A recent article by the Energy Efficiency Council makes for sobering reading. Compared to the rest of the world, Australia is doing poorly on energy efficiency. Interestingly money spent on energy efficiency is an investment and not an expense. This is made clear when energy efficiency reduces energy use and then the flow on effect will be the reduction in costs. The saving is then the return on the investment in energy efficiency and is often a high yield. Higher than other uses for a company’s capital!
Following is an extract from the Energy Efficiency Council article titled Australia Confirmed as a Global Laggard on Energy Efficiency
A global assessment of the energy efficiency of the world’s biggest energy consumers has found Australia is a long way behind other industrialised countries.
Australia’s poor energy efficiency performance reduces Australia’s international competitiveness, increases our energy bills and greenhouse gasses, and increases the number of Australians that die each year during hot and cold weather (currently 3,000 per annum).
The 2016 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard produced by respected US ‘think-tank’ the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), ranked Australia 16 out of 23 countries in a comprehensive assessment that took into account both energy efficiency performance and policy settings.
Image Source: ACEEE, 2016 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard
EEC Chief Executive Officer Luke Menzel welcomed the report, saying it underlined the cold hard fact that Australia has fallen well behind our global competitors.
“Australia lags well behind other wealthy countries on energy efficiency, in fact we’re in the same group as Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand. Australia’s consistently poor rankings for smart energy use are a direct result of energy efficiency being an afterthought in our energy policy.”
“Australia continues to fall behind while leaders like Germany take an integrated approach, investing in energy efficiency, battery storage and low carbon generation at the same time.”
The one bright spot was in building efficiency where the report makes reference to
“Australia’s performance on building efficiency is reasonable, ranking 9th out of 23 countries. This is due to sensible rules that protect businesses by requiring office owners to advertise how efficient their buildings are when they sell and lease them” says Mr. Menzel.
