United Kingdom   Energy efficiency report     

 

    Objectives:   o 136.5 TWh of end‐user energy savings by 2016  o 293 Mt of CO2 savings in the residential sector by energy distributors over 2008‐2012        Overview

2011

Primary intensity (EU=100)¹

79

CO2 intensity (EU=100) CO2 emissions per capita (in tCO2 /cap)

89 7.1

Power generation

2011

Efficiency of thermal power plants (in %)

43

Rate of electricity T&D losses (in %) CO2 emissions per kWh generated (in gCO2/kWh)

7.9 434

Industry

78

Share of industrial CHP in industrial consumption (in %)

22 0.32

-2.8% -2.9% -2.1% 0.1% -0.5% -0.8% -1.9% -0.7% -1.3%

  ++ Among the best performing countries     + Above the EU average1     ‐ Below the EU average1      ‐‐Among the worst performing countries 

Latest update: February 2013 

                                                             1

 The European Union, as the best performing region, is used as the benchmark. 

+ -

2000-2011 (%/year)

++ ++ -

*2010 and 2000-2010 for steel

       

++ + ++

2000-2011 (%/year)

++ -

2011

Energy intensity (EU=100) Unit consumption of steel (in toe/t)

2000-2011 (%/year)

++ + -

+ -

 

1. Overview 1.1. Policies: lower expectations Like the Action Plan 2008-2016, the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2011-2020 sets an energy savings target of 136.5 TWh by 2016 in buildings, transport and small industries, excluding sectors under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), corresponding to 9 percent of the reference energy consumption of final consumers. The UK has implemented diverse energy/CO2 savings obligations for electric and gas utilities since 2002: these savings must be obtained from domestic customers, with 50 percent of the savings coming from low-income households. Since 2008, the obligation is expressed in terms of CO2 savings and is known as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). The CERT was set at 293 MtCO2 over the period 2008-2012 (lifetime savings). Previously, the scheme was known as the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC), and set a 1 percent energy savings target for the period 2002-2005, which was doubled over the period 2005-2008. The EEC scheme resulted in annual energy savings of around 6 TWh/year for electricity and around 8 TWh/year for fossil fuels over the period 2002-2008. In 2011 the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published the country’s Carbon Plan, which is aimed at cutting carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 compared with 1990 levels. 1.2. Energy consumption trends: stabilizing energy needs UK energy consumption is 3 toe per capita, which is slightly below the EU average. Total energy consumption was relatively stable from 1995 until 2005, when it started to decrease by more than 2.5 percent/year, except in 2010 when total consumption increased slightly. However, that 2010 rebound was entirely offset by a 7 percent drop in 2011. Figure 1: Energy Consumption trends by sector 250 Other

Industry

Power generation

200

Mtoe

150

100

50

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

0

Source: Enerdata

  Industry (including non-energy uses) accounted for 27 percent of total consumption in 2011, and the power sector for about 21 percent. Their shares are almost stable. Electricity consumption per capita was around 5,200 kWh in 2011. Total electricity consumption increased on a regular basis from 1990 until 2005, and has been decreasing ever since (by 1.5 percent per year, on average), despite a small rebound in 2010, with a faster decrease in industry. Industry accounts for 31 percent of electricity consumption. The share of electricity in final energy consumption has been increasing steadily since 1990 and now stands at 21 percent.

UK | Country reports

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Figure 2: Electricity consumption trends by sector

400 Industry

350

Others

300

TWh

250 200 150 100 50 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

0

Source: Enerdata

1.3. Energy efficiency trends: considerable energy intensity reduction The UK’s total energy consumption per unit of GDP (total or primary energy intensity), measured at purchasing power parity, is about 20 percent lower than the EU average. It has also decreased more rapidly than in the EU, at a pace of around 2.3 percent/year between 1990 and 2011 (compared with the EU average of 1.7 percent/year). This decrease has been much faster since 2000 (2.8 percent/year over the period 2000-2011). The power sector and industry contributed almost equally to the intensity decrease over the period 1990-2011. Figure 3: Energy intensity trends 1990‐2011

2000‐2011

0.0%

%/year

‐0.5% ‐1.0% ‐1.5% ‐2.0% ‐2.5% ‐3.0%

Other Industry Power generation

Source: Enerdata

2. Power generation: high increases in average efficiency thanks to more efficient technologies The efficiency of the power sector has increased substantially, from 36 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2011. Despite the major role of thermal energies, that energy efficiency level is above the EU average and equal to or greater than the levels in countries with a larger share of hydropower in their power mix. In fact, the energy efficiency of thermal power plants is relatively high in the UK, reaching 43 percent in 2011. That improvement is due to a switch in the power generation mix to natural gas, and to the spread of efficient technologies like gas combined cycles and cogeneration. In 2011, combined cycles accounted for 45 percent of the thermal electricity capacity, which equals an average increase of 4 percent/year over the period 2000-2011.

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Figure 5: Thermal electricity capacity, by technology

Figure 4: Efficiency of power generation and thermal power plants 80

46

Steam

70

44

Gas turbines

Combined cycles

60

42

50 GW

40

% 38

40 30

36 34

Total power generation

20

32

Thermal power plants

10

Source: Enerdata

The rate of transmission and distribution losses (T&D) in the grid is about 8 percent, ie, above the EU average (6.5 percent).

Figure 6: Electric T&D Losses

12 10 8

%

6 4 2

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

0

Source: Enerdata

3. Industry 3.1. Policies: new energy efficiency scheme targets large energy consumers Energy efficiency in energy-intensive industries is driven by the EU ETS introduced in 2005. The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, introduced in January 2012, aims to improve energy efficiency and thus cut CO2 emissions in large private and public organizations. The CRC scheme places a cap on emissions for each qualified entity (companies outside the ETS consuming more than 6 GWh per year of electricity), which must buy allowances equal to their annual emissions. Companies are free to determine the best way to reduce their emissions: either by investing in measures that decrease the number of allowances that must be purchased, or by buying extra allowances. The first sale of allowances took place in 2012.

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2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

1990

0

30

The Strategy for Combined Heat and Power set an installed CHP capacity target of 10 GW for 2010. Although the capacity increased rapidly (more than 5 percent/year between 1990 and 2011), the target was not achieved (around 6 GW of installed capacities in 2010 and 6.1 GW in 2011). 3.2. Energy consumption trends: decreasing energy needs in industry Industrial energy consumption has been decreasing at a pace of 2.5 percent/year since 2000, ie, more rapidly than the overall energy consumption. In 2009 energy consumption fell by 15 percent due to the economic crisis, and has remained stable at that level ever since. Figure 7: Trends in industrial energy consumption 38 36 34

Mtoe

32 30 28 26 24 22

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

20

Source: Enerdata

  Natural gas accounts for around 35 percent of industrial energy consumption, compared with 31 percent in 1990. Electricity use developed rapidly and has now reached 32 percent. The market share of coal was reduced from 25 percent to 12 percent over the period. The share of oil is declining, dropping from 20 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2011. Despite its upward trend, biomass remains marginal, accounting for just 2 percent of the total.

UK | Country reports

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The share of energy-intensive industries (steel, chemical, paper and non-metallic minerals) has decreased since 1990, from 51 percent to less than 44 percent in 2010. The chemical industry accounts for 15 percent of the total. The share of steel has decreased significantly, from 20 percent in 1990 to 11 percent in 2010. The nonmetallic minerals (mainly cement) and paper industries have market shares of 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Figure 93: Energy consumption of industry, by branch

Figure 82: Energy consumption of industry, by source 100%

100%

90%

90%

80%

Biomass

70%

Heat

60%

Electricity

50%

Gas

40%

Oil

30%

Coal/Lignite

20%

80% 70%

Other

60%

Paper

50%

Non metallic minerals

40%

Chemical

30% Steel

20% 10%

10%

0%

0% 1990

2000

2005

2011

1990

2000

2005

2010

Source: Enerdata

3.3. Energy intensity trends: moderate reductions in industrial branches Between 1990 and 2010, the consumption per unit of industrial value added (energy intensity) decreased at the moderate pace of 1.1 percent/year. The largest decrease over 1990-2011 was seen in the chemical industry (2.6 percent/year). The steel industry showed an above-average reduction in its energy consumption per ton produced (0.9 percent/year), while the specific energy consumption per ton of cement and paper rose slightly (0.4 percent/year). Since 2010, the situation has worsened for the cement and paper industries, since the recession implies that industrial units operate with low load factors, which reduces energy efficiency.

Figure 10: Trends in the energy intensity of industrial branches 4.0% 3.0% 2.0%

%/year

1.0% 0.0% ‐1.0%

1990‐2010

2000‐2010 Total*

‐2.0%

Steel

‐3.0%

Chemical

‐4.0%

Cement

‐5.0%

Paper

‐6.0%

*Including construction and mining

Source: Enerdata, Odyssee

Combined heat and power generation has developed since 1990 and in 2011 made up 22 percent of industry’s electricity consumption. That level is above the EU average.

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Figure 11: Share of industrial CHP in industrial consumption

30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5%

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

0%

Source: Enerdata

The energy intensity of manufacturing industries (ie, excluding construction and mining) decreased by 1.9 percent/year over the period 2000-2010. That trend is influenced by the changes in the energy efficiency of the various industrial branches, but also by changes in the structure of the value added of manufacturing. When calculated at constant structure to remove the effect of changes in the structure of the value added of manufacturing and to better capture the true energy efficiency improvements, the decrease was slightly faster (2.3 percent/year); the difference (about 0.4 percent/year) reflects structural changes, although they were not significant over the period.

Figure 12: Trends of the energy intensity of manufacturing and structural effect

Real variation Change at constant  structure Structural effect

1.0% 0.5% 0.0%

%/year

1990‐2010

2000‐2010

‐0.5% ‐1.0% ‐1.5% ‐2.0% ‐2.5%

Source: Enerdata

UK | Country reports

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