Scaling Up Energy Efficiency

Problem:
Today’s podcast will explore the application and use of carbon footprint calculations, that is GHG accounting and lifecycle analysis, with Vanja Wylie. In today’s talk, we will discuss, among others, how to GHG accounting can inform decisions on energy efficiency.

Key message:
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a systematic, standardised approach to quantifying a product's or system's potential environmental impacts. GHG Accounting is more narrow in its assessment of environmental impacts in that it quantifies the total greenhouse gases produced directly and indirectly from a business or organisation’s activities. Both are increasingly popular among financial and other organisations in making informed decisions on the sustainability of investment portfolios. Data gaps aggravate this and are particularly pertinent in developing countries, but solutions exist. In making decisions on energy efficiency, especially in weighing options, GHG accounting can help take a full lifecycle perspective that accounts not just for energy performance and operational carbon but also material and production carbon intensity and what is referred to as embodied carbon.

Speakers: Elisabeth Resch, Vanja Elizabeth Wylie
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepccc.org/kms_object/informed-decision-making-on-portfolio-decarbonisation-using-ghg-accounting-and-lifecycle-analysis-podcast/

Problem:
Energy efficiency can enable more than 40% of the required GHG reductions to achieve global climate goals without requiring new technology breakthroughs. Improved energy efficiency has the potential to create new jobs, foster innovation, improve the productive use of electricity -i.e., cooling, clean cooking, lighting, heating, mobility, etc.- and boost economic growth.
Energy efficiency is the fastest and most cost-effective way to reduce fossil fuel demand and build a cleaner and more resilient energy future. Yet, global energy efficiency has not improved at the pace needed to achieve the goals.

Key message:
How to raise the profile of Energy Efficiency as the main solution for achieving Net Zero or, more simplistically, how to make “Energy Efficiency move from the boiler room to the board room”.

Speakers: Gabriela Prata Dias, Toby Morgan
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/financing-energy-efficiency-investments-podcast/

Problem:
It is a critical time for energy efficiency. Despite its recognised importance, improvements have fallen short of expectations. Energy efficiency increase amounted to only around 2% per year between 2011 and 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic further hit energy efficiency efforts hard. In 2020, improvements were estimated to be only 0.8%, which is substantially lower than the SDG target of 2.6% per year. The International Energy Agency finds that progress on energy efficiency globally recovered in 2021 to a pre-pandemic pace but remained well short of what would be needed to help put the world on track to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.
The inadequate improvements stem from insufficient energy efficiency investments, despite the ostensibly strong business case for energy efficiency. While wind and solar power investments have increased substantially, energy efficiency investments have not grown at an equal pace. Global investments in energy efficiency have not risen significantly in recent years.

Key message:
A path towards reaching net zero emissions by 2050 requires total annual investment in energy efficiency worldwide to triple by 2030. Financing energy efficiency investments must be feasible and include a broad set of instruments, including equity-based financing.

Speakers: Elisabeth Resch, Alexander Ablaza
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/financing-energy-efficiency-investments-podcast/

Problem:
There is a fundamental disconnect between the finance community and energy efficiency. The Mission Efficiency Financing Charette was convened to undo this disconnect. The charette brought together two groups: the world’s finance community (private sector, development banks, philanthropic organisations, climate finance facilities, etc.) and the projects and initiatives.

Key message:
To address current gaps and facilitate commitments to work together to redefine investing in energy efficiency projects and launch an energy efficiency market readiness initiative at COP27.

Speakers: Gabriela Prate Dias, Steven Kukoda, Brian Dean
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/energy-efficiency-financing-podcast/

Problem:
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) could help address climate concerns and enable the much-needed shift toward a circular economy (CE). The ICTs could also contribute to global carbon emissions and generate waste during its production, usage and obsolescence phases. What type of collaborations do we need to address sustainable ICT development?

Key message:
Climate change actions and digitalisation movement should influence each other and at the strategy level, digitalisation should address energy and environmental concerns to lay down a green recovery and low carbon development path. An environmental responsibility mind-set amongst stakeholders, including the ICT sector, policy makers, citizens and academia is needed to form concerted and timely actions.

Speakers: Malcolm Johnson, Xiao Wang
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/sustainable-ict-development-and-the-role-of-itu-digigreen-ep-1-podcast/

Problem:
Production of the currently preferred construction materials for the building industry is one of the largest sources of carbon emissions globally

Key message:
As buildings become increasingly energy efficient in most parts of the world, the production of the construction materials mostly used - concrete, steel and glass - become the buildings' most severe climate impact. To reduce this climate impact a rethink of the materials that go into construction is necessary.

Speakers: Søren Lütken
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/embodied-carbon-in-construction-materials-the-new-concern-for-architects-podcast/

Problem:
Geographic Information Systems or Geographic Information Science (GIS) has the potential to be more and more used in energy planning processes. From studies on energy access to grid analytics, researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable energy have started to recognise to potential of this system. Nevertheless, energy efficiency studies and applications are not as present and, consequently, GIS remains still an abstract concept. However, the deployment of GIS for energy efficiency encompasses multiple sectors, from buildings to street lights to transport and district energy. During this podcast, some examples on how to apply GIS to case studies related energy efficiency are introduced. Starting off with a brief explanation on what is GIS and how it works, the audience will listen to some examples on the potential of GIS in the energy efficiency world.
First, to provide an example of a detailed study and of an online application of GIS, the podcast explains how satellite data and administrative data created datasets that explore electrification and energy access (both current and potential) in countries of the Global South.
Moving on with energy efficiency deployments of GIS, the following case study comes from the US and looks at how comparable scoring systems on the energy consumption of houses build upon GIS applications and are used by government agencies. Subsequently, an example of using GIS to evaluate energy efficiency projects is detailed. Lastly, the conversation looks into GIS potential for efficient public lighting in cities.
With this podcast, the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency hopes that the audience will get a glance of what is GIS and why it is a tool with relevance and potential for scaling up energy efficiency across sectors.

Key message:
Few investigated the application of spatial analysis with GIS for energy efficiency. This podcast explores relevant implementation cases and potential.

Speakers: Susana Adriana Paardekooper, Valeria Zambianchi
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/geographic-information-system-gis-applications-for-scaling-up-energy-efficiency-podcast/

Problem:
There is a significant difference in perception of indoor thermal comfort between men and women, with men demonstrating a strong preference lower temperatures than women, sometimes referred to as the ‘battle of the thermostat’. Research discussed in this episode shows that there is also a notable impact on productivity and cognitive performance, with women performing better at high temperatures than at low temperatures. At the same time in most modern office space, the settings for the indoor temperature are based on the physical characteristics of male occupants.
Key message:
Gender-specific responses of occupants to the indoor temperature should be taken into account, when designing temperature settings for gender mixed workplaces in order to increase productivity by setting the thermostat higher than current standards.
Speakers: Ksenia Petrichenko, Agne Kajackaite
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/battle-for-the-thermostat-energy-efficiency-and-gender-podcast/

Problem:
Energy efficiency is becoming more and more recognised as a cost-effective mitigation measure for achieving the Paris Agreement and SDGs, however, it is considered a not very tangible, not too sexy, relatively fragmented and small-scale efforts. The question that many actors are facing in the field is to how to bring the scale to Energy Efficiency on the local, national and global level
Key message:
Derisking buildings through green mortgages can help to bring scale to energy efficiency investments.
Speakers: Ksenia Petrichenko, Steven Borncamp
Support: Aristeidis Tsakiris
https://c2e2.unepdtu.org/kms_object/derisking-investments-into-green-buildings-podcast/

This podcast by the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency promotes the ongoing work and research on energy efficiency through discussions with experts from various sectors, such as buildings, district energy, and datacentres. You will hear experiences and case studies from our global network of experts and we aim to help you understand them. If you want to learn more about energy efficiency or discover related projects, this is the podcast for you!

To find out more, check our website c2e2.unepdtu.org