Abstract
The strategy of energy efficiency to save energy is deceptively simple: the idea is to use less input for the highest amount of useful output. However, on a practical and conceptual level, efficiency is an ambiguous and problematic concept to implement. Of particular concern is the lack of contextual and qualitative information provided in energy efficiency measurements based on simple ratios. Oversimplification of efficiency measurements can have a detrimental effect on the choice of energy policies. Efficiency measurements are particularly problematic on a macroeconomic scale where a significant amount of meaningful information is lost through the aggregation of data into a simple ratio (economic energy intensity). First, practical examples are presented flagging conceptual problems with energy efficiency indicators, then an alternative accounting method—the end-use matrix—based on the concept of the metabolic pattern of social-ecological systems is illustrated to show the possibility of enriching efficiency indicators by adding qualitative and contextual information across multiple scales and dimensions. This method unpacks and structures salient energy input and output information in a meaningful and transparent way by generating a rich multi-level and multi-dimensional information space.
Highlights
Efficiency has become a central pillar of energy policy in industri alized nations globally
At the time of writing, the European Com mission had announced a political agreement on new rules for improving energy efficiency as part of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) 2012/27/European Union (EU) (European Parliament, 2012) adopted in 2012 and broader Clean Energy Package adopted in 2016 (European Comission, 2016)
It was argued that if we want to define policies aimed at improving the energy performance of a complex set of integrated processes defined at different scales, we need to develop a more elaborate system of accounting capable of identifying and contextualizing the various factors that are relevant for the performance of the system as a whole
Summary
Efficiency has become a central pillar of energy policy in industri alized nations globally. The aggregation of data that takes place when calculating the energy intensity indicator at the national level obscures the fact that the larger the share of the service sector in the generation of the GDP, the lower the EEI of an economy (Giampietro et al, 2012) This result does not reflect changes in technical efficiency that take place at the micro-levels of an economy, but structural changes of the economy altering the original mix of sectoral GDPs. The EEI indicator obfuscates another key variable regarding sustainability—the extent to which energy sources are externalized to other countries, known as the ‘boundary problem’.
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