Industrial energy efficiency: Indicators for a European cross-country comparison of energy efficiency in the manufacturing industry

Abstract

The large amount of recent work performed in the field of energy efficiency indicators and the growing interest of national and international administrations, such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) (in preparation for negotiations under the Climate Convention), show that this field is important, with increasing attention being paid to methodological and practical issues. The aim of this paper is to present the results of the energy indicator analysis of European manufacturing industries carried out in a recent European project and to establish the general scope and limitations of the method when applied practically, especially in negotiation processes. In particular, inter- and intra-industrial structural effects are analysed, as well as the level of detail necessary to correct for all relevant structural differences in order to approach real energy efficiency indicators. The integration of foreign trade in energy-intensive intermediate and final products in the analyses has largely been neglected, but is becoming increasingly important for international negotiations. The simplicity of the indicators and the progress in understanding the link between technological changes and influential factors, such as changes in energy price levels, or energy and environmental policies, are key factors in the future success of indicator analyses.