What is the potential for energy savings from regulating systems?

The latest IEA - 4E Summary report from this work is now available for download: "Progressing Energy Efficiency Policies for Systems" (July 2022).

This report explores the main idea of transforming product efficiency policy into system efficiency policy, based on the significant potential energy savings for nine energy using systems: compressed air, pump systems, fan systems, steam systems, cold rooms, street lighting, commercial cooling, commercial heating and residential heating; and shows that the potential to reduce annual global energy consumption can reach up to 9% (17,000 PJ, 4,780 TWh).

The report presents the methodological approach proposed by 4E for extending product policies to address relevant energy-using systems, starting with a definition of a system and their classification considering three factors: the number of parts within a system, the extent to which these parts are identical, and the impact of the assembly on the performance and the energy consumption of the system.

The elements of existing regulatory approaches are explained, especially the scope, the addressees of the regulation, the energy efficiency metrics and requirements, the performance assessment methods, and the methods for verification and enforcement. The report discusses these regulatory elements for three different systems, and provides approaches for assessing the performance of different type of systems.

Graphic source: IEA-4E, 2022: Progressing Energy Efficiency Policies for Systems

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