Energy efficiency in transformation

Assessment versions

Published (reviewed and quality assured)

• No published assessments

Rationale

Justification for indicator selection

Not all primary energy is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction) of the energy system, due to the high proportion of fossil fuels still used. Significant losses occur in transformation hence they depend on the system’s efficiency. In the EU, the current transformation efficiency in conventional thermal power and heat stations is 49.9% (see ENER19)

Scientific references

• DG TREN, 2007, the EU Electricity & Gas markets: third legislative package September 2007
• DG TREN, 2007b, 2020 vision: Saving our energy, DG Transport and Energy
• Ecofys, 2007, International Comparison of Fossil Fuel Efficiency, Report by Ecofys for the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), Japan
• EEA, 2009, Annual European Community greenhouse gas inventory 1990 - 2007 and inventory report 2009, European Environment Agency
• EWP, 2007, UK Energy White Paper: meeting the energy challenge, Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
• Leonardo Energy, 2008, Network losses, Article 11/04/08, Roman Targosz

Indicator definition

EU-27 Share of primary energy by fuel type and, share of final energy consumption by sector and energy losses

Share of energy losses, own consumption of the energy industry and final energy available for final consumption in primary energy, by Member State

Structure in the efficiency of transformation and distribution of energy from primary energy consumption to final energy consumption, EU-27, 2009

Structure of CO₂ emissions from thermal power plants in EU-27, 2009

• % share of input fuels into conventional thermal power plants
• Implied emission factors by fuel type – total fuel input by type to conventional thermal power plants (TJ) divided by CO₂ emissions from plants by fuel type
• Average efficiency for conventional thermal plant (total fuel inputs divided by total electricity and heat output)
• Share of CO₂ emissions by input fuel type.

CO₂ emission savings per year for EU-27 at different transformation efficiencies compared to current 2009 efficiency

Units

Energy data:  Mtoe

CO2 emissions: Mt

Policy context and targets

Context description

Environmental context

Not all primary energy (gross inland energy consumption) is available to be utilised as useful final energy for the end-consumer due to various losses that occur within the energy system (in particular transformation losses in the production of electricity and heat). In 2009, 77% of the gross inland consumption in European Union came from fossil fuels (see ENER 26). The magnitude of these losses is an important indication of the overall environmental impact of the energy system (e.g. GHG emissions, air pollution, environmental and health impacts associated with upstream activities of resource extraction and waste disposal). The overall environmental impact has to be seen in the context of the type of fuel and the extent to which abatement technologies are used (see ENER 06). Because Europe imports large amounts of fossil fuels to meet the final energy demand (see ENER 12), a significant part of the environmental impact associated with the resource extraction remains outside the realm of European policy.

Policy context

Current pricing mechanisms in Europe for transmission and distribution services do not necessarily target directly improvements in efficiency of these networks. However, there are a number of policy initiatives aiming at increasing the efficiency in transformation (listed below).

On 8 March 2011, the European Commission adopted the Communication "Energy Efficiency Plan 2011" (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0109:FIN:EN:PDF) aims to boost the cost-effective and efficient use of energy in the EU. One of the priority areas is making power generation and distribution more efficient. The Commission is also aiming to develop minimum efficiency requirements for new electricity, heating and cooling capacity to further reduce transformation losses. (DG TREN, 2007b).

Proposal for a Directive on energy efficiency and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC [COM(2011)370, 22/06/2011]. Council adopted on 6 April 2009 the climate-energy legislative package containing measures to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. This package is designed to achieve the EU's overall environmental target of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases, a 20% increase in energy efficiency and a 20% share of renewable energy in the EU's total energy consumption by 2020.The climate action and renewable energy (CARE) package includes the following main policy documents:

• Directive 2009/29/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community.
• Directive 2009/31/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxid.
• Directive 2009/28/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
• Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01). 
• Directive 2008/101/ec of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/ec so as to include aviation activities in the scheme for greenhouse gas Emission allowance trading within the community.

Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community’s integrated approach to reduce CO₂ emissions from light-duty vehicles

• Directive on the promotion of high-efficiency cogeneration (2004/8/EC);
• Directives concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (2003/54/EC) and gas (2003/55/EC) have led to the progressive introduction of competition in the electricity supply industry.
• Directives related to industrial emissions such as the Large Combustion Plant Directive (2001/80/EC) which aims to control emissions of SOx, NOx and particulate matter from large (>50MW) combustion plants and hence favours the use of higher efficiency CCGT as opposed to coal plants; and the IPPC Directive (96/61/EC) which requires plant of <20MW to meet a set of basic energy efficiency provisions. 

As part of a recent review of industrial emissions legislation the Commission has proposed (COM/2007/0844 final) a single new Directive, the Industrial Emissions Directive.  This Directive has been adopted by the European Parliament on 7 July 2010 and is pending final legal scrutiny before coming into force.  It recasts seven existing Directives related to industrial emissions (including the Large Combustion Plant and IPPC Directives) into a single clear and coherent legislative instrument focused on installations bigger than 20 MW. It is expected that these new market structures will encourage switching to cheaper and more efficient technologies.

Targets

No targets have been specified

Related policy documents

• 2003/54/EC
  Directives concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity
• 2003/55/EC
  Directives concerning common rules for the internal market in gas
• 2008/c 82/01
  Community guidelines on state aid for environmental protection (2008/c 82/01)
• 2009/31/EC
  Directive 2009/31/ec of the European parliament and of the Council on the geological storage of carbon dioxide.
• COM(2006) 545
  Action Plan for Energy Efficiency
• Combined heat and power Communication COM(97) 514 final
  The EU indicative Combined Heat and Power target set in the Community Strategy to promote Combined Heat and Power, COM(97) 514 final of an 18 % share of CHP electricity production in total gross electricity production by 2010
• Council Directive 96/61/EC (IPPC)
  Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). Official Journal L 257.
• Directive 2001/80/EC, large combustion plants
  Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants
• DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC
  DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC
• Directive 2009/29/EC
  Directive 2009/29/EC of the European parliament and of the Council amending directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the community.
• REGULATION (EC) No 443/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 443/2009
  Regulation (ec) no 443/2009 of the European parliament and of the Council setting emission performance standards for new passenger cars as part of the community's integrated approach to reduce CO2 emissions from light-duty vehicles.

Methodology

Methodology for indicator calculation

The coding (used in the Eurostat New Cronos database) and specific components of the indicators are:

Figure 1

% share of Gross Inland Energy Consumption (100900) for 2000 Solid Fuels, 3000 Crude oil and Petroleum Products, 4000 Gas, 5100 Nuclear Energy, 6000 Imports/exports electricity, 5500 Renewable Energies, 7100 Industrial Wastes. All in ktoe.

% share of Gross Inland Energy consumption (100900) for Transformation losses (101000 Transformation input minus 101100 Transformation output), 101400 Distribution losses, 101300 consumption – energy sector, 101600 final non-energy consumption, 101800 final energy consumption – industry, 101900 final energy consumption – transport, 102010 final energy consumption – households, 102030 final energy consumption – agriculture (plus 102035 final energy consumption fisheries), 102035 final energy consumption – services, 102040 final energy consumption – other sectors.

Figure 2

% Share of 101300 (consumption – energy sector), 101400 (distribution losses), 101500 (energy available for final consumption), Transformation losses (101000 Transformation input minus 101100 Transformation output) within the sum of the above four elements for each Member State.

Figure 3

Data from EEA (2008)

• % Share of fuel input (TJ) by type (liquid, solid, gaseous, biomass and other fuels) into 1A1a public electricity and heat production
• Implied emission factor for each fuel above (tCO₂ / TJ), taken from EEA (2008)
• Average efficiency of transformation in EU-27.

Numerator = 101109 Output from district heating plants + 101121 Output from public thermal power stations

Denominator = 101009 Input to district heating plants + 101021 Input to public thermal power stations

•  % Share of CO₂ emissions by fuel type (liquid, solid, gaseous, biomass and other fuels into 1A1a public electricity and heat production)

Figure 4

Data from EEA (2008)

Steps

a) Implied Emissions Factor for all 1A1a public electricity and heat production of 83.5 tCO₂ / TJ for all fuels excluding biomass

b) Current average efficiency of transformation as calculated for Figure 3

c) Estimated CO₂ output for EU = total fuel input (TJ) * current average efficiency of transformation

d) New fuel input at higher efficiency (fixing output) = Estimated CO₂ output for / new efficiency

e) CO₂ emissions at new efficiency = Implied Emissions Factor * New fuel input at higher efficiency (fixing output) / 1000

f) CO₂ saving = current CO₂ emissions (from EEA (2008) - CO₂ emissions at new efficiency

Geographical coverage:
EU-27 plus Norway, Turkey, Croatia

Temporal coverage:
1990-2009

Data collected annually.
Eurostat definitions for energy statistics http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/nomenclatures/index.cfm?TargetUrl=LST_NOM&StrGroupCode=CONCEPTS&StrLanguageCode=EN
Eurostat metadata for energy statistics http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

Official data (national total and sectoral emissions) reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and under the EU Monitoring Mechanism and EIONET. For the EU-27, these data are compiled by EEA in the European greenhouse gas inventory report: http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/european-union-greenhouse-gas-inventory-2011

Methodology for gap filling

No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.

Methodology references

No methodology references available.

Data specifications

EEA data references

• National emissions reported to the UNFCCC and to the EU Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism provided by Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV) , United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

External data references

• Energy statistics (Eurostat)

Data sources in latest figures

Uncertainties

Methodology uncertainty

Scenario analysis always includes many uncertainties and the results should thus be interpreted with care.

• uncertainties related to future socioeconomic and other developments (e.g. GDP);
• uncertainties in the underlying statistical and empirical data (e.g. on future technology costs and performance);
• uncertainties in the representativeness of the indicator;
• uncertainties in the dynamic behaviour of the energy system and its translation into models;
• uncertainties in future fuel costs and the share of low carbon technologies in the future.

Data sets uncertainty

Strengths and weaknesses (at data level)

Data have been traditionally compiled by Eurostat through the annual Joint Questionnaires, shared by Eurostat and the International Energy Agency, following a well established and harmonised methodology. Methodological information on the annual Joint Questionnaires and data compilation can be found in Eurostat's web page for metadata on energy statisticshttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/energy/data/database

CO₂ emissions data is officially reported following agreed procedures. e.g. regarding source/sector split under the EU Monitoring Mechanism DECISION No 280/2004/EC.

Reliability, accuracy, robustness, uncertainty (at data level):

The estimate of imported/domestic CO₂ emissions uses an average EU-27 Implied Emission Factors (tCO₂/TJ) for solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.

The IPCC believes that the uncertainty in CO₂ emission estimates from fuel use in Europe is likely to be less than ± 5%. Total GHG emission trends are likely to be more accurate than the absolute emission estimates for individual years. The IPCC suggests that the uncertainty in total GHG emission trends is ± 4% to 5%. Uncertainty estimates were calculated for the EU-15 for the first time in EEA (2005). The results suggest that uncertainties at EU-15 level are between ± 4% and 8% for total EU-15 greenhouse gas emissions. For energy related greenhouse gas emissions the results suggest uncertainties between ± 1 % (stationary combustion) and ± 11% (fugitive emissions). For public electricity and heat production specifically, the uncertainty is estimated to be ± 3%. For the new Member States and some other EEA countries, uncertainties are assumed to be higher than for the EU-15 Member States because of data gaps.

Indicator uncertainty (scenarios)

Scenario analysis always includes many uncertainties and the results should thus be interpreted with care.

• uncertainties related to future socioeconomic and other developments (e.g. GDP);
• uncertainties in the underlying statistical and empirical data (e.g. on future technology costs and performance);
• uncertainties in the representativeness of the indicator;
• uncertainties in the dynamic behaviour of the energy system and its translation into models;
• uncertainties in future fuel costs and the share of low carbon technologies in the future

Rationale uncertainty

No uncertainty has been specified