Energy Efficiency in the Residential Sector of the European Union: Identification of Promising Policy Instruments and Private Initiatives

Abstract

The article is based on updated findings of the Horizon 2020 EUFORIE Project (European Futures for Energy Efficiency). This study draws on five case studies from selected European countries ā€” Finland, Italy, Hungary, Spain, UK ā€” and evaluate the policies and the role of the private sector to stimulate investments in energy efficiency in the residential sector.From the analysis of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plans, it clearly emerges that there is a wide disparity in terms of content, level of detail in describing, and the level of ambition about the energy efficiency instruments in place and planned for the next years among Member States as well as in the role of the private sector in stimulating energy efficiency improvements in the residential sector. When compared to what has been done in the last years in Finland, Spain, Italy, and Hungary, the UK government seems to have implemented a better balanced set of energy efficiency policies targeted at the residential sector, with the participation of diverse private actors. However, its existing conditions appear to be more problematic than other countries. In particular, the prevalence of older dwellings in the national stock built to lower standards of energy efficiency combined with a high share of the private rented sector in the housing market, leaves larger untapped potential for improvements than the other countries under investigation. 

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Author Information
Gianluca Trotta, University of Vaasa, Finland
Sylvia Lorek, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Germany
Joachim Spangeberg, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Germany

• Category: ECSEE2017, Oral Presentation
• Tag: Energy: Energy Economics and Ecological Economics,

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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