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The Role of the UK Energy Efficiency Office
Abstract
Last year the United Kingdom spent some £37bn on
energy. Analysis of energy use, through extensive
studies such as the Energy Efficiency Office's
"Energy Use and Energy Efficiency in UK
Manufacturing Industry up to the Year 2000"
has revealed that 20% of energy, or £7bn worth,
is wasted in all sectors of the economy. In
industry and commerce alone that amounts to £2bn
worth of energy wasted every year. Half of this
sum could be saved through management measures requiring little or no investment, the rest
through investment with relatively short payback
periods. Indeed, the Energy Efficiency Office
has identified some £300m of investments in energy
efficiency which would have a payback of less
than 12 months.
Important sectors of the British economy have
been slow to realise the potential benefits of
improved energy efficiency. There have been a
variety of barriers which have impeded the smooth
effective operation of market forces. The
barriers most prevalent in the industrial and
commercial sectors can be broadly categorised
as: Lack of awareness: senior managers have
been unaware of the potential for
improvement. Even when aware, they have
accepted the assurances of others within
the organisation that all necessary steps
have been taken, though other evidence
has shown such assurances to be ill-founded.
Lack of skills: consumers have not known
how to monitor and analyse energy
consumption, how to identify waste, or
how to apply improvement measures. In
addition, inadequate financial appraisal
has led to cost-effective improvement
measures not being implemented.
Structural constraints: energy efficiency
can be impeded by institutional arrangements
which separate the investor (eg. the
landlord) from the beneficiary (the tenant).
Underdevelopment of the energy efficiency
industries: while appropriate technology
has been developed, it has not always been
marketed in a manner which could overcome
lack of confidence or unwillingness to invest
in novel technology. In November 1983 the Secretary of State for
Energy, Peter Walker, established the Energy
Efficiency Office to devise, administer, and
promote programmes which would overcome the
barriers outlined above and thus enable the market
to operate more effectively.
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Citation
Finer, E. G. (1986). The Role of the UK Energy Efficiency Office. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /92956.