Page 9 - European Energy Innovation magazine - autumn 2022 edition

European Energy Innovation
ENERGY EFFICIENCY 9

transition cannot and should not be
taken for granted.
Finally, energy effi ciency will create
lots of jobs in construction and
companies producing solutions for
energy effi ciency, providing a boost
to economy. However, there is a risk
of energy effi ciency being received
counter intuitively across fi nance
ministries in the Member States.
Reduced energy consumption will,
all else being equal, also mean
less taxes, and that is an obstacle
governments across Europe have to
come to terms with, when developing
national plans for energy effi ciency.

In my opinion, the European
Commission has done a good job
so far in analysing the potential and
mobilising funds for Europe’s energy
savings. On one account, I see the
Commission fall short though. The
potential of district heating and
cooling is not highly estimated,
while recent research from Aalborg
University in Denmark suggests that
district heating could potentially cover
as much as 50 percent of Europe,
primarily in urban areas. Moving from
central to district heating implies
massive energy savings, and there are
potential synergy effects available by
integrating district heating with ptx
production and utilise the surplus
heat from the ptx facility.

Nevertheless, energy effi ciency in
Europe is in a somewhat good place,
now that Putin has reminded us all of
energy savings being the only quick
fi x around that immediately reduces
our dependency on his gas. ●

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