COM(2011) 109 final: Energy Efficiency Plan 2011

Overview of the European energy system Energy flows in European Union The Sankey diagram (Fig.1) shows the energy conversion from primary energy (coal, oil, natural gas, etc) to secondary energy commodities such as heat, electricity and manufactured fuels, through transformation plants (power stations, district heating, CHPs, oil refineries and other transformation plants) and the associated conversion losses. The right hand side of the diagram shows the final mix of energy consumption by different EU27 energy users (including: industry, transport, domestic, other final consumers and non-energy use). Note that renewables in transport for ENER 36 include all biofuels whether sustainable or not. Only a proportion of the primary energy entering the energy system of a country flows through to the end user for consumption. There are various diversions and losses incurred before energy reaches the final consumer due to distribution losses and use in the energy sector. The Sankey diagram is useful in capturing the situation in a certain year but other indicators are needed to show the change in energy use over time. Energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity and heat production Output from conventional thermal stations consists of gross electricity generation and also of any heat sold to third parties (combined heat and power plants) by conventional thermal public utility power stations as well as autoproducer thermal power stations. The energy efficiency of conventional thermal electricity production (which includes both public plants and autoproducers) is defined as the ratio of electricity and heat production to the energy input as a fuel. Fuels include solid fuels (i.e. coal, lignite and equivalents, oil and other liquid hydrocarbons, gas, thermal renewables (industrial and municipal waste, wood waste, biogas and geothermal energy) and other non-renewable waste. Units: Fuel input and electrical and heat output are measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). Efficiency is measured as the ratio of fuel output to input (%) Energy losses in transformation and distribution Numerator: Share of energy losses is the sum of own consumption of the energy industry, distribution losses and transformation losses (difference between transformation input and output). Denominator: Numerator plus final energy available for final consumption in primary energy. EU-27 Share of primary energy by fuel type and, share of final energy consumption by sector Total energy consumption or gross inland energy consumption represents the quantity of energy necessary to satisfy the inland consumption of a country. It is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of energy from solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources, and a small component of ‘other’ sources (industrial waste and net imports of electricity). The relative contribution of a specific fuel is measured by the ratio between the energy consumption originating from that specific fuel and the total gross inland energy consumption calculated for a calendar year (Fig.2). Units: Energy consumption is measured in thousand tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe). The share of each fuel in total energy consumption is presented in the form of a percentage. EU27 net energy imports of solid fuels, oil, and gas from outside the EU27 was calculated as follows: total imports by fuel minus the sum of imports by fuel from other EU Member States minus total exports (Fig.1)

Progress on energy efficiency in Europe The ODEX index (Fig.1) measures the energy efficiency progress by main sector (industry, transport, households) and for the whole economy (all final consumers). For each sector, the index is calculated as a weighted average of sub-sectoral indices of energy efficiency progress; sub-sectors being industrial or service sector branches or end-uses for households or transport modes. The sub-sectoral indices are calculated from variations of unit energy consumption indicators, measured in physical units and selected so as to provide the best “proxy” of energy efficiency progress, from a policy evaluation viewpoint. The fact that indices are used enables to combine different units for a given sector, for instance for households kWh/appliance, koe/m2, tep/dwelling… The weight used to get the weighted aggregate is the share of each sub- sector in the total energy consumption of the sub –sectors considered in the calculation. A value of ODEX equal to 90 means a 10% energy efficiency gain. The variation of the specific consumption of space heating per dwelling linked to building standards is modelled as the change brought about by the introduction of new dwellings with a better insulation than the whole stock since a base year (e.g. 1990), assuming that the unit consumption of new dwellings is equal to the theoretical value implied by thermal regulations (Fig.2). This effect is calculated as follow: ∆UCnew t = (UCnew t * nbrlpn t + ∆UCnew t-1 * (nbrlpr t – nbrlpn t )) / nbrlpr t with: ∆UCnew t=0 = ∆UCnew t=1990 = UC t=1990 nbrlpr t : stock of dwellings at year t nbrlpn t : the volume of construction at year t UC t : unit consumption per dwelling for space heating at year t

Total Gross Inland Consumption by Fuel Total energy consumption or gross inland energy consumption represents the quantity of energy necessary to satisfy the inland consumption of a country. It is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of energy from solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources, and a small component of ‘other’ sources (industrial waste and net imports of electricity). The relative contribution of a specific fuel is measured by the ratio between the energy consumption originating from that specific fuel and the total gross inland energy consumption calculated for a calendar year.

Total primary energy intensity Total energy intensity is the ratio between the gross inland consumption of energy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculated for a calendar year. The gross inland consumption of energy is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of the five sources of energy: solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources. To monitor trends, GDP is in constant prices to avoid the impact of inflation, base year 2000.

Primary energy consumption by fuel Total energy consumption or gross inland energy consumption represents the quantity of energy necessary to satisfy the inland consumption of a country. It is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of energy from solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources, and a small component of ‘other’ sources (industrial waste and net imports of electricity). The relative contribution of a specific fuel is measured by the ratio between the energy consumption originating from that specific fuel and the total gross inland energy consumption calculated for a calendar year.

Total primary energy intensity Total energy intensity is the ratio between the gross inland consumption of energy (or total energy consumption) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculated for a calendar year. The gross inland consumption of energy is calculated as the sum of the gross inland consumption of the five sources of energy: solid fuels, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable sources. To monitor trends, GDP is in constant prices to avoid the impact of inflation, base year 2000. Units: Gross inland energy consumption is measured in 1000 tonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) and GDP in million Euro at 2000 market prices. To make comparisons of trends across countries more meaningful, the indicator is presented as an index. For country comparisons, two additional columns are included to show the actual energy intensity in GDP in purchasing power standards for the latest available year, and also the energy intensity in terms of consumption per capita.

Write to us

Call us

Sound and independent information
on the environment

Sections

COM(2011) 109 final: Energy Efficiency Plan 2011

COM(2011) 109 final: Energy Efficiency Plan 2011

Related content

Related indicators

Document Actions

Comments

Write to us

Call us

Sound and independent information on the environment

Sections

COM(2011) 109 final: Energy Efficiency Plan 2011

COM(2011) 109 final: Energy Efficiency Plan 2011

Related content

Related indicators

Document Actions

Share with others

Comments

Sound and independent information
on the environment