and would have to be made more stringent to serve as a strong driver towards increase fuel efficiency of the Irish car fleet. Transportation energy use is even harder to catch and the issues are very complex. "Smart grids" The discussions seem to have matured among those who are involved in the area. However, politicians and policy makers are still rather naïve regarding function and potential of smart meters. Claims on savings just because of the real-time information are generally grossly overstated. Information provided by smart meters will have to be packaged and communicated intelligently to have an effect. New business models will be emerging eventually, it is hoped, but we may need to address the dominance of a few energy utilities that have business models that are threatened by the changes.

annex - buildup.eu survey report annex.pdfannex survey report progress in energy efficiency policies...

Documents