The Danish Ecocouncil´s pesentation about energy and environmental relatede questions

NGO-views from my Chair

Søren Dyck-Madsen

Det Økologiske Råd

Rockwool international - Jyllinge 10.9.2012 The Danish Ecological Council

Drivers for Environmental Issues

• Resources situation

• Climate and Energy situation

• Trade balance

• Energy efficiency

• Legislation and economic incentives

• CSR

• Availability of investment capital

• Pollution prevention


Resources Situation


Cost of Rare Ressources


Source: Newspaper Børsen - October 2011

Climate


• Global agreement at the UNFCCC process unfortunately is not likely

• Climate change is increasingly being addressed elsewhere

• Climate concerns will be supported by concerns for:

o energy supply

o security of energy supply

o geopolitical concerns

o economic concerns

• Job potentials in climate and energy shift will be highlighted

Energy Situation


• Oil is becoming really scarce

• Draught in US shows why Ethanol cannot be the new oil

• Coal is becoming harder to get – and the quality is getting worse

• Renewables are growing, but needs back up – gas is obvious

• Natural Gas is still plenty – but situated in Russia and Algeria

• Bio gas and other synthetic gasses are still relatively expensive

• Shale gas is a dark horse – with lots of economic potential and lots of environmental risks

EU Trade Balance and Cost of Energy


Source: Eurostat and WWF 2010

”The EU Budget deficit in 2011 was around 150 Billion Euros – but the

cost of imported oil alone was around 315 Billion Euros”

“Quotation” from Connie Hedegaard 2012

Energy Efficiency is a Money Machine


-600

-400

-200

0

200

400

2011-2015 2016-2020 2021-2025 2026-2030

Billio

n €

'08

Costs for investment in energy efficiency Costs for investment in power and steam generation and distribution Energy expenditureTotal energy system costs for stationary uses

Policy Drivers for Energy Savings


• Since the EU Green Paper on Energy came out in 2000 the focus on the EU energy situation with energy efficiency and renewable energy as the two important EU energy tools

• Legislation is there now. Especially these three important directives:

o The EPBD – Buildings directive

o The 20 % Renewables Directive

o The EED – Energy Efficiency Directive

• Regulation of CO2 from cars and vans – heavy vehicles still missing

• Flexibility in energy consumption = Smart Grid will be important

The Energy Efficiency Directive


• The directive demands many different things from MS:

• Set up scheme for energy companies to do annual energy savings

• Set indicate targets for energy savings and report to commission

• Make strategy for deep or staged renovations of buildings

• Require energy audits for industries and set up accreditation schemes

• Register every public building and its energy consumption

• Do benchmarks and cost efficiency calculations for every new energy installation with focus on use of district heating

The Energy Efficiency Directive


• Set up investment facilities

• Set up education facilities

• Everything have to be publicly reported to the Commission

• All 27 MS have to do the same = much benchmarking and knowledge and learning will be available in this process

• The process will open the eyes for the many advantages from EE in countries not working efficiently in this area – creating jobs, reducing costs for importing fossil fuels and improving health and indoor climate and improving industrial competitiveness

Investment is strongly needed

• In some countries like Denmark investment capacity is present

• In many countries investment possibilities (like loans with almost no security) will have to be set up

• State subsidy schemes will have to be set up

• EU money will have to be directed to these actions

• And investments in human capital and education will have to be done – creating markets for energy savings will trigger private incentives

• Companies offering energy efficient renovations and materials may combine this with investment facilities


Corporate responsibility

• Corporate social responsibility in the energy and climate area is growing

• Focus is on products and production site and supplier performance

• Global Compact is one way to do it, but other and possibly more local initiatives will pop up – e.g. the WindMade labelling

• Energy savings and environmental improvement is number one

• Use of renewable energy is number two, but here it is a jungle to find the right additional way to act


Corporate responsibility

• In many countries national regulation is weak triggering front runner companies to do more

• 5 years ago it was OK in Denmark just to follow a rather strong national regulation – that is not the case anymore

• Growing focus on companies telling the good story about themselves and their commitment - this story cannot be told just by following the rules

• Especially companies that produce environmental and climate helpful product is targeted to do more – and to tell about it

• Dialog with stakeholders especially ngo’s is growing

• Openness is becoming much more important


Energy Embedded in Materials

• As the energy needed for the use of buildings (and other products) is declining the focus will shift to reduce the energy consumed in producing the materials. This can be targeted in several ways:

• Reduction of energy use in each material

• Reuse of materials extending the period of calculation of the embedded energy (deposit and refund systems etc.)

• Innovative materials that result in less energy use per material unit

• Shifting energy use to renewables

• Using only second hand materials and local materials

• How to reduce the use of concrete, steel and aluminium


Smarter Materials

• In energy efficiency lots of innovation is going on

• Related to Rockwool it is evident that insulation materials competing with Rockwool already are or is coming to the market

• The aim is to use less space to achieve a better insulation effect and to improve architectural preservation and improvement of the renovated buildings

• But also air tightness and individual ventilation systems is greatly improved


Transport

• EU has adopted regulation of CO2 from small cars (2008) and vans (2011)

• The regulations provide some reduction through the “mandatory” goals – but they must be followed by tax policy – which is the responsibility of the member states

• Right EU is re-negotiating the 2020 goals for private cars – proposal 95 g CO2 per km – a stronger goal like 80 g would be possible to achieve

• Regulation of heavy vehicles is still missing


Other environmental Issues

• Water scarcity need to be addressed

• Local pollution is no longer acceptable

• Focus on other pollutants such as CO2, particles, NOx etc. points at energy efficiency and non thermal renewable production as solutions

• Indoor climate both in production and working sites but definitely also in private housing will gain focus. But it normally requires support schemes or some wealth to actually pay for these investments that do not pay back in private economic terms like energy savings


Factors for Future Environmental Issues

Thank you for the attention

The presentation can be downloaded from www.ecocouncil.dk

[email protected]

The Danish Ecological Council Rockwool international - Jyllinge 10.9.2012

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The Danish Ecocouncil´s pesentation about energy and environmental relatede questions