energy efficiency in private households

TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF GRAZ ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEM SCIENCE

ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS CHANCES TO SAVE ELECTRICITY

AUTHOR: ARMIN LEOPOLD MSC. PRINCIPAL TUTOR: UNIV. PROF. DIPL.ING. DR. MAG. HEINZ STIGLER

RESEARCH THEME: ENERGY EFFICIENCY

INSTITUTE: INSTITUTE FOR ELECTRICITY ECONOMICS AND ENERGY INNOVATIONS

LEVEL: GRADUATE NOVEMBER 2008

Energy Efficiency in private Households

Acknowledgement Writing a thesis can be seen as a complicated task. In consequence, the support of certain people played an important role to the fulfilment of this task. I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my principal tutor Professor Heinz Stigler, Head of the Institute for electricity economics and electricity innovations at the technical university Graz. His wide knowledge and his logical way of thinking have been of great value for me. His understanding, encouraging and personal guidance have provided a good basis for the present thesis. I wish to express my sincere thanks to him for his constructive criticism and excellent advice during the preparation of this thesis. I wish to extend my warmest thanks to all my colleagues who have helped us with their support. I owe my loving thanks to all my family members. They have lost a lot due to my long, intensive study. Without their encouragement and understanding it would have been impossible for me to finish this work. Graz, November 2008

Armin Leopold MSc.

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Abstract In the year 2006, Austria emitted about 91,1 Mio tons of total CO2 emissions, which means, that we are about 32,4 percent away from the discussed greenhouse gas emission reduction target. Because of this actual fact Austria will not be able reaching the Kyoto protocol targets for 2012. Therefore new attractive energy saving potentials have to be developed, like saving electricity at private households. Especially the high electricity losses of the stand-by mode of many different appliances, the inefficient incandescent lamps, electricity-wasting white goods and many different other electronic equipments can be used more efficient, although a higher efficiency doesn’t mean that the standard of living is becoming lower! Furthermore electricity efficiency at private households can be a real win-win-win situation, because of the higher efficient appliances the household members can save a lot of money, tons of greenhouse gas emissions are reduced and finally also the power companies have a higher energy supply security for their customers. Essential information’s about the latest and most popular energy labels, the most common Austrian energy consulting institutions are presented, before energy saving tips for seven different appliance groups can help to use electricity, money and emissions in a more sustainable way. Keywords: energy efficiency, electric efficacy, energy labels, private household, energy saving

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TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................... 2 ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... 3 1.

2.

3.

INTRODUCTION................................................................................... 9 1.1.

Motivation and Background ............................................................................11

1.2.

Significance of the study ..................................................................................11

1.3.

Aim of the study ...............................................................................................12

1.4.

Organization of the study ................................................................................13

1.5.

Delimitations....................................................................................................13

1.6.

Usefulness of the study ....................................................................................14

METHODOLOGY..................................................................................15 2.1.

Research question ............................................................................................15

2.2.

Data collection .................................................................................................16

2.3.

Qualitative research .........................................................................................16

2.4.

Reliability .........................................................................................................17

BASIC SITUATION OF THE ENERGY ECONOMY .......................18 3.1. 3.1.1. 3.1.2. 3.2. 3.2.1. 3.2.2. 3.2.3.

International.....................................................................................................18 International energy economy outlook .............................................................18 International energy policies ............................................................................20 European Union.............................................................................................. 24 European Union’s energy economy outlook ....................................................24 European Union’s energy policies....................................................................25 Green Paper on Energy Efficiency ...................................................................27

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3.3. 3.3.1. 3.3.2. 3.3.3. 3.4. 3.4.1. 3.4.2.

4.

Austria ............................................................................................................. 30 Austrian’s energy economy outlook.................................................................30 Austrian’s energy policies ................................................................................35 Specific Austrian’s energy saving targets for the near future ..........................37 Styria................................................................................................................ 39 Styrian’s energy economy outlook ...................................................................39 Styrian’s energy policies ..................................................................................40

INHIBITORS TO IMPLEMENTING ELECTRICITY EFFICIENCY

IN PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS..................................................................... 42

5.

4.1.

Behavioural barrier.......................................................................................... 42

4.2.

Information barrier.......................................................................................... 43

4.3.

Financial barrier .............................................................................................. 44

4.4.

Additional barriers........................................................................................... 45

4.5.

Diffusion factors.............................................................................................. 45

4.6.

The mental model of efficiency ...................................................................... 46

ENERGY INFORMATION AND CONSULTATION FOR ENERGY

EFFICIENCY IN AUSTRIA......................................................................... 48

5.1.

Energy labels........................................................................................ 48

5.1.1. 5.1.2. 5.1.3. 5.1.4. 5.1.5. 5.1.6. 5.1.7. 5.1.8. 5.1.9. 5.1.10. 5.1.11.

Euro label..........................................................................................................50 Energy+ Project ................................................................................................51 Environmental label “Blue Angel”...................................................................51 European Environmental Label “Margerite”....................................................51 Energy Star .......................................................................................................52 GEEA-Group for Energy Efficient Appliances................................................52 ECO-Circle .......................................................................................................52 TCO-Label........................................................................................................53 Accommodativeness costs electricity...............................................................53 Intelligent electricity meter...............................................................................56 One Watt Initiative ...........................................................................................57

5.2. 5.2.1. 5.2.2.

Austrian energy consulting institutions.......................................................... 59 Austrian Energy Agency ..................................................................................59 Electricity Control Company............................................................................60

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5.2.3. 5.2.4. 5.2.5. 5.2.6. 5.2.7. 5.2.8. 5.2.9. 5.2.10. 5.2.11. 5.2.12. 5.3. 5.3.1. 5.3.2. 5.3.3. 5.3.4. 5.3.5. 5.3.6. 5.3.7. 5.3.8. 5.3.9. 5.4. 5.4.1. 5.4.2. 5.4.3. 5.4.4. 5.4.5. 5.4.6. 5.4.7.

6.

Electricity saving action plan ...........................................................................61 Energy saving consultant by the Austrian department of the environment......61 Database of the Most Efficicient Electrical equipment for private households62 Energy consultant of the Vorarlberg power station stock corporation .............63 Energy saving consultant of the Lower Austrian Energy supplier...................63 Energy saving consultant of the Linz stock corporation ..................................63 Energy consultant of the Tyrolean Energy supplier .........................................64 Energy consultant of the Vienna Energy supplier ............................................65 Upper Austrian Energy saving association.......................................................65 Other energy consulting institutions.................................................................66 Austrian’s electricity consumption calculation tools...................................... 68 Austrian E-Control ...........................................................................................69 Wien Energie ....................................................................................................70 Verbund Stock Corporation..............................................................................72 TIWAG electricity consumption check............................................................73 Efficient electronic devices by the VKW AG ..................................................74 Topprodukte.at..................................................................................................75 Calculation tool for stand-by losses by electronic devices...............................76 Energy Consultant company “Feistritzwerke” .................................................78 Other foreign electricity consumption calculation tools...................................80 Tips on saving energy at home ........................................................................81 Lighting ............................................................................................................82 Dishwasher .......................................................................................................83 Refrigerator.......................................................................................................84 Washing machine and dryer .............................................................................85 Electric stove ....................................................................................................86 Office equipment ..............................................................................................87 Standby .............................................................................................................88

CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 89

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TABLE OF FIGURES AND TABLES: Figure 1: Strategic Ellipse ......................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 2: World marketed energy consumption from 1980 to 2030.................................................. 19 Figure 3: Residential electricity consumption in Europe in 2004 ....................................................... 25 Figure 4: Sectoral energetic energy end-consumption in TJ from 1970 to 2006.............................. 30 Figure 5: Austrian total energy flow 2005 .............................................................................................. 31 Figure 6: Structure of the end-energy consumption by sectors in 2006 ............................................ 32 Figure 7: electricity end-consumption by sectors from 1990 until 2006 ........................................... 33 Figure 8: Total Austrian electricity consumption in private households in Twh from 1990-2006 33 Figure 9:Number of Austrian households in comparison to the population growth...................... 34 Figure 10: Dissemination of seven different household appliances in Austria................................. 35 Figure 11: Energetic energy end-consumption by different energy sources..................................... 39 Figure 12: CO2 Emissions by sectors in Styria ..................................................................................... 41 Figure 13: The Evolution of the Mental Model Source ....................................................................... 46 Figure 14: TIWAG, electricity consumption check.............................................................................. 65 Figure 15: Energy consumption calculation........................................................................................... 71 Figure 16: Electricity calculation user interface..................................................................................... 72 Figure 17: Pie chart of the major electricity consumption classes...................................................... 74 Figure 18: Standby calculation tool ......................................................................................................... 78 Figure 19: Feistritzwerke, Energieberatung, .......................................................................................... 79

Table 1: Energy efficiency comparison of CFL to standard lamp...................................................... 50 Table 2: Technical comparison of different lamp types,...................................................................... 55 Table 3: Appliance mode that might be considered in the definition of standby power................ 57 Table 4: Annual electricity consumption calculation and achievable saving potentials with the professional check by the E-control ....................................................................................................... 70 Table 5: Annual electricity consumption calculation and achievable saving potentials with the quick check by the E-control ................................................................................................................... 70 Table 6: Final electricity consumption result ......................................................................................... 73 Table 7: VKW, sparsame Spülmaschinen .............................................................................................. 75 Table 8: Most efficient dishwashers database........................................................................................ 76

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LIST OF ACRONYMS Btu:

British thermal unit

CFC: Chlorofluorocarbon CFL: Compact fluorescent lamp CHP: Combined Heat and Power CO2: Carbon dioxide COP: Conference of the Parties ECCP: European Climate Change Programme EMS: Environmental Management Systems EPA: Environmental Protection Agency EPI:

Environmental Performance Indicator

ESA: Endangered Species Act G 8:

The eight leading industrialized countries

GDP: Gross Domestic Product GHG: Green House Gases GRI: Global Reporting Initiative GWh: Giga Watt hours GWP: Global Warming Potential ISO:

International Standards Organization

JI:

Joint Implementation

NEEAP: National Energy Efficiency Action Plan NGO: Non-Governmental Organisations Mtoe: Million tons oil equivalent MWh: Mega Watt hours SAS:

Sustainability Advisory Services

SF6:

Sulphur hex fluoride

TBL: Triple Bottom Line TWh: Tera watt hours UNEP: United Nations Environment Programme UNFCCC: United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change

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1. Introduction Few scientists today disagree with the notion that humans are severely degrading many of earth’s ecosystems1. There is growing consensus in the scientific community that climate changes, if not caused, are then certainly accelerated by collective human activity. Global climate change is just one, large-in-scope, aspect of changes. This change leads to the degradation of the eco-systems whose services sustain all life, including human economic endeavour on earth. Ecosystem services are the benefits the human population derives, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions.2 One of the latest headlines in the newspaper is:” Maldives is saving money for their new home country.” In other words, because of the fear of the rising sea level, the new president of the small island state Maldives is willing to buy new land somewhere else. This is no fiction, it is reality! In about 60 years several small island states like Kiribati, Cook-Islands, Fidschi, Bahamas and also the Maldives will be under the future sea level, because of global warming. The unfair fact is that they are not really the causer for the global warming but have to suffer most of the global warming effect and the resulting rising sea level. Especially the United Nations support the mental model of the Maldives’s President, who is worrying and thinking about the future generations and therefore is willing to save money for the Maldives and invest in a sustainable way in a near home country for the 380 000 inhabitants. Already today it is significant to think about these problems, because of the fact that a whole society has to migrate to another country in the near future. New Zealand and Australia made already special agreements with these small island states for a sustainable solution, to let most island people immigrate.3 Economic theories cannot be at variance with ecological reality. The concept of sustainability broadly applied in the macroeconomic context is being increasingly introduced in explaining a

1

Boyd Cohen and Monica I. Winn, “Market imperfections, opportunity and sustainable entrepreneurship,” Journal of

Business Venturing 22 (2007): pp.29. 2

Ibid., pp33.

3

Teresa Schaur, Malediven sparen für neue Heimat, Die Presse, 11th November 2008, p.8

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companies’ behaviour.4 A sustainable oriented firm is expected to have a distinctly formulated vision about its long-term goals and objectives, which is the ultimate measure of prosperity.5 Richard D. Lamm, former governor of the state of Colorado stated, “Our economic system must adapt to our ecological system, or at a minimum our economic system cannot destroy our ecological system.6” Leaders can’t rest on their financial achievements. Over the past thirty years, environmental thinking and public expectations have grown. It is no longer good enough to simply comply with the law. Formerly “acceptable” levels of pollution are increasingly less acceptable, legal or not. So companies should voluntarily move beyond compliance to pre-emptive and preventive planning and action. As David Kerr, chairman and CEO of Noranda Inc. said, “We have to be ready to meet society’s expectations and the electronic standards of tomorrow with the decisions we make today.7” Core drivers of competitiveness: encompassing price, quality and service are no longer the primary determinants of choice. The market is going beyond these core drivers, seeking assurances in other areas such as environmental performance, sustainable production practice, corporate ethics and values, and community welfare. Integrating quality and environmental responsiveness into management-based objectives is an important step in the right direction. The bottom line means that we must recognize that in today’s world a multinational corporation and also a small, regional retailer of electronic devices are allowed to stay in business only if they respond to society’s needs and concerns.8 Being an electricity efficient and corporate citizen is becoming more and more important for companies. But it is also developed clear that not only companies have a powerful interest in being good environmental corporate citizens in order to elicit the loyalty and pride of their employees. In a nutshell, excellent environmental management is not just fundamental to attracting and retaining customers: it is also the key to attract and retain

4

Alexi Danchev, “Social capital and sustainable behaviour of the firm,” Industrial management & Data systems 106

(2006) pp953. 5

Ibid., 958.

6

Miguel A. Rodriguez , Joan E. Ricart and Pablo Sancez, “ Governance barriers to a sustainable world: How do we

get there from here?,” Vital Speeches of the Day 67 (August 2001): pp1. 7

Robert M Abbott, “Green and competitive,” Canadian Mining Journal 6, (December 1998): pp.29.

8

Robert M Abbott, “Green and competitive,” Canadian Mining Journal 6, (December 1998): pp.30.

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talent.9 Foresighted business leaders are coming to understand that electric efficiency can be a win-win situation for the earth and the profit of organizations.10

1.1.

Motivation and Background

My academic background is strongly related with the motivation for this research. On one the hand I study environmental system science and on the other hand I had the possibility to gain in my Erasmus year a master degree in strategic leadership and international management in Sweden. Although I am strongly associated with environmental issues concerning climatology and global warming, my interests about international multinational organisations and their impact is strongly interdisciplinary. Hence, the choice of the concept of electrical efficiency is a combination of my increasing interest concerning environmental issues, and a way of showing and widening our academic skills in this specific field.

1.2.

Significance of the study

In recent decades, growing awareness has been internationally directed towards the special need for a more sustainable way of energy consumption in private households. We start to realize that energy efficiency and more specific, electric efficiency is becoming a vital part of all human activities and in a broader sense, fundamental to all cultures.11

9

Pieter Winsemius, Excellence in Environmental Management : A Thousand Shades of Green (Earthscan

Publications, Limited,2002), pp.1. 10 11

Rudy M. Baum, “Global warming denial,” Chemical and engineering news 85, (February 2007): pp. 3. The

applied

research

institute

Jerusalem,

“The

status

of

the

Palestinian

environment”,

http://www.arij.org/pdf/chapter17.pdf, p.1

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Pictures: 1 and 2: Hallstätter Dachstein Glacier/ Austria Source: www.gletscherarchiv.de Especially in the Alps, the effect of the climate change can be seen in a more dramatically way, then anywhere else. The immense global warming consequences are influencing directly the people living in this region, as it can be seen in the following pictures of the Dachstein. Global warming, land degradation, escalating poverty, the energy crisis, species extinctions, and increased population growth are all factors which have shifted people’s attention towards the environment and its capability to support us. Over this time the concept, theory and practice of electric efficiency has evolved into a system of thought, highlighting the significance of the environment and its protection as a fundamental component of social development, human well being and operational mindset.12 Understanding of the real meaning of electric efficiency and its enormous significance for modern private households generated the main reason why I have decided to work on an issue like this.

1.3.

Aim of the study

The main purpose of this research is to explain the most significant advantages of reaching a higher efficacy for private household devices. I am discussing the European development in this energy sector, not just from an economic perspective, but from an environmental perspective as well. In other words, I provide convinced arguments that sustainability and living in a modern 12

Clionadh Raleigh, Henrik Urdal, “Climate Change, Environmental Degradation and Armed Conflict”, the 47th

Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), http://www.prio.no/page/Publication_details//9429/47828.html?PHPSESSID=b8a30ac, accessed May 2007.

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household with many different electronic types of equipment are potentially complimentary, not contradictory. In accordance with the usage of modern household appliances I am discussing the necessity and obligations for every family towards the environment. Forest Reinhardt explains this issue stating that: Families should look at environmental problems as personal issues. They should make electricity-saving investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or reduce risks.13

1.4.

Organization of the study

This paper begins with an introduction to the forthcoming research. It continues with a chapter devoted to the methodology, which follows in order to comprehend and recognize the requirements of this paper. To continue, the theoretical framework of the thesis starts in chapter number three. In chapter number four, the main benefits of electricity efficiency in private households are discussed and divided into two main areas: the business benefits and the environmental benefits. In chapter five, the counter arguments to the benefits, which are the inhibitors, are analysed. In chapter six, the main regulations concerning electricity efficiency in private households are enumerated and further discussed. The analysis starts in chapter number seven. In the last chapter, chapter number eight, I summarize the main ideas of this paper and reach our conclusions.

1.5.

Delimitations

The issue of electric efficiency is tremendously current. Everybody is concerned about the future of our planet and corporations are also bounded to do so. Hence, a very big amount of literature has been written on this issue. It is the author’s view that private households, in order to live sustainable, have to adopt an attitude that is positive towards environmental matters. Here lies the first delimitation for my thesis. A thesis that already everyone agrees with can easily become trivial. In order to make sure that I am going to avoid that, I have tried to become detailed and specific, rather than just discussing assumptions and missing the crux of the matter. I am also aware of the limited time span in which I have to gather data, comprehend their value, analyse them and reach our conclusions. Due to this factor, I decided to base our study mainly on secondary data (official publications).

13

Bob Willard, The sustainability advantage (New Society Publishers, 2002), pp.1

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Finally, another consequence of the former limitation is that not all data relating to my subject could be evaluated. Therefore, a significant amount of data was neglected in order to be able to have a deeper understanding of the collected data. This does not imply that my thesis has inadequate information. On the contrary, it has a broad scope of information, but because of limited human capabilities I wasn’t able to cover the whole subject of electric efficiency in the private household sector

1.6.

Usefulness of the study

While envisioning the value of this work, I can only think of Albert Einstein’s words: “Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.“ 14 There are two parties that I will certainly gain from this Master thesis. The first party is the authors. I was able to enhance my learning curve and become conversant with the subject of electric efficiency. The second party is the readers of this research. Actually, a large amount of university students have the general awareness of environmental issues. By reading this research paper, I am sure that they will be able to have a broader picture of the issue of electric efficiency and the advantage it brings with it for everyone. In addition, students who are interested in going further deeply into the subject of efficiency in private households may find inspiration motivation and positive enthusiasm from this work.

14

The

Quotations

Page,

http://www.quotationspage.com/search.php3?Search=study&Author=&C=mgm&C=motivate&C=classic&C=col es&C=poorc&C=lindsly&C=net&C=devils&C=contrib&page=3, accessed March 2007.

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2. Methodology 2.1.

Research question

With the rising of the global population, one vital factor is education. I need to implement the importance of electricity efficiency in private households and how to maintain it strongly into the system. It must be taught like a language until it becomes the mother tongue. As awareness, understanding, and respect of our planet becomes inherent with each future generation, it will become natural, and our relationship with one another and to our physical surroundings will be continued with a positive reaction towards nature.15 I also recognize that the private sector has a greater role to play in the environment now more than ever. With globalisation of the world's economy, the practices of corporations have farreaching effects, and with deregulation in many sectors businesses are left to their own devices to meet environmental standards.16 For this reason, electricity efficiency in private households has become a fundamental issue for everyone. Nevertheless, the chasm between personal and environmental interest remains wide.17 People’s notion of keeping an eye on the environment also means taking an eye off their personal needs.18 My interest on environmental issues together with the usefulness of the study mentioned above led us to the following research question:

“Which essential measures, tools and tips exist to improve the electrical efficiency in private households?”

15 Design 16

community, http://arch.designcommunity.com/topic-11930.html, accessed March 2007.

Kakabadse-Navarro, Yolanda, “Interim Report of Task Force 6 on Electricity efficiency in private households”,

2004, www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/tf6interim.pdf, accessed at 11th March 2007 17

Bob Willard, “Sustainability,” http://www.sustainabilityadvantage.com / wve.html, accessed October 2006.

18

Todd S. Thomson, “Green is good for business,” Business Week, New York, May 2006, pp. 124.

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2.2.

Data collection

Because the subject of electric efficiency in private households is extremely current, gathering data about it was not a difficult task to carry out. The research focused on theoretical sampling, in order to understand and facilitate the development of an analytic frame and concepts. In addition, books, journals, periodicals and brochures were used for guiding the data collection. Since theoretical sampling is cumulative, sampling was becoming more specific with time as theories were evolving19. The procedure of sampling was not predetermined before the beginning of the research, but it was integrated to the whole process and it was evolving with the research. The choice of theoretical sampling was aiming to maximize opportunities to compare events, incidents, or happening to determine how a category varies in terms of its properties and dimensions.20

2.3.

Qualitative research

According to Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin’s “Basics of Qualitative Research”, qualitative research means any type of research that produces findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other means of quantification.21 Merriam S. B. writes in his book “Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education” that a qualitative method is focused mainly on insight, discovery and interpretation of data. Qualitative research is the initial point for broader and deeper descriptions. For this paper, I am going to use the qualitative method in order to explore the substantive area of electricity efficiency in private households. Furthermore, qualitative research can allow authors to look insight the full context, which in our case is the concept of electricity efficiency in private households. On the other hand, the objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. Furthermore, the quantitative method is concentrating on relevant, explaining circumstances for our research.22 That means quantitative research methods are mainly based on numbers, which the researcher can illustrate in different columns and diagrams, which make them more reliable and objective.23

19

Anselm Strauss & Juliet Corbin, Basics of qualitative research (Sage Publications, 1998): pp. 203.

20

Ibid., pp.202.

21

Anselm Strauss & Juliet Corbin, Basics of qualitative research (Sage Publications, 1998): pp. 10.

22

Andersen, I. (1998) Den uppenbara verkligheten. Studentltteratur, Lund.

23

Denscombe, M. (2000) Forskingshandboken. Studentlitteratur. Lund.

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That thought leads logically to a comparable methodological position concerning relationships between qualitative and quantitative procedures designed to generate theory. The relationship between quantitative and qualitative appears to be interplay of two seemingly incongruent research paradigms.24 There are researchers who take extreme stances on this issue. Quantitative researchers tend to dismiss qualitative studies completely as giving no valid findings. Qualitative researchers firmly reject statistical and other quantitative methods. The correct approach according to Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin is that “the qualitative should direct the quantitative and the quantitative feedback into the qualitative in a circular, but at the same time evolving, process with each method contributing to the theory in ways that only each can.25 The concepts must be allowed to emerge during the research process. As concepts emerge from the gathered data through qualitative analysis, it is in the researcher’s choice to decide if the different concepts need to be further researched in quantitative terms. Such a task calls for sensitivity to the nuances in data, tolerance for ambiguity, flexibility in design and a large dose of creativity.26

2.4.

Reliability

In research, the term reliability means “repeatability” or “consistency”. A measure is considered reliable if it would give us the same result over and over again. In everyday sense, reliability is the “consistency” or “repeatability” of our measures.27 To ensure that all data findings and ideas were carefully documented, I worked closely, evaluated each other and gave feedback. With discussions I wanted to result to the same conclusion so I am not going to confuse my readers. I went through the paper many times in order to make it coherent and precise.

24

Anselm Strauss & Juliet Corbin, Basics of qualitative research (Sage Publications, 1998): pp.27.

25 Ibid.,

34.

26 Ibid.,

34.

27 Reliability,

definition, http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/reliablt.php, accessed March 2007.

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3. Basic situation of the energy economy 3.1.

International

3.1.1.

International energy economy outlook

Currently, the energy economy is changing extremely, which is initiated by several global developments. Because of the actual population growth and the massive economic growth of many different economic regions, especially China, the total energy consumption is increased. A detailed analysis of the consumed sources of energy shows that fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, are still on the top. Different essential problems and interrogations are close connected to the intensive usage of these fossil energy sources. One of the major problems is the fact that most of the fossil resources are concentrated in the special regions, which are far away from the biggest consumer regions. These countries are inside the so-called strategic ellipse (see following figure), where are very unstable political circumstances.

Figure 1: Strategic Ellipse Source: http://www.bgr.bund.de

The world energy consumption is projected to expand by 50 % from 2005 to 2030 in the International Energy Organisation 2008 reference case projection (see following figure). Although the oil and natural gas prices are mainly rising, which are expected to continue throughout the following years, it will slow the growth of energy demand in the long term. The

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world energy consumption is projected to continue increasing strongly as a result of robust economic growth and expanding populations in the world’s developing countries. OECD member countries are, for the most part, more advanced energy consumers. Energy demand in the OECD economies is expected to grow slowly over the next 20 years, at an average annual rate of about 0,7 %, whereas energy consumption in the emerging economies of non-OECD countries is expected to expand by an average of 2,5 percent per year.28

Figure 2: World marketed energy consumption from 1980 to 2030 Source: International Energy Outlook 2008, www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/world.pdf

The energy use in the residential sector, which accounted for about 15 percent of worldwide delivered energy consumption in 2005, is defined as the energy consumed by households, excluding transportation uses. Because of the fact, that this thesis concentrates on the energy efficiency in the private household or residential sector, the following paragraph is focusing mainly on the international energy use in this specific sector. First, it has to be said, how exactly a private household can be specified. For residential buildings, the physical size of the structures is one key indicator of the amount of energy used by their occupants. Larger households require more energy to provide heating, air conditioning, and lighting, and they tend to include more energy-using appliances, such as televisions and laundry

28

World Energy Demand and Economic Outlook,EIA, www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/world.pdf, p.1, accessed

November 2008

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equipment. Smaller structures logically require less energy, because they contain less space to be heated or cooled, furthermore produce less heat transfer with the outdoor environment, and typically have fewer occupants. For example, the residential energy consumption in China is lower, where the average residence currently has an estimated 100 square meters of living space or less per person, than in the United States, where the average residence has an estimated 220 square meters of living space per person. Furthermore there exist a strong regional factor. The type and amount of energy used by households vary from country to country, depending on the income levels, existing natural resources, regional climate and available energy infrastructure. In common, typical households in OECD countries use more energy than those in non-OECD nations, in part because higher income levels allow OECD households to purchase more energyusing appliances and electronically entertainment equipment. According to the latest world energy outlook 2008, GDP per capita in 2005 was about $37,000 in the United States and residential energy use per capita was estimated at 38.7 million Btu. In contrast, China’s per-capita income in 2005 was about $5,900, which is only about one-sixth of the U.S. level, and residential energy use per capita was 3.2 million Btu, which is only a tenth. Although the IEO2008 projections account only for marketed energy use, households in many non-OECD countries still rely heavily on traditional, non-marketed energy sources like wood and waste. Much of African people remain unconnected to power grids. In 2004, an estimated 93 percent of the rural inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa used biomass as their primary fuel source for cooking. Some areas of China and India also rely heavily on wooden fuel, wooden waste, and charcoal for cooking. In China, about 55 percent of the rural population uses biomass for cooking, as does 87 percent of the rural population in India. Regional economic development should displace some of that use as incomes rise and marketed fuels, such as propane and electricity, become more widely accessible. That is the main reason, why the following presented energy efficiency measures are mainly focused on the OECD, EU and especially on the Austrian energy market.29

3.1.2.

International energy policies

The major goal of the Kyoto protocol is the fact that the signed industrialized countries informed themselves on a worldwide reduction until 2012 of greenhouse gas emissions around 5,2% 29

Ibid., p.6

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opposite 1990. The European Union also joined additionally to the individual member states and explained itself to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases around 8% (approx. 0,35 billion tons) in comparison to 1990. This reduction goal is distributed differently on the individual member states of the European community, which is also called burden sharing. For instance, Germany carries the main load with approximately 75% of the European reduction goal and must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 21% opposite 1990.30 Nevertheless, the world’s largest single greenhouse gas emitter, the United States of America repudiated the Kyoto treaty in 2001. That’s the main reason why there are scientific institutes, for example the Edison Electric Institute in Washington, which argues strongly against the Kyoto Protocol. Generally, the United States still have the opinion that developing countries should have the same reduction goals as industrial countries. Otherwise the United States would invest too much in expensive innovation and simultaneously the Chinese economy would have great economic advantages.31 Since Senator Barack Obama was elected in November 2008 to become the new president of the US, more and more arguments are coming up, that the USA will probably become an essential part of a future post-Kyoto Protocol. Greenhouse gas emission rights can be traded in the main three systems: •

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in corporation with the Kyoto Protocol

•

The Joint implementation (JI), in corporation with the Kyoto Protocol

•

The EU Emissions trading Scheme (ETS)

Since the 13th of November 2004 the valid “Linking Directive”, three flexible mechanisms are obtained to reach the climatic protection goals. Joint implementation (JI) permits to industrialized countries (Annex B countries in the Kyoto Protocol), to accomplish on co-operation basis among themselves climatic protection projects.32 Specifically, most of the transition economies are unique in the way that they are the only group of countries, which has already achieved to reach their Kyoto Protocol goal. This means for them to have great environmental sustainable advantages. In detail, the revenue from emissions trading is becoming more and more a real issue for transition economies. Nonetheless, it is important to 30

Wikipedia, keyword: Emissionshandel, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissionshandel, accessed March 2007

31

Dennis Blank, “Cash for Carbon“, E: The Environmental Magazine, (Jan, 2001): 12.

32

Wikipedia, keyword: Emissionshandel, http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissionshandel, accessed March 2007

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recognize that every country has its own political and historical approach to energy and environmental issues. 33 Because of the historical and economic background, countries in transition are rich in carbon mitigation opportunities. Under the socialist economic systems of the past, energy users had nearly no interest in limiting energy consumption. The reasons are that the state subsidized energy prices and most large energy users had no hard budget constraints. Consequently, this led to high-energy intensity. Many of their low-cost opportunities for energy efficiency and other carbon mitigation strategies have yet to be used, that means furthermore that mitigation costs are very low in transition economies. Emissions trading could provide a source of financing for carbon mitigation measures, thus allowing the cost-effective opportunities to be implemented. One of the most significant barriers to realizing these opportunities is financing. The main three financing reasons are the following: •

of the comparative scarcity and

•

high cost of credit and

•

Capital in transition economies.34

Another mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol is the Clean Development Mechanism, which was supported enough that they were set up in advance of the Protocol's entry into force. The CDM allows industrialized countries to partly meet their binding emissions targets through emission certificates. These emission credits can be earned by sponsoring greenhouse gas reducing projects in developing countries. This emissions trading system had already an executive board before the Kyoto Protocol entered into force on 16 February 2005.35 On the one hand the Kyoto Protocol with the connected reduction of greenhouse gases is one of the most essential agreements for climate change; on the other hand there will be always the question how to reach this improvement. At this point the so-called energy efficiency is one of the major environmental sustainability issues especially for the modern European Union.

33

M. Evans, “Emissions trading in transition economies: the link between international and domestic policy,” Energy

Policy, Volume 31, Issue 9 , (July 2003):880. 34

Ibid.

35

UNFCCC, “A Summary of the Kyoto Protocol”, http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/background/items/2879.php,

accessed March 2007

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22


Energy efficiency can be seen as a proven, cost-effective resource for the European Community. It is the fact that energy efficiency is one of the cheapest ways of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and parallel contributing to sustainability and also the security of energy supply. Furthermore it supports economic development and creates new innovative jobs. In addition, it also reduces energy costs providing lower energy bills for private households and also businesses. The relevance of effective methods and measures to improve energy efficiency to the EU's integrated climate and energy policy cannot be emphasized enough. Considerable improvements in energy efficiency have already been made but a large untapped potential particularly in the private household sector still remains to be realised.36 In close connection to the mentioned energy efficiency improvements in the European Union one of the most important conferences of the last view years, which was organized in June 2007 in Heiligendamm, Germany by the Group of Eight (G8). The Group generally consists of the following nations: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada (since 1976) and Russia (since 1998). The European Commission is also represented at all the meetings.37 Not only international growth and responsibility programmes for Africa and essential statements about counter-terrorism, also a real breakthrough in climate protection was achieved. The leading industrialized countries (G8) discussed and finally presented the aim of cutting the global CO2 emissions by 50 percent until 2050. This goal should be in achieved in connection with UN process, which the Heads of State and Government agreed in Heiligendamm. In Heiligendamm the motivation for a future Post-Kyoto Protocol could be realized with the first steps, which was furthermore strengthened and discussed in details on the UNFCCC Bali Conference in December 2007. In Poznan, Poland at the COP (Conference of the Parties) 14 and the included fourth meeting of the parties of the Kyoto Protocol the essential details for the Post-Kyoto Protocol with the integrated details about the emissions trading scheme will be discussed, to finally achieve a new innovative future Protocol regarding global greenhouse gas reduction goals in Winter 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

36

Memo

on

the

first

assessment

of

National

Energy

Efficiency

Action

Plans

(NEEAP),

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/32&format=HTML&aged=0&language=E N&guiLanguage=en, accessed October 2008 37

G8 Summit 2007 Heiligendamm, http://www.g-8.de/Webs/G8/EN/Background/background.html, accessed

October 2008

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23


3.2.

European Union

3.2.1.

European Union’s energy economy outlook

The EU currently imports 82% of its oil and 57% of its gas, making it the world's leading importer of these fuels.38 Only 3% of the uranium used in European nuclear reactors was mined in Europe. Russia, Canada, Australia and Niger were the largest suppliers of nuclear materials to the EU, supplying more than 75% of the total needs in 200739 In 2004 European private households used about 60% of their total energy consumption for space heating, around 20% for water heating, about 13% for lighting and cooling appliances and 7% for other appliances. While the share for space heating has been decreasing during the last 20 years, the share of electric appliances has increased dramatically from 10 to 20%. In EU-27 countries the electricity consumption in the household sector is around 27%. The detailed residential electricity consumption in Europe in 2004 is the following, which is visualized in the following figure: heating and cooling 7%, hot water 4%, lighting 13%, refrigerators/freezers 21%, washing machines 9%, cooking 6%, dishwashers 3%, consumer electronics 8%, others 30%. Considerable effort has been made to reduce the energy consumption of appliances, but changes in lifestyle have offset a large part of this. In the tertiary sector office equipment is responsible for up to 40% of electricity consumed in an office building and this sector, including outdoor lighting, is growing in size and energy demand.

38

Low-carbon economy' proposed for Europe, by AP, 10 January 2007

39

2007 Annual report of the Euratom Supply Agency

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Residential electricity consumption in Europe in 2004 Refrigerator Freezer 21%

Others 29%

Lighting 13% Dishwasher 3% Hot water 4% Cooking 6% Heating and cooling 7%

Washing machine 9% Consumer electronics 8%

Figure 3: Residential electricity consumption in Europe in 2004 Source: IEEA

3.2.2.

European Union’s energy policies

The European Union, including its Member States, is working hard to improve the energy efficiency in all sectors, whilst at the same time increasing the use of renewable energies. This can be a key method to solve environmental, self-sufficiency and cost problems and adequately provide for increasing energy demand without disruptions. This is especially factual when seen the CO2 emission reduction goals of the Kyoto Agreement, where improved energy efficiency is playing a key role in meeting the EU Kyoto target in a sustainable way. Furthermore nowadays and in the near future energy efficiency can be seen as a real win-win situation for the economy and its environment. “Europeans need to save energy. Europe wastes at least 20 % of the energy it uses. By saving energy, Europe will help address climate change, as well as its rising consumption, and its dependence on fossil fuels imported from outside the Union’s borders,” said EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs as the Commission presented the action plan And this is despite the fact that saving energy is by far the most effective way to simultaneously improve security of energy supply, attract sustainable investments and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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25


Furthermore, saving energy helps to foster economic competitiveness and to stimulate the development of leading edge markets for energy-efficient technologies and products. EU Heads of State or Government have stressed the need to increase energy efficiency, and the EU intensified its efforts already as the European Commission presented in October 2006 a wide-ranging action plan for energy efficiency. This first action plan summarizes a framework of many different policies and sector-specific measures designed to realise the estimated savings potential of over 20 % of the EU’s annual primary energy consumption by 2020, compared with today’s business-as-usual scenario. The plan includes the motivating goal to reinforce Europe’s position as a world leader in energy efficiency. In addition, it intends to mobilise the general public, market actors and policymakers, transforming the EU energy market so as to provide citizens with the most energy-efficient infrastructure, buildings, appliances, and means of transport possible. “Energy efficiency is crucial for Europe: if we take action now, the direct cost of our energy consumption could be reduced by more than EUR 100 billion annually by 2020; around 780 million tonnes of CO2 will also be avoided yearly,” the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs pointed out. Realising the EU’s energy-saving potential will indeed require comprehensive changes in the way energy is consumed nowadays. A great paradigm shift is needed in the way society behaves, that means, the Europeans use less energy while still enjoying the same quality of life. Additionally, producers will have to be encouraged the development of more energy efficient technologies and products, while consumers will need stronger incentives to buy such products and use them rationally. In other words the electronic shop assistants have to inform their customers about the main advantages of energy efficient appliances.40

40

European Commission, 2020 vision: Saving our energy, p.5

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26


3.2.3.

Green Paper on Energy Efficiency

The Green Paper on Energy Efficiency, which is one of the most important EU papers concerning the energy security supply, presents the facts, that the EU member states can save at least 20 percent of its present energy consumption which is equivalent to about 60 billion Euros per year. The main benefits of this energy efficiency improvement are the following: •

Security of supply

•

Competitiveness and the Lisboans agenda

•

Environmental protection and the EU’s Kyoto obligations

Additionally to support the better integration of energy efficiency measures into each national’s legislation, in the last view years the European Commission has proposed several essential directives, which have been shaped and are now in force. As already mentioned, the scope is very large and therefore the potential for energy savings is in the following important action fields: •

End-use Efficiency and Energy Services

•

Energy Efficiency in Buildings

•

Eco-Design of Energy-Using Products

•

Energy Labelling of Domestic Appliances

•

Combined Heat and Power (in other words: Cogeneration)41

One of the major goals of these action plans is the piece of evidence to overcome the main nontechnological barriers for energy efficient appliances that are used in private households, which will be discussed in the following chapter. In other words, using the best technologies consume less electricity, while the appliances can satisfy the same end user comfort level. This vital goal can be only reached by many information campaigns, special innovation awards, promoting best practices, benchmarking different appliances etc. All these sustainable measures accelerate the market transformation for energy efficient appliances and systems, including enforcing the application and enhancing the awareness of important EU energy labels and highest energy efficiency standards. According to the before mentioned “Green Paper on Energy Efficiency” there exists a calculated cost-effective saving potential in the electrical appliances sector of about 15Mtoe until 2020. This

41

European Union, Energy Demand, http://ec.europa.eu/energy/demand/index_en.htm, accessed October 2008

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27


electricity saving potential can be achieved by individual actions focusing on energy end-use products identified in the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) as representing the biggest energy savings potential: motor systems, office equipment, lighting, and consumer electronics.42 In November 2008, the European Commission and especially President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso and the Commissioner for Energy Andris Piegbalgs proposed a new EU-action plan for energy supply security and its solidarity. They emphasise that the actual action plan will reach only an energy consumption reduction of 12 to 15 percent, which is not enough to reach the sustainable energy efficiency goal of 20% in 2020. New innovative energy saving measures has to be supported to reach this ambitious target. That is the reason, why this new action plan has to motivate the producing industry, the economy and especially every private person. The main key energy efficiency measures are: •

Clearer customer information services

•

Energy saving insulation components

•

Modern household devices

•

Energy saving lamps

•

Reduced stand-by losses

•

New, more efficient car tires

The only problem is, that this new action plan will come into force earliest in one or one and a half years, only after all EU Member States and the EU Parliament have supported and undersigned this new action plan.43 On a different level, reducing the energy demand will also reduce the overall burden in absolute numbers of the actual targets for renewable energy that each EU Member state was asked to commit in the proposed Directive on renewable energy. The European Union has set the ambitioned goal of reaching the goal of 20% renewable total energy, while Austria tries to reach the discussed growth from 23% to 34 percent. The implementation of this Directive requires many different motivated actors to cooperate and work intensively together, both in public and also in the private sector.

42

Intelligent Energy Executive Agency, ENERGY-EFFICIENT EQUIPMENT AND PRODUCTS, p.4,

43

Regina Pöll et al., Die Presse, 14th November 2008, p.6

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28


Energy efficiency in all EU Member States has improved considerably in recent years, but it is still expected to be technically and economically realistic to save at least 20 percent of the EU’s total primary energy by 2020, as mentioned before. Of course, this is on top of what would be achieved anyway through sustainable price effects and structural changes in the economy, along with intensified replacement of technology. Therefore, the biggest cost-effective savings potential lies in the private household sector, partly because of its large share of total energy consumption. The total savings potential in these areas is estimated to be around 27 to 30 percent of energy use. Based on the savings potential scenarios for the various end-use sectors, it is estimated that the additional savings arising from new policies and measures and from strengthening existing ones could realistically be up to 20 percent by 2020 (1,5 % or 390 Mtoe (million tonnes oil equivalent per year), which include savings in energy transformation. These savings are in addition to potential improvements in energy intensity of 1,8 % (or 470 Mtoe per year) due to factors including expected structural changes, the effects of previous policies and changes brought about by natural replacement of technology, as well as changes in energy prices.44

44

Ibid., p.7

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29


3.3.

Austria

3.3.1.

Austrian’s energy economy outlook

Figure 4: Sectoral energetic energy end-consumption in TJ from 1970 to 2006 Source: Statistik Austria

Regarding the previous figure, the trend shows, that in the year 2005, 285 PJ of the 1063 PJ of the total energetic end-consumption in Austria were consumed by the private household sector.45 In 2006, Austria had energy imports with an amount of 11,7 billion € and proceeds of only 2,4 billion €. That underlines the crucial fact that Austria has to get rid of this problem, one possibility is to improve the energy efficiency more and more. When analysing the Austrian energy efficiency, we have to compare the gross domestic product to the gross domestic consumption. This means in details, that the gross domestic product grew from 1973 to 2006 about 117% in comparison to the gross domestic consumption, which rose only 57%. Furthermore this shows, that the necessary energy for the production of a specific gross domestic product reduced by about 28%.46

45

Energiestatus Österreich 2008, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Sektion IV - Energie und Bergbau,

http://www.bmwa.gv.at/NR/rdonlyres/9165E251-6040-48C1-9AA8C7D31242D18D/0/Energiestatus%C3%96sterreich2008.pdf, p.7, accessed November 2008 46

Ibid., p.8,

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30

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home

Figure 5: Austrian total energy flow 2005 Source:

Energiestatus

Österreich

2008,

Bundesministerium

für

Wirtschaft

und

Arbeit,

Sektion

IV

http://www.bmwa.gv.at/NR/rdonlyres/9165E251-6040-48C1-9AA8-C7D31242D18D/0/Energiestatus%C3%96sterreich2008.pdf,

-

Energie

p.6,

accessed

und

Bergbau,

November

2008

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home Regarding the distribution of the different end-energy sectors, the producing industry and the transportation sectors are the biggest with about 30 percent each. The third largest is already the private household sector, which will be analysed in more details in the following chapters.

Figure 6: Structure of the end-energy consumption by sectors in 2006 Source: Energiestatus Österreich 2008, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Sektion IV - Energie und

Bergbau,

http://www.bmwa.gv.at/NR/rdonlyres/9165E251-6040-48C1-9AA8-

C7D31242D18D/0/Energiestatus%C3%96sterreich2008.pdf, p.15, accessed November 2008

The total electricity consumption in Austria was in 2006 about 57,7 Twh, which means a growth of 2 percent to 2005. Although it is not correct designed, the following figure shows the electricity end-consumption by sectors from 1990 until 2006.


Figure 7: electricity end-consumption by sectors from 1990 until 2006 Source: Energiestatus Österreich 2008, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Sektion IV - Energie und

Bergbau,



Total Austrian electricity consumption in private households in TWh from 1990-2006 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

0

Figure 8: Total Austrian electricity consumption in private households in Twh from 1990-2006 Source: Data by the Energiestatus Österreich 2008, Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit, Sektion IV

-

Energie

und

Bergbau,



Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home More specifically, the total Austrian electricity consumption in private households grew from 1990 from 11460 Twh to 14895 Twh in 2006, see Figure 8. That means that the end-electricity consumption grew by 30% in only 16 years. That is the reason, why this thesis is focusing and analyzing the main sustainable measures to reach a higher energy efficiency level in private households. One of the main reasons is the modern development of single-households. On the one hand more and more are becoming divorced and more and more people have the financial support to live in separate households. As it is presented in the following figure 9, the Austrian population grew in the past 30 years only 12 percent, but the number of private households grew by nearly 40 percent to nearly 3.6 million.

Number of Austrian households in comparison to the population growth 9000000 8000000 7000000 6000000 5000000 4000000 3000000 2000000 1000000 0 1979

1984

1989

1993

1998

2004

2008

Figure 9:Number of Austrian households in comparison to the population growth Source: Statistik Austria 2008

In the following figure 10, this mentioned replacement of technology is clearly visualized in this chart. The seven most common private household appliances are analysed beginning in 1970 until 2003. It is very interesting, how the development of the dissemination of these devices changed in the last decades. For example, the dissemination of refrigerator boomed between 1970 and 1980 from 10 percent to nearly 55 percent. Also the fact, that on average every fifth household has two televisions is interesting fact that can be seen at this chart.

Armin Leopold


Figure 10: Dissemination of seven different household appliances in Austria Source: Eurostat, Cross Database 2004

3.3.2.

Austrian’s energy policies

The most important climate strategy measures 2007: Measures in the space heating and end-consumers •

Increase of the whole energy efficiency in the building continuance by triple of the thermal renovation rate on 3 % (2008-2012) and in the middle term on 5% per year (KS 2002: Duplication of the renovation rate)

•

Clear improvement of the energetic standards for new buildings by conversion of the articles 15a B-VG arrangement between federal government and countries about energyrelated standards in the residential construction support (since February, 2006) and advancement of the arrangement with special focus on thermal-energetic renovation (negotiations between federal government and countries are discussed)

•

Forcing of the low energy and passive house standard ("klima:aktiv standard") together with the federal states

•

Quick adaptation of the energy performance certificate for buildings according to the directive of the EU about energy profiles of buildings

•

Improvement of the energy intensity in the end-consumption sector about at least 5% till 2010 and about at least 20% till 2020:

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home Measures in the energy- and industry sector: •

Increase of the renewable energy in the whole energy consumption on at least 25% till 2010 and on 45% till 2020 (among other methods by creation of the energy and climate protection fund capable with 500 million €)

•

Rise of the portion of renewable electricity production on 80% to 2010 and 85% till 2020 (among other programs by forced conversion of the ecological electricity law as well as production of a master plan to the optimum use of the water power)

•

Allocation plan of Austria for the emissions trade in the period of 2008-2012 intends emission reductions from the areas of energy production and industry about 7.3 million t CO2 per year, compared with the expected issues (in 2008-2012) or about 3 million t CO2 compared with the issue level in 2005 and 2006

Measures in the transportation sector: •

Increase of the portion of alternative fuels on 10% till 2010 and on 20% till 2020 (bio diesel, bio ethanol, E85, methane fuel) and creation of an comprehensive network of E85-as well as methane gas stations till 2010 and further improvement of the juridical basic conditions of the fermentation gas

•

Forcing of mobility management and raising of awareness measures (e.g., petrol savings initiative) in the traffic

•

Attraction and improvements of the public transport (especially by infrastructure offensive ÖPNRV & railway as well as innovative draughts like "rail taxi")

•

Further gasoline tax increase about 5cent (diesel) or 3cent (petrol) what can also cause a reduction of the "tank tourism"

Flexible mechanisms: •

With the Austrian JI/CDM programme (environmental support law) the buying of emission reduction unites from projects abroad (developing countries, transformation countries) in the amount of 45 million t CO2e for the obligation period in 2008-2012 (therefore 9 million t p.a.) are aimed.47

47

Lebensministerium, http://www.klimastrategie.at/article/articleview/67372/1/8790/, accessed November 2008

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From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home 3.3.3.

Specific Austrian’s energy saving targets for the near future

According to the established national energy saving targets in conformity with the EU Directive, each EU Member state has to establish first an intermediate national indicative energy saving target for 2010. Furthermore the Member state shall provide an overview of its strategy to achieve first the intermediate and furthermore for the achievement of the overall targets. To achieve this intermediate target, the major energy efficiency improvement goals have to be planned realistically and consistently with the overall national indicative energy savings target. The national energy saving schedule: •

Submission of the First Energy Efficiency Plan (EEAP) by 30th June 2007

•

Intermediate energy saving target 2010

•

Submission of the Second Energy Efficiency Plan to the Commission by 30th June 2011

•

Overall national energy saving target 2016

•

Submission of the Final Energy Efficiency Plan by the 31st December 2016

•

Indirectly included in this action plan: 20% higher energy efficiency in 2020

The overall national indicative energy saving target shall: •

Consist of 9% of the annual average amount of electricity consumption of the last five years period.

•

Be measured after the ninth year of the application of this Directive (i.e. until the 17th May 2018)

•

Be the result of cumulative annual energy savings achieved throughout the nine-year application period of this Directive.

•

Furthermore be reached by special methods of energy services and other energy efficiency improvement measures.48

In other words, the Member states are forced to realise their energy efficiency potential and contribute to the actual sustainable development of the European Union. In details, the energy supply security and the connected EU competitiveness can be seen as one the major motivation reasons for reaching a higher efficiency level. Different new business areas, for example new pioneering energy services, specific energy auditing, and flexible smart metering should emerge from this new EU Directive. In close 48

1. Energy Efficiency Action Plan of the Republic of Austria, Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labour,

Vienna, June 2007, p.7,

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home connection to this system, private households and also businesses should therefore get easier access to subsidy schemes, in the form of rebates for insulating homes, retrofitting old lighting systems and for buying energy efficient appliances, which will be discussed in the following thesis in informative details. Furthermore each NEEAPs has to inform the customers and to change their behaviour to encourage efficiency improvements and to motivate them to invest in energy efficient technologies, while at the same time energy services should become more widely and easily available at more affordable prices.

Armin Leopold


3.4.

Styria

3.4.1.

Styrian’s energy economy outlook

Energy, the base for the protection of the prosperity lastingness indicates to protect quality of life and prosperity for future generations. By the rising energy consumption of our society and the effects walking along with it on the world climate, the topic has found lastingness also in the area of Energy entrance.

Figure 11: Energetic energy end-consumption by different energy sources Source: Statistik Austria 2006

The total consumption of energy in 2006 in Styria was about 166.6 PJ; if one compares these figures to 2000, these were another 155.2 PJ. The picture shows the energetic final consumption after energy sources, this amount of energy that is available to the consumer for the conversion into beneficial energy. The large part of the energy is won from fossil energy sources like oil and natural gas. Fossil energy sources show a huge disadvantage by her restrictions and her climate relevance. Besides, Styria owns no appreciable natural gas or oil occurrence or coal deposits and is dependent from that point of view to the large part on foreign import.49 Styria shows in comparison to the average of the European Union (6%) with 12% already a high portion in renewable energy sources like biomass, water power, solar, energy and geothermal 49

Landesregierung

November 2008

Armin Leopold

Steiermark,

http://www.win.steiermark.at/cms/beitrag/11041022/35823445/,

accessed

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home energy and water power is the quantitatively most meaning renewable energy source in Styria. By the favourable geographic situation and climatic conditions Styria can consider itself in the happy situation to order of a big potential in renewable energy sources which is not exhausted by far yet. The electric energy with a portion of 21% in the energetic final consumption counts the secondary energy and is won in Styria for the most part from waterpower, as well as of coal, natural gas and biomass. Solar energy and wind energy play according to amount currently only a small role. Sustainability in the area of energy means not only to focus on energy resources, but also to guarantee the supply security. If one looks at the import dependence on energy by the height of approx. 75% from partly politically unsafe countries, linked with the resource finiteness of the fossil energy sources and their effects on the world climate, the situation is extremely doubtful. Solutions are found here mainly in the area of decentralised available renewable energy and energy efficiency measures, which will be presented later in this thesis.50

3.4.2.

Styrian’s energy policies

Goals of the Styrian energy plan 2005: Qualitative objective: •

The aim of the Styrian energy politics insists in it reaching a sure, sufficient, reasonable, environment-friendly and socially acceptable supply from energy services.

Quantitative objective: (It is aimed the following aims till 2015) •

A lowering of the specific energy consumption should be reached about 1% per year in the household, small consumers and industry sector.

•

The portion of renewable energy sources in the energetic final consumption should be raised from about 25% currently to 33%.

•

50

A stabilisation of the energy application should be reached in the transportation sector.

Ibid.

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home The reaching of these aims carries immediately for the reaching of higher aims, like the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions - according to the Kyoto protocol goal of 13% reduction compared with the period from 1990 to 2010, as well as an improvement of the energy supply security. CO2 - Emissionen der Steiermark nach Sektoren (2004) 0,2% 21,8%

21,4% Energieversorgung Kleinverbraucher Industrie 16,2%

Verkehr Sonstige

40,4%

Figure 12: CO2 Emissions by sectors in Styria Source: BLI - Bundesländer Luftschadstoffinventur 1990 - 2004. Regionalisierung der nationalen Emissionsdaten auf Grundlage von EU-Berichtspflichten Datenstand 2006, Hrsg., Umweltbundesamt, Wien

Of course not only Styria has thought about the most sustainable measures to protect the climate and existing energy alternatives. In the whole energy plan several basic conditions were considered. To mention only briefly, 5 documents at international level, 19 directives within the European Union, 19 Austrian and 34 programmes or legal acts are for Styria given. Finally it can be said, that the Kyoto Protocol, mentioned already before, can be seen as one of the most essential climate change measure package, which is influences sustainable the way of living on a regional and international level.51

51

Peakoil in Styria, www.kfunigraz.ac.at/imawww/keeling/peakoil/ZwischenBericht3.doc, accessed November 2008

Armin Leopold


4. Inhibitors to implementing electricity efficiency in private households In the following chapter I am going to discuss the main potential reasons, why some people are not willing to take advantage of electrical efficiency. Generally speaking, energy can be seen as an intangible term. It means, that many people are not able to understand the meaning of energy and its essential output. Especially nowadays, more and more people in households are not able to handle energy in the right and efficient way. Although there exist many different sustainability trends, the majority is not willing to risk the business as usual to become more energy efficient. When people are willing to have a more energy efficient household, mostly the chosen measures are not the right ones or the measures are not adaptable enough for the private household. Barriers due to lack of information or disinterest are preventing many household members from taking advantage of opportunities for energy efficiency improvements. It is important to address these barriers in order to make economies more energy efficient, and so to give them the capacity to conserve energy in the face of increasing energy costs and boundaries. Moreover, many barriers to energy efficiency improvement are likely to be the same as or similar to barriers to innovations in general. Addressing these energy efficiency barriers will help create innovation capacity.52

4.1.

Behavioural barrier

A number of studies have documented that consumers of electronic household appliances may de-emphasize or pay completely no attention to financial and cost considerations in favour of other factors. One particularly important area of research has been discount rates implicit in consumers' efficiency investments. Numerous studies have shown these discount rates to be unusually high, calling into question the model of life cycle cost minimization that is frequently used to describe investor behaviour. In addition, there is research showing directly that consumers use decision rules to make efficiency investments that differ fundamentally from those that would be used by an "expert" individual, including a focus on initial costs without considering returns to the investment. Many researchers have interpreted various findings on 52

Urban

Ecology

http://www.urbanecology.org.au/library/energy/energyefficiency/pcenergyefficiency.html, 2008

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Australia, accessed

November

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home consumer decision-making in this context as evidence of "bounded rationality." Especially individual circumstances like: "What might be cost effective for some people is not cost effective for me." Generally speaking, the behavioural barriers include both economic and apparently noneconomic types of influence on decisions. Producers and consumers are heterogeneous, and the potential costs and benefits of one individual’s actions to increase energy efficiency will be different from the benefits and costs in a ‘model’ energy-efficient firm or household. Close connected to the behavioural barriers, the existing social barrier can be described shortly. A variety of studies have shown that such factors as cultural norms and family structures in some cases override financial considerations in efficiency and conservation decisions. An example is the influence of social and cultural factors and intra-family relationships on the decision to efficient, innovative technologies.

4.2.

Information barrier

Cost-effective energy efficiency measures are often not undertaken as a result of lack of essential information on the part of the consumer, a lack of confidence in the information, or high transaction costs for obtaining reliable information. This information gap concerns not only consumers of end-use equipment but also various aspects of the household appliances market. Many producers of end-use equipment have mostly little knowledge of methods to make their products energy efficient, nor access to the technologies for producing the improved products. Equipment suppliers may also lack the information, or ways to assess evaluate or disseminate the information and end-use providers are often the not existing knowledgeable about efficient technology. In addition there is a focus on market and production expansion, which may be more effective than efficiency improvements, to generate profit maximization. Also, the lack of adequate management tools, techniques and procedures to account for economic benefits of efficiency improvements is an information barrier. Finally, energy policies and regulations may limit additionally the access to energy-efficient technologies.53 Furthermore, one of the most difficult barriers is the detailed consumption costs and it environmental impact. On the one hand the information and on the other the behaviour about energy is not efficient enough. In details, knowing the exact amount of consumed energy of individual activities can easily increase households’ control over their electricity consumption. 53

Ernst Worrell et als., Barriers and Opportunities: A Review of Selected Successful Energy-Efficiency Programs,

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, p.1

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home International experiences show that improved feedback can reduce electricity consumption of by 20% and usually lie between 5 and 12%.54 Furthermore, special price incentives such as “time of use pricing” can be combined with realtime feedback on the current tariff, consequently stimulating load shifting. On the one hand it can adapt load profiles to the production profile and on the other hand this can furthermore have a positive effect on the development of renewable energy sources. Today, feedback on electricity consumption in central Europe is far from what it could be! There normally exist only two methods to get information about the consumed electricity. One is the meter, which is mostly hidden in the cellar and the other information source is the annual bill. This fact is one of the main reasons, why energy efficiency is not only inhibited by a behavioural; the information barriers mainly block it.55

4.3.

Financial barrier

"For the savings it will give me, it’s not worth my effort!" In other words, the effects of the higher investment costs are often stronger pronounced then the general lifecycle savings the electronic appliance will generate. The reason for this barrier is the fact, that producers and consumers are generally capital controlled. Therefore, limited capital availability makes energy efficiency investments compete with other investment priorities and that many households have high hurdle rates for energy efficiency investments. Capital rationing is often used within private households as an allocation means for investments, leading to even higher inhibitor rates. Especially for small households capital availability may be a major hurdle in investing in improving energy efficiency technologies due to limited access to banking and financing possibilities. The following fact, that energy prices do not reflect the real costs of energy, then consumers will necessarily under invest in energy efficiency; can be seen as a further financial barrier. Energy prices, and hence the profitability of an investment, are also subject to large fluctuations. The uncertainty about the energy price, especially in the short term, seems to be an important barrier. The uncertainties often lead to higher perceived risks, and therefore to more stringent investment criteria and a higher hurdle rate. Additional, in many countries, household energy supply are often highly subsidised. These low tariffs encourage energy inefficiency and furthermore strengthen the financial barrier. 54

Barbara Praetorius et als., Innovation for sustainable electricity systems, p.115

55

Ibid., p.116

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home From my experience, making the changes won’t be uncomplicated - there are implementation costs and risks, some of which may be uncertain.

Additional barriers

4.4.

In addition to the problems identified above, other important barriers include: 1. The "invisibility" of energy efficiency measures and the difficulty of demonstrating and quantifying their impacts. 2. The lack of inclusion of external costs of energy production and use in the price of energy. 3. The often-long lifetime of energy-intensive equipments. 4. Slow diffusion of innovative technology into markets. Generally, international policies and related regulations can contribute to more successful innovation, but sometimes, indirectly, can become a barrier to implementation of low GHG emitting practices. A specific example is industrial cogeneration, which may be hindered by the lack of clear policies for buy-back of excess power, regulation for standby power, and wheeling of power to other users, as demonstrated in some of the deregulation schemes in the U.S. The existence of clear policies can be a driver for diffusion and expansion of industrial cogeneration, as is evidenced by the development of industrial cogeneration in The Netherlands. Finally, electronic manufacturer typically under invest in research and development of their electronically devices, despite the high paybacks. The under-investment is due to the risk of free riders copying the results without the expenditures, like it is the reality in many Asian countries. Nevertheless, many studies have shown that efficient technologies typically achieve high paybacks. Recent analyses seem to suggest that public and private research and development funding for sustainable energy technologies is decreasing in industrialized countries.56

4.5.

Diffusion factors

Barriers may exist at various points in the diffusion process of measures to reduce energy use and GHG emissions. The diffusion process depends on many factors such as: • 56

Capital cost,

Ibid., p.2

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home •

Operating cost savings,

•

Information availability,

•

Network connections,

•

Imitation effects and

•

Other factors

All of these factors influence the probability of any given household adopting any given technology at any particular minute in time. While barriers exist, it is important to note that environmentally sound technologies and practices may also represent an additional, sustainable advantage.

4.6.

The mental model of efficiency

From a logical point of view, I need to implement a new type of mental model to be able to change the reality. To switch the people’s mental model of the economy’s relationship with society and the environment needs, leading household members have to feel responsible for social conditions and the environment. Main reason for the change is the major fact, that the conventional view situates the environment and society as separate entities, exterior all economic considerations and tiny in relative importance (see figure 13).57

Figure 13: The Evolution of the Mental Model Source Source: Bob Willard, The sustainability advantage (New Society Publishers,2002), pp.146.

57

Bob Willard, The sustainability advantage (New Society Publishers, 2002), pp.146.

Armin Leopold


Conventional behaviour regards their priorities in economic, environmental, and social policy as competing and as real opposites. In the author’s point of view, a more truthful frame of reference would reverse this perspective that the global economy is a small sector within global society, which surrounded by the necessary global environment. Or in another level, the private households are a small sector within the neighbour’s society, which is surrounded by the environment. I believe that the private household should not be seen separate from the natural world. Both, the household and its people need an environment in a good physical shape.58 The new mental model in figure 13 shows this is not an “either/or” trade-off. It shows an integrated “both/and” situation. The three concentric circles reinforce that an environmental sustainable economy can merely exist within a functioning, sustainable society surrounded by an environmental sustainable situation. In other words, I can see this new mental model as a sort of three-legged chair; if one leg is missing, the chair collapses. Therefore, private households are a part of the ecology and they depend on each other. For that reason, no environment, no household members, no business.59 In the author’s point of view, according to the barriers of the implementation of energy efficiency, the most essential reason for the existence of the mentioned barriers is the lack of suitable information about energy efficiency and its advantages. To overcome this lack, more and more energy information and consulting services exist and with the help of these institutions, every private household member should be able to use energy more efficient.

58

Ibid.

59

Bob Willard, The sustainability advantage (New Society Publishers, 2002), pp.147.

Armin Leopold


5. Energy Information and Consultation for Energy Efficiency in Austria 5.1.

Energy labels

In the last view year’s more and more different labels for electrical devices were created with the main goal to inform the customers about the energy- and electrical efficiency of these appliances. Because of this large amount of labels it is nowadays really hard to understand for most customers the meaning and the sense of all the coloured symbols and different labels, that is the reason, why in this upcoming chapter, the most famous and important energy labels in the EU will be discussed in details. The general trend and also a study from the Frauenhofer institute for technical systems and innovative research about the compliance rate of regulations for the labelling of energy consumption brings as an outcome, that more and more large and middle retailer are strictly trying to follow these labelling regulations for all electronically household devices. This sustainable development in Germany was strengthened by the creation of the German Energy Agency in the year 2000. This national agency supports all the regional agencies and the central association for electrical engineering and electrical industry by coordinating and realizing campaigns for a higher compliance rate of regulations for the labelling of energy consumption in small multi-media shops, where the exact labelling isn’t realized yet. 60 Also other famous European energy agency but especially the German Energy Agency is trying to motivate as many consumers of new electronically equipments as possible, so that they buy only the most modern devices with the highest efficacy. To reach most consumers a lot of different campaigns were and still are necessary to convince them with the energy consumption labelling (for example with the Euro label) and furthermore to motivate customers for the highest efficacy standards.

60

Schlomann, Barbara et als., Fraunhofer Institut für Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung, Evaluierung zur

Umsetzung der Energieverbrauchskennzeichnungsverordnung (EnVKV), Karlsruhe, Nürnberg, März 2001, p.37

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home Furthermore the scientists recommend diversifying the energy class A of the Euro label into different subgroups, as it happened in the last few years with the help of the energy plus project, which will be described in more details in the following chapter. Consumers of electronic household devices seldom take into account the total long-term savings that come from greater energy efficiency when they look at the prices especially for white goods, like washing machines and dishwashers. That is the reason, why clear energy efficiency standards, performance ratings and labelling need have to be in place to inform consumers and make sure that energy efficiency is properly reflected in their purchasing judgments. EU labelling and minimum energy performance standards for appliances and other energy-using equipment will be updated, paying special attention to the stand-by mode. Performance requirements will initially be developed for priority product groups. And existing labelling classifications will be periodically upgraded with a view to reserving energy class A-status for only the top 10–20 % best-performing equipment.61 Finally, to evaluate the effect of the described regulations and accomplishing programs, every two to three year’s reviews should be started, like it is happening already in Sweden. These evaluations support additionally the development to reach a higher electrical efficiency in the household sector.62 In the following part the eight most important energy efficiency labels will be described in details: •

Euro Label

•

Energy+ Project Label

•

The Blue Angel Label

•

The Margarite Label

•

Energy Star Label

•

GEEA Label

•

Eco Cycle Label

•

TCO Label

61

European Commission, 2020 vision: Saving our energy, p.8

62

Schlomann, Barbara et als., Fraunhofer Institut für Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung, Evaluierung zur

Umsetzung der Energieverbrauchskennzeichnungsverordnung (EnVKV), Karlsruhe, Nürnberg, März 2001, p.40

Armin Leopold


5.1.1.

Euro label

The Euro label, so called, is the most popular label for electrical household appliances, which is divided into the efficiency classes A to G. For example compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have the A label and inefficient incandescent lamps have only the G label, which means that they consume 80 percent more electricity than the CFL lamps. The A means the highest efficacy and G symbolizes old, inefficient electrical devices. Because of the reason that this Euro label is created in 1992 and since then none real adaptation on the higher technical efficiency standards was taken, it is nowadays often been seen critical. This development is the main explanation, why in the last years the rate of efficiency classes A has the majority and therefore the quality and efficiency standard development is nearly stagnating. Therefore it is recommended to diversify the electrical efficiency class A into subclasses, which is done by the help of the modern energy plus label project.63 Energy efficiency comparison of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) to incandescent lamp CFL lamp

Incandescent lamp

Power

11 W

60 W

Durability

8.000 h

1.000 h

Price

7,50 Euro

8 x 0,75 Euro = 6 Euro

Electrical consumption

8.000 h x 11 W = 88 kWh

8.000 h x 60 W = 480 kWh

Power costs (0,13 Euro/kWh)

11,44 Euro

62,40 Euro

Total costs

18,94 Euro

68,40 Euro

Table 1: Energy efficiency comparison of CFL to standard lamp Source: Energieagentur Nord Rhein Westfalen, Energie zeigt Etikette, p.1

63

Energieagentur NordRheinWestfalen, Energie zeigt Etikette, p.1

Armin Leopold


5.1.2.

Energy+ Project

To be able to nominate exactly the most efficient electronically devices in the energy class A, the Commission of the European Union created the Energy+ Project. This project labels electronically household appliances, which need less then 25 percent then it is needed for energy class A. In the meanwhile all main European manufacturer of electronically equipment are supporting this project and are motivated to produce more and more products with an A+ or even with and A++ standard. Especially more refrigerator and deep-freezers have at least the A+ label, which motivates other manufacturer to become more innovative and to produce electric household equipments with a higher efficacy. For example, a standard refrigerator and freezer combo appliance in the class C consumes about 775 kWh per year, in comparison one in the A+ class only about 195 kWh per year, which saves over 12 years total power costs of about 1000€.

5.1.3.

Environmental label “Blue Angel”

When customers want to know details about the sustainability and recyclability of an electronic device, it is necessary to watch for the “Blue Angel”. This label signalises that this product has a long durability, with a high degree on recyclable materials and it produces only little noise, little harmful emissions and additionally this label symbolizes a low electrical consumption. As mentioned before, some labels, like the “Blue Angel” already re-evaluates every three years all labelled products, if they are still sustainable and efficient enough for this important label.

5.1.4.

European Environmental Label “Margerite”

Like the “Blue Angel” in Germany, the Margarite is the European Label for electronic equipments with low environmental impact. Because the environmental criteria are so strict that consequently in every equipment category only maximum 30 percent of these electronic appliances can receive this specific label. As it should be in the optimum case, this label re-evaluates their own standards every three to five years according to the highest efficiency and most modern technical developments.

Armin Leopold


5.1.5.

Energy Star

In comparison to the labelling regulations for electronic household equipment, power consumption restrictions for electronic office devices don’t really exist. That is the reason, why the Energy Star label, which is the most popular power consumption label for electronic office equipment in the whole world, symbolizes sustainable energy consumption with low emissions. Nowadays nearly all personal computer monitors, different office devices and all sorts of electronic entertainment equipment are labelled with the Energy Star.

5.1.6.

GEEA-Group for Energy Efficient Appliances

In comparison to the Energy Star, which was created in the United States of America, the GEEA, the so-called Group for Energy Efficient Appliances, has much stricter regulations for the whole diversity of electronic office appliances. Every year, this organization appoints new limit values for each category of electronic equipment, with the main goal to motivate the manufacturer of electronic devices to research for the most efficient technologies. One of their major interests is the limitation of Stand-by losses of each electronic device. Some electronic entertainment equipments consume more power in the stand-by mode then when it is switched on for use. The GEEA label symbolizes much lower stand-by power consumption than any other label. The GEEA generated a long list of the most sustainable and most efficient electronic devices, which includes only 20 to 30 percent of the labelled equipment with the highest efficacy. Furthermore this list is published on the website www.energylabel.de and regularly, nearly every 3 month, this special list of the top-efficient products is updated. Some scientists calculated, that a four persons household with electronic standard appliances has a stand-by loss of about 75€ per year. To solve this main problem, some interesting ideas to reduce the stand-by loss are mentioned in the following chapter.

5.1.7.

ECO-Circle

Not only energy efficiency, also aspects of working-, health- and environmental protection is symbolized with this ECO-Circle of the TÜV-Rhineland certification institution. Mainly computer monitors, printer, personal computers and the necessary equipment are labelled. Strict technological standards make sure, that only the safest electronically devices with low radiance

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home emissions are gaining this specific label. The only disadvantage of this ECO-Circle label seems to be the fact that each product, which already gained this label, is allowed to keep it forever. Although, every year the minimum physical values of the ECO-Circle are adapted to the newest technical developments, which has the goal to protect men and the nature.

5.1.8.

TCO-Label

Last but not least, the TCO-Label symbolizes very ergonomic electronic devices, like personal computers, monitors and other office devices. The Swedish labour union TCO is labelling only office equipments with the highest standards for protecting human health and the environment, although it the TCO-label is one of the most flexible labels of the eight mentioned ones.64

5.1.9.

Accommodativeness costs electricity

Nowadays, researchers mean that it can be easy for everybody to reduce the electricity consumption about 30 percent in private households, without any appreciable decrease in quality of life. On the other side, there exists a 2 percent electricity consumption growth in private households per year, which can be described by two major factors. The first factor is the insufficient demographic development, in other words it means that a single person household consumes about 72 percent more electricity then a four persons household. Additionally living as a single is the quickest booming sector nowadays. The significant change in today’s lifestyle can be interpreted as the other reason for the rapid electricity consumption growth. Especially large personal computers, electronically entertainment equipment, new large flat screen and other expensive electronically household devices already are responsible for about 8 percent of the total electricity consumption in private households. Similar to Japan, which has the highest energy efficiency rate per economic output, and which has still quickly growing electricity consumption in the private household sector. Another huge problem is the stand-by-mode. To illustrate the total Austrian electricity consumption of the stand-by-mode, it can be said that two large Danube-power plants are needed.65

64

Energieagentur Nord Rhein Westfalen, Energie zeigt Etikette, p.2

65

Kugler, Martin, Hausbau :weniger Energie und mehr Behaglichkeit, Forschung, die Presse, May 2008,p.7

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home That is the main reason, why the European Union is starting a pro-climate offensive. On the one hand the EU limits the electrical consumption in the stand-by-mode of all electronic equipment and the on the other hand, electronically devices and lamps have to become more efficient. This initiative includes about 4.6 billion household and office devices in the EU. Today these electrical appliances consume around 50 tera watt hours per year, only in the stand-by-mode. That is the reason, why the EU is willing to reduce this inefficient electrical consumption by 35 twh until 2020, which can be illustrated as the total annual electrical consumption of Greece. For the new calculation the EU is planning to take all electronically household and office devices into account, which are sold in the EU. The major goal of this offensive is to force the multinational electronically equipment producer to manufacture higher efficient devices with a much lower electricity consumption in the stand-by-mode. The representatives of all 27 member states agreed the plans of the European commission that all electrical appliances have a maximum electrical stand-by consumption of 2 watt in the year 2010 and in from 2013 a stand-by limit of 1 max Watt. This pro-climate offensive in the private household sector includes also other benefits, as the reduction of 14 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is an essential step forward to reach the EU-greenhouse gas emission reduction goal of 20 percent in the year 2020. In Australia and in New Zealand law already forbids inefficient incandescent lamps. For example, LED lamps in comparison to obsolete incandescent lamps have 30 per cent lower heat emissions. Table 1 show the energy efficacy levels and useful life spans of four popular lamps, which are used in private households. Incandescent lamps have a much lower luminous efficacy then for example the CFL (Compact fluorescent lamp) and furthermore the life spans of these lamps are only about a tenth of CFLs. That is one of the main reasons, why the EU is willing to follow a similar strategy and tries to forbid old lamps from 2010 on. Additionally air condition devices that consume a huge amount of electricity every year are also a target of the pro-climate offensive of the EU because of the fact that these insufficient devices are mainly bought for a higher rate of accommodativeness.66

66

Pöll, Regina, EU macht gegen Stromfresser mobil, die Presse, Thursday, 10th July 2008, p.7

Armin Leopold


Table 2: Technical comparison of different lamp types, Source: IEA, 2003

Not only inefficient incandescent lamps are already in some countries and will be pushed from the international market in the near future, also inefficient washing machines, which consume up to 50 percent more electricity then modern washing machines. In Japan, for example, the government is willing to force different measures for a higher efficacy, to be able to reach the set climate goals. In this case, actions in three different scopes have to be taken. First, international washing machine manufacturer have to understand the importance of saving our nature, by developing higher efficacy levels and produce these machines for the same price as the less efficient washing machines. One method, to promote this sustainable development exists already in Japan, where the ten most efficient washing machines are presented in newspapers. Honour and glory for the manufacturing companies are the positive result of the innovative development. For the contrast, also the ten washing machines with the worst efficacy are published, to forbid the buy of this obsolete electrical household equipment. Erwin Smole from Pricewaterhousecoopers describes this publication as a real disgrace for every Japanese company, it bring more trouble then any tax repayment. That is the reason why in Japan the innovation development of highest-efficient electrical devices for the private household sector is one of the most sustainable in the world. The development since 1994 shows that the average electrical consumption of a refrigerator dropped from 2.51 kilowatt-hours to 0.38 kWh per litre refrigerator volume, in other words, Japan has succeeded to decouple the electrical consumption from the national economic development. In comparison, in Austria the total energy consumption rose continuously with the national economic development. Since 1990 it grew about 36 percent to the total national energy

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home consumption of 1.5 million tera joule. To imagine this sum of energy in a better way, this amount of energy stored in about 47 billion litres of petrol.

5.1.10.

Intelligent electricity meter

If we are willing to save electricity, only by a combination of different successful measures it is possible to reach the highest-efficient level. One simple instrument can be intelligent electricity meter. The main idea of this innovative instrument is to collect in real time all data from the actual electrical consumption. Up to now, the electricity companies knew only the total amount of electricity is needed, but never really knew who the exact consumer is. By the installation of new electronic electricity meter, different charges for the different operation times can be created. One of the best possibilities is to install one, which symbolizes the actual electricity demand by a sort of traffic lamp system. The green light means, cheap electricity, yellow lamp moderate and the red one symbolizes a sort of a demand peak. This sustainable innovation is a real win-win technology. On the one hand the customers are able to observe the peak of the electronically consumption and therefore are more flexible to choose the cheapest time for their electrical consumption. On the other hand, the electricity network operator is able to minimize the expensive electricity consumption peaks. In the case, that the installation of modern electricity meter is supported by state, the transposition would cost about 2 to 3 billion euros. Additionally these measures would be forced by state and would be obliging.67 So push forward this innovation, the new technology platform “Smart Grid Austria” was found in May 2008. Different electricity network companies from Lower and Upper Austria, Vienna and Salzburg meet together with innovative corporations like Infineon and Siemens and to work in a sort of cooperation with technical universities from Vienna and Graz. The major goal of this platform is to hustle all groups of actions and to create a sort of roadmap for Austria. Until now about 38 different research and development projects were implemented, with an expense of around seven million Euros, which dealt with Smart Grids. The near future can be seen as a time of higher electricity efficiency connected with an intelligent, flexible electricity network, which includes also private households. A new research project for instance enables the connected private households in the case that, the wind power station park generates less electricity, to shut off the electrical heating. One step further, this intelligent grid, 67

Kordik, Hanna, Japan: Ineffiziente Waschmaschinen werden verboten, Die Presse, 24th April 2008, p.26

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home could switch the electrical boiler on, at the same moment, when a strong wind is blowing at the wind power stations. This means, that the consumers, the private households can use electricity more efficient and more flexible, which enables the electricity network to use the electricity with a higher efficacy. Especially nowadays, when renewable electricity need promotional programs, Smart Grids can support this sustainable development and enable to reach the national climate plans.68 5.1.11.

One Watt Initiative

Although there are many different labels some technical details are not yet included like the electricity losses in the stand by mode of nearly every electronic device. That is the reason, why in 2003 the international energy agency started an innovative initiative, which describes an international effort to reduce standby power waste of electric equipment in the residential sector. The fact is, that every Watt necessary for the standby mode results in a yearly consumption of about 9 kWh. The massive present growth in new electronic equipments will continue to grow, leading to leaking electricity, representing an even bigger part of the total electricity consumption worldwide. The discussion about leaking electricity is mostly hampered by the absence of accepted definitions. The term itself is one of the best examples, because the big international manufacturer, who prefer the term stand-by losses, with the argument, that it suggests that, dislikes it the devise is broken. Leaking electricity has gained international acceptance by those, who are really involved in this subject. By the way, this term is the literal translation of the Swedish term for standby losses. At this point it is important to mention, that leaking electricity excludes the leaking gas, which is often integrated in heating calculations in the USA. Mode

Definition State of the power supply when no power is being provided to the rest of

No-Load

the appliance

Off

The appliance is switched off and has no remote capability

Passive Standby

The appliance is off, but can be powered up remotely

Active Standby

The appliance is on, but is not providing a primary function

Low-Power mode

Mode entered after a short period of inactivity

Deep-Sleep mode

Mode entered after a long period of inactivity

Table 3: Appliance mode that might be considered in the definition of standby power Source: Meier, Alan et al., One Watt Initiative, Panel 2, International Energy Agency, France, 2003,p.5

68

Kugler, Martin, Mit Intelligenz gegen das Blackout, Die Presse, Forschung, Juni 2008, p.9

Armin Leopold


These specific problems of defining the leaking electricity may appear academic, but they are in fact a major obstacle for the progress on reducing leaking electricity. In more general words, a test procedure cannot be developed until suitable definitions of leaking electricity are established and vice versa, a target cannot be established until a test procedure exists. One of the hardest problems to reduce these stand-by losses is the fact, that electronic devices are traded internationally and therefore it is nearly impossible for governments to make the necessary effort to limit leaking electricity domestically. Consequently there exists a strong need for concerted attempts in order to find sustainable solutions that can massively cut the electricity losses and additionally raise the electrical efficacy of all electric devices. For example, air conditioners have crankcase heaters, which stop the mitigation of refrigerant and additionally permit safe starting at low air temperatures. These parts of every air conditioner operate continuously and consume about 75 Watt. Furthermore many modern refrigerators use integrated electric heaters to prevent condensation at critical locations and to defrost the evaporator. Recently, heated toilet seats have become the ultimate luxury in Japan, which consume about 50 Watts all cold wintertime. Although the trend to reduce electricity losses is becoming more popular there still exist some specific electric innovations. This modernization consumes a lot of electricity unnoticed, which can be described as accommodativeness costs electricity.69 As mentioned before, the Energy Star program is one of the labels, which tries to reduce the stand-by waste by limiting it with strict standards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency therefore started the largest voluntary program, which became the most influential in the world. Although it can be criticized, because the average of complying units consume about 30 percent less in comparison to the Energy Star standards. In comparison to the USA, the European Union started a more offensive strategy to reduce the millions of kWh by stand-by losses, which will be described in the following chapter. 70

69

Meier, Alan et al., One Watt Initiative, Panel 2, International Energy Agency, France, 2003,p.5

70

Ibid.,pp.1

Armin Leopold


5.2.

Austrian energy consulting institutions

Especially the rising energy costs in Austria are one reason why more and more consumer of gas and electricity are interested in services of energy consulting institutions. Private household members are very attracted by energy efficiency measures and some are also willing to switch to ecological energy supply possibilities and therefore it is an advantage that the consulting offer is in most cases for free. Parallel to the personal consulting, there exists much different information about energy saving possibilities in private households, about ecological energy consumption and in various cases the associated possibilities for financial support.

5.2.1.

Austrian Energy Agency

http://www.energyagency.at/(en)/index.htm The Austrian Energy Agency (AEA), located in Vienna, is a non-profit energy research and policy institution. The AEA promotes sustainable consumption of energy and stimulates renewable energy sources and all the related innovative energy technologies. An included long list of informative links, special magazine about the latest news in the energy sector and many professional publications about different connected topics are presented by the AEA. Especially all the projects are well presented, which are at the moment focused on partnerships with other EU-countries. In addition the AEA highlights their initiative like the “Topprodukte”, an energy cost monitor, an energy consumption calculation tool and the all-essential energy consulting services with the connected financial support possibilities.71 One of the most important projects in the meanwhile is the energy efficiency monitoring by the AEA. This project was initiated according to the policy 2006/32/EG, with the fact that every EU-member state has to nominate one independent institution, which has the task to report about all the decided efficiency measures. The AEA has the duty to collect, analyse all done energy efficiency measures by energy services and furthermore present their development in Austria.72

71

Austrian energy agency, Austrian energy agency homepage, http://www.energyagency.at/(en)/index.htm, accessed

October 2008 72

Austrian energy agency, Energy efficiency monitoring institution, http://www.monitoringstelle.at/Home.9.0.html,

accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


5.2.2.

Electricity Control Company

http://www.e-control.at/portal/page/portal/ECONTROL_HOME The so-called E-Control can be seen as the Austrian independent authority for the liberal Austrian electricity and gas markets. With the help of this institution, everyone can find the cheapest and best solution for its electricity and gas consumption, by changing his or her energy supply corporation. Furthermore the E-control provides us with the actual gas and electricity price statistics; consumer information services and additionally publishes different independent energy market reports for every customer. For this thesis, the so-called quick and professional electricity consumption check are the most important ones. These two online programmes are co called energy efficiency calculators, which can help to work out the proximately annual electricity consumption for private households. In addition the E-Control lists different possible measures to reach a higher efficiency level. In a later paragraph the main aspects of this useful efficiency calculator will be presented. In comparison to others, a very modern user interface enables the customer to understand this calculator very quickly to reach an understandable clear calculation result. During the Macromedia Flash animation the user is able to choose for each room different typical electrical household appliances. In addition, the user can specify the equipment by adding the age of the used electrical equipment to become more detailed and reach a more exact result. At the end the user let the program calculate the whole electricity consumption of the specified private household devices. The final calculation table of the private household by the E-control is divided into the following parts: general household equipment, entertainment, lighting and others. Furthermore the household part contains the electricity consumption by cooking, washing, cooling and the hot water tank. The entertainment section is divided into television, video, stereo equipment, personal computer and notebook. Energy-saving lamp, fluorescent tubes, incandescent and halogen lamps are part of the lighting section of the E-control electricity consumption check. Last but not least, all the other electrical equipments can be seen as several different electronically devices. The calculation sheet shows clearly the possible electrical saving potential in the different household parts in absolute yearly numbers and in percent. Various additional links to more detailed information materials and practical energy saving tips are included. Furthermore the Econtrol electricity consumption check calculates the annual financial savings with the possible

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home target of changing the customer’s behaviour a little bit and to reach more efficient electricity consumption in Austrian private households.73

5.2.3.

Electricity saving action plan

http://www.stromsparmeister.at/pages/home This special initiative has the major goal to motivate all Austrian customers of electricity to save more electricity. The so-called “Stromsparmeister” is another label for a certified trader for electronically equipment, who has the latest know-how about the most efficient electronic devices for private households. This initiative tries to explain the consumer to switch to more sustainable and efficient electronic household equipments. One of the main reasons is the fact that especially the accommodativeness of the Austrian inhabitants consumes too much electricity every day. One of the main possible benefits of this energy consultant service is the so named “Stromsparbuch”, where every household can note all necessary technical details of their electronic devices by themselves and can be consulted afterwards about achievable energy saving potentials by the certified “Stromsparmeister”. The following institutions support this popular initiative: Austrian department of the environment, the Austrian energy agency and the Austrian electric trader association.74

5.2.4.

Energy

saving

consultant

by

the

Austrian

department of the environment http://www.klimaaktiv.at/article/archive/11914/ Supported by the Austrian Energy Agency and the Austrian department of the environment, “Klimaaktiv”, on the one hand, is an information source to identify energy saving potentials and on the other hand a modern institution, which initiates many different projects in the scope of energy saving consulting services. One of the most famous efficiency projects is the “Topprodukte” database, which will be explained in details in the following paragraph. There also exists other initiative for example the switch from incandescent lamps to energy-saving lamp for

73

E-control, E-control homepage, http://www.e-control.at/portal/page/portal/ECONTROL_HOME, accessed

October 2008 74

Stromsparmeister, Stromsparmeister homepage, http://www.stromsparmeister.at/pages/home, accessed October

2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home higher energy efficiency. Furthermore the “Klimaaktiv” supports also the before mentioned energy efficiency calculator and the “Stromsparmeister”.75

5.2.5.

Database

of

the

Most

Efficicient

Electrical

equipment for private households http://www.topprodukte.at/ Not only electronic appliances for private households, also electro scooter, cars and also wooden heating devices are listed in this new database, supported by many different institutions, which are presented in this chapter. Although the main focus of this “Topprodukte” energy consulting service are still the electronic devices for private households. Another positive advantage of switching to new innovative, efficient household equipment is the fact, that the “EVN AG” additionally supports the purchase with 20€ for each “topprodukt”-device. One of the main advantages of this independent electric product database is the fact, that there is not only an efficiency ranking of the electronic devices; there is also a very important and interesting explanation of the most essential technical measuring criteria. Furthermore “topprodukte” enables the customer to know all the necessary technical details for the purchase of new efficient electronic household equipments. For example in the subcategory refrigerator there are only 13 of 48 products in the “topprodukt” database, which are the most efficient in the world, the already mentioned “topprodukt”. These devices are ranked according to the energy efficiency index, which allows us to compare products of different size and type. This energy efficiency index is calculated according to the policy 2003/66/EG.76 Furthermore, the most efficient refrigerator reaches the energy efficiency class A++, which means that it consumes only 30% electricity in comparison to a standard refrigerator, according to the before mentioned EU-policy. To finalize this energy consulting service, it has to be mentioned that this service seems to be the most attractive and easiest to understand, because of the described database and the connected information services with all the necessary energy saving hints.77

75

Klimaaktiv, Energiesparen, http://www.klimaaktiv.at/article/archive/11914/, accessed October 2008

76

Topten

international

group,

http://www.oekotopten.lu/index.php?page=kuhlkombinationen_selek, accessed October 2008 77

Topprodukte, Topprodukte homepage, http://www.topprodukte.at/, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

Klassifizierung,


Energy consultant of the Vorarlberg power station

stock corporation http://www.vkw.at/inhalt/at/energieberatung.htm Although this company is one of the smallest Austrian energy suppliers, it presents the one of the best and most informative energy consulting service of all. On the one hand there are information folders about energy labels, important hints and advantages for a new hot water heating installation, energy saving tips for building a new house and significant facts and hints about the stand-by mode and how everyone can minimize hidden electricity losses. On the other hand the “VKW AG” supports us with the most essential details for an electronic device exchange, hints for buying new lighting equipment, informative facts for the daily pc use and a long brochure with the most efficient electronic devices for private households. In addition there exists an online service, which is presented in cooperation with the German “Niedrig-Energie Institut” with a huge integrated database of the most popular white household appliances. This database will be described in details in a later paragraph. Finally it can be said, that this energy consulting service presents one of the best-elaborated information and consulting possibility in Austria.78

5.2.7.

Energy saving consultant of the Lower Austrian

Energy supplier http://www.energiesparen.evn.at/ This Austrian energy supplier supports us with the necessary energy consulting services, like energy saving tips, a simple energy saving potential check and the most important information about various electronic devices. In other words, this energy consultant cannot satisfy the customer’s needs and answer all their questions entirely about sustainable and efficient electricity consumption.79

5.2.8.

Energy saving consultant of the Linz stock

corporation http://www.linzag.at/content/section,id,1172,nodeid,1179,_country,strom,_language,de.html

78

VKW, Energieberatung, http://www.vkw.at/inhalt/at/energieberatung.htm, accessed October 2008

79

EVN, Energiesparen, http://www.energiesparen.evn.at/, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home This stock corporation is not only focused on their financial outcome, it is obvious that also the energy saving consulting services is one of the most important interests of this Austrian company. They present general, interesting arguments, facts and advantages of heat insulation for old and new buildings. Furthermore they present a long list of advices how we consume less electricity in private households. There are many different suggestions which can be done quite quickly without troubles or high costs, e.g.: it is a fact, that boiling some water is much more efficient with an electric kettle than heating it on the stove. In addition, the Linz stock corporation supports us with a small intelligent tool, which can really help to identify the biggest energy saving potentials in private households. Especially for inexpertly energy service customers the integrated glossary seems to be a very helpful chance to become more integrated and more informed about electricity efficiency potentials in private households. There exists also a download possibility of a pre-structured excel sheet to enable the customers calculating their annual energy consumption rate of their private households. Finally this energy saving consulting service presents also a large variety of information folders about energy saving possibilities for private households. That is the reason, why in the author’s point of view this energy consulter seems to have one of the best integrated information services of all Austrian energy consulting institutions.80

5.2.9.

Energy consultant of the Tyrolean Energy supplier

http://www.tiroler-wasserkraft.at/de/hn/energieberatung/index.php The Tyrolean energy supplier supports us with a competent and simple energy consulting service, which includes all necessary efficiency action fields for a private household. One of the most significant energy consulting services of this institution is their different short, informative video clip about electricity saving potentials of all electronic household appliances. Furthermore they present a well-structured tool to identify the biggest electricity consumers of a private household, which is created in corporation with the energy agency “Nordrhein Westfalen”. When the final result of this electricity consumption check is presented, there is also a very informative pie chart with the percentages of the electricity consumption of all selected

80

Linz

AG,

http://www.linzag.at/content/section,id,1172,nodeid,1179,_country,strom,_language,de.html, 2008

Armin Leopold

Energiesparen, accessed

October

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home electronic devices (see following Figure). Furthermore the electricity saving potentials are well presented in absolute and relative numbers.81

Figure 14: TIWAG, electricity consumption check Source: TIWAG, Energieberatung, http://www.tiroler-wasserkraft.at/de/hn/energieberatung/index.php, accessed October 2008

5.2.10.

Energy consultant of the Vienna Energy supplier

http://www.wienenergie.at/we/ep/channelView.do;jsessionid=6BA2A53ABCA2177C121CB19 9EF2DB228?channelId=-22149&displayPage=&pageTypeId=11889 This Austrian energy supplier tries to change the customer’s behaviour by publishing facts of electrical stand-by losses. In addition they support the popular initiative to borrow their customer electricity consumption meter for free. This has the target to let the people know which electronic device needs electricity in the stand-by mode and especially to give them an idea about the exact amount of lost electricity.82

5.2.11.

Upper Austrian Energy saving association

http://www.esv.or.at/esv/index.php?id=1 This Austrian association is mainly focused on the energy consulting service for the private household as a building, as a place for electronic devices and as a place to live. In other words, the “Oberösterreichische Energiesparverband” provides us with different sorts of energy consulting services, for example individual energy consulting for building new houses or house

81

TIWAG,

Energieberatung,

http://www.tiroler-wasserkraft.at/de/hn/energieberatung/index.php,

accessed

October 2008 82

Wien

Energie,

Energieberatung,

http://www.wienenergie.at/we/ep/channelView.do;jsessionid=6BA2A53ABCA2177C121CB199EF2DB228?chann elId=-22149&displayPage=&pageTypeId=11889, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home renovations. Furthermore they are consultant for energy efficiency action plans and the connected advice for the purchase of new efficient electronic devices.83

5.2.12.

Other energy consulting institutions

Especially in Austria exist many other energy consultants, but for this thesis they seem to be less relevant, which will be listed in the following paragraph. Furthermore, these energy-consulting institutions are mainly specialized on energy consulting for buildings, housing advancement and building sanitation that is the reason, why they are not described in details. Styrian Energy saving association http://www.lev.at/ Styrian Energy consultant information authority http://www.verwaltung.steiermark.at/cms/ziel/2627943/DE/ Energy agency Western Styria http://www.energie-agentur.at/shop/shop.php?detail=1 Grazer Energy Agency http://www.grazer-ea.at/cms/ Local Energy Agency Eastern Styria http://www.lea.at/ Energy Agency Upper Styria http://www.eao.st/cms/default.asp http://haushalte.kelag.at/content/page_engergieberatung.jsp Energy consultant of the Carinthian Energy supply stock corporation

http://www.energiebewusst.at/index.php?id=1 83

OÖ. Energiesparverband, Homepage, http://www.esv.or.at/esv/index.php?id=1, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home The independent Carinthian energy consultant http://www.oekv-energy.at/website/output.php Austrian Energy consumer association http://www.energieinstitut.at/ Vorarlberg Energy Institute http://www.e-sicher.at/index.php?id=55 Verband der Elektrizitätsunternehmen Österreichs

Armin Leopold


5.3.

Austrian’s electricity consumption calculation tools

More and more energy consulting service institutions are willing to change the customers’ behaviour by creating and publishing modern tools, which can help all energy consumers to calculate their approximately actual and annual energy consumption in only some minutes. In the following paragraphs, the most popular Austrian electricity consumption calculation tools will be presented in details, with the goal to compare the main program structures and to analyse their final energy consumption calculation output. For the analysis of the comparison of the following tools, the defined living information will be taken as a standard data: 2 adult persons are living in a 100 square meter flat in a terraced house, having both a job and use their flat for 50 weeks per year. The flat has a ceiling height of at least 3 metres. There are the following white household appliances: •

One 10 years old, 300 litre (higher than 120cm) refrigerator with the energy class B

•

One 4 years, small (less than 170litre) upright freezer with the energy class B

•

One 10 years old gas stove, used 5 times a week

•

One 900 watt microwave

•

One 2000 watt kettle

•

One 2 years old 60 cm wide dishwasher, with the energy class A, which is used 3 times a week with seldom use of the economy program

•

One 2 years old, washing machine with the energy class A, which is used 2 times a week for the 30 degree program and 2 times a week for the 40 degree program

•

One 2 years old drier with the energy class B, which is used once a week

Electronic entertainment: •

One year old LCD-TV with a diagonal of 82 cm, which is used 3 hours per day with no standby consumption

•

One compact stereo system used 2 hours per day with no standby consumption.

•

One sat receiver, used 3 hours per day with no standby consumption

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home Office appliances: •

One personal computer, used 1 hour per day with no standby consumption

•

One laptop, used 2 hours per day with no standby consumption

•

One small (smaller than 19 inch) LCD monitor, used 1 hour per day with no standby consumption

•

One inkjet printer, used 1 hour per day with no standby consumption

Lighting: •

4 energy-saving lamps with 12 watt, which are used 3 hours per day

•

6 energy-saving lamps with 18 watt, which are used 3 hours per day

•

6 incandescent lamps with 40 watt, which are used 3 hours per day

•

All lamps are switched off, if the room is not used.

•

In addition the two persons are in the evening often at home.

5.3.1.

Austrian E-Control

http://profikalkulator.e-control.at/ekpro/view/index.jsp This electricity consumption calculation tool by the Austrian E-control is also supported by the Austrian energy agency. There are two different tools, the quick tool and the professional calculation tool. Both have a very simple and understandable structure. In the following paragraph the professional check will be discussed. After adding some general household descriptions and selecting the right energy supplier, the user can choose all household appliances, which can be specified more detailed. There are six important scopes, which are subdivided into other categories. Like other calculation tools, there are also the scopes heating and hot water in the calculation tool integrated. One of the advantages of this calculation tool by the E-control is the selectable special appliance, which can consume a large amount of electricity, like a sauna or a solarium. In comparison to the professional check, the quick check has a much more attractive user interface and is easier to handle. For each room of the household electronic equipments can be selected and added to the virtual private household. The so-called drag and drop system is quick and simple for every Internet user. Furthermore there is another difference between these two tools by the E-control. The professional tool includes much more appliances and the equipment Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home can be described more detailed. As it is presented in the following tables, the final results of the calculation with the before defined energy equipment standard shows no real difference. In other words, a typical Austrian private household tested with the quick check by the E-control shows nearly the same annual electricity consumption calculation and achievable saving potentials as the professional one.84 Annual electricity consumption

1898 kWh

Possible electricity consumption Electricity saving potentials

1191 kWh

in percent

kWh Euro

37

708

103

Table 4: Annual electricity consumption calculation and achievable saving potentials with the professional check by the E-control Source:

E-Control,

Profi

Check,

http://profikalkulator.e

control.at/ekpro/EkProfiCheck.do?action=navigate&targetPage=start, accessed October 2008

Annual electricity consumption

2228 kWh

Possible electricity consumption Electricity saving potentials

1505 kWh

in percent

kWh Euro

32

723

119,8

Table 5: Annual electricity consumption calculation and achievable saving potentials with the quick check by the E-control Source: E-Control, Quick Check, http://effizienzkalkulator.e-control.at/, accessed October 2008

5.3.2.

Wien Energie

http://www.energiesparcheck.at This online energy saving check is mainly for “Wien Energie” customers and that is the reason, why this tool is only useable as a demo version for non-customers. In other words, the author was not able to use this energy saving tool as he would like to and therefore he skipped this tool for an analysis. Although in the following paragraph the main points of this tool will be discussed. In general it can be said that the user interface is understandable and the most important information are quickly added. The three main scopes are the household, heating and hot water.

84

E-Control, Homepage, http://www.e-control.at/portal/page/portal/ECONTROL_HOME, accessed October

2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home There are ten subgroups in the household, which means that this tool is very detailed. For calculating the exact amount of kWh more precise, every electronic appliance has some connected variables. In the scope heating and also in the scope hot water, the user of this tool has to know many different technical details of these household installations to receive a correct energy consumption calculation. Although it is a demo version for the author, the most essential energy saving hints are always readable. It is really a pity that only “Wien Energie” customers can use this professional energy saving check, although it is understandable and visible that the research and the development for generating this tool cost a lost, in comparison to others. In the author’s point of view, this electricity consumption calculation tool, which includes also fossil energy and water consumption, is can be valuated as one of the most advanced calculation tools on the Austrian market. Especially the clear energy structure and the possible appliances details are astonishing and very important for all consumers for achieving a correct and objective energy calculation result. Especially the final result can be split up in details and all appliances with their energy saving potentials are listed. In addition the energy saving potentials of all three important scopes is clearly visualized (see following figure).85

Figure 15: Energy consumption calculation Source: Wien Energie, Energiesparcheck, http://www.energiesparcheck.at/, accessed October 2008

85

Wien Energie, Energiesparcheck, http://www.energiesparcheck.at/, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


Verbund Stock Corporation

http://www.energiespartipps.at/ Instead of absolute numbers, this energy saving hints program compares the possible energy savings with electronic devices or a supermarket shopping tour and visualizes this as an amount of money. The “Basis”, in other words general energy saving possibilities, is divided into lighting, hot water, heating and air conditioner with possible 16 saving hints. The “Haushalt” includes the cooking, cooling and freezing, washing machine and the washing machine. In this category are possible 14 saving potentials listed. In the “Elektronik” are the following appliances: TV, Video and DVD, computer, Hi-FI and Handy, which include 9, different interesting electricity saving hints. The last four scopes are dived in household, insulation, do-it-yourself and hobbies, which has about a dozen of different hints integrated.

Figure 16: Electricity calculation user interface Source: Verbund, Energiespartipps, http://www.energiespartipps.at/, accessed October 2008

If someone doesn’t have the time to click on all these scopes, there exists also a downloadable list of hundreds of interesting energy saving hints. In general can be said, that the idea of trying to change the customer’s behaviour by generating a small animated internet tool is quite interesting, but the content and output is not that informative as the energy saving list. That is the reason, why the author recommends reading only the long list of energy saving hints and marking all of them, which are not known yet and Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home which can save on the one hand some Euro and on the other hand reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (Verbund Energiespartipps: http://www.energiespartipps.at/download/Verbund_Energiespar_Tipps.pdf)86

5.3.4.

TIWAG electricity consumption check

http://www.energieagentur.nrw.de/haushalt/energiecheck/default.asp?site=tiwag 12 different scopes are integrated in the electricity consumption check program by the TIWAG, which is presented in cooperation with the “Energieagentur NRW”. After selecting the number of household members, the user can select different important household devices. Because of the fact, that more and more households have already an espresso machine, this tool has this device already included. Also the possibility to select a vacuum cleaner, which normally every private household has already, is integrated. As the following figure of the final result shows, there are a final electricity consumption result, a colourful pie chart and a detailed information table about the different household scopes. In this tool the final result shows that with the before defined appliance standards the electricity consumption seems to be below the Austrian average, in other words, this private household seems to be very efficient. In details this household is about 24 percent under the average, which means that the members save about 72 Euros per year, in comparison to a standard equipped household.

Annual electricity consumption

1590 kWh

Average electricity consumption Electricity saving potentials

2100 kWh

in percent

kWh

Euro

-24,25

-509

-71,77

Table 6: Final electricity consumption result Source:

TIWAG,

Stromcheck

für

http://www.energieagentur.nrw.de/haushalt/energiecheck/default.asp?site=tiwag,

Haushalte, accessed

October

2008

This pie chart of the major electricity consumption classes shows in percentage the final result. On the one hand the lighting of the rooms and on the other hand the cooling and freezing of necessary food consumes the most. This visualisation of the consumption is a very useful tool for

86

Verbund, Energiespartipps, http://www.energiespartipps.at/, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home many Austrian customers, because it can quickly show the biggest categories of electronic consumers.

Figure 17: Pie chart of the major electricity consumption classes Source:

TIWAG,

Stromcheck

für


Haushalte, accessed

October

2008

Finally the TIWAG congratulates, because the result of this electricity consumption calculation means that the user of this tool seems to be an exemplary electricity customer.87

5.3.5.

Efficient electronic devices by the VKW AG

http://www.spargeraete.de/vkw This tool can be described as an advanced database with the most famous efficient electronic devices that everybody can buy. The “VKW” uses the cooperation with the German “NiedrigEnergie Institut” to present this online database. Only white household appliances, like refrigerator, freezer, washing machines, dishwasher and dryer and washer with integrated dryer are listed. Furthermore user interface seems to be, in the author’s point of view, very simple and understandable. The major advantage of this efficient devices database is the amount of products. In the refrigerator and freezer scope are about 2147 appliances from 48 different producers. There are 642 different washing machines, 53 different washer dryer, 291 normal dryer and last but not least 794 dishwashers listed. The structure of this database is logical and in several steps, everyone can find their most efficient household equipment. As an example, in the category dishwasher you first have to choose the installation type of the dishwasher. Second the user has to choose the size. As the third step, the optimum dimensions

87

TIWAG,

Stromcheck

für

http://www.energieagentur.nrw.de/haushalt/energiecheck/default.asp?site=tiwag, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

Haushalte,

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home of the dishwasher have to be set. By choosing the energy class, which the dishwasher should have at least, one of the most important steps is done. At the fifth step, the user can specify the local electricity and water costs and can also choose preferred dishwasher manufacturer. The final result of this database tool presents a long list with the most efficient dishwashers, which can be printed and downloaded. In the following table you can see that the result is sorted by approximately operating costs of 15 years. In addition it is possible to change this ranking, by choosing another specification criteria. In general, it can be said, that this database seems to be the biggest and most informative, although it is not the most attractive one.88

Table 7: VKW, sparsame Spülmaschinen Source: www.spargeraete.de, accessed October 2008

5.3.6.

Topprodukte.at

www.topprodukte.at The topprodukte.at homepage is an information tool with an integrated database, which is created by the AEA and “Klimaaktiv”. In general, the database is different and has a much wider repertoire than the analysed database before. The seven main categories are: lighting, office, household, heating, communication, mobility and finally entertainment. The database has about 31 different sub categories, which means, that there at least 600 different products. The main advantage of this tool is the fact, that not only electronic household appliances are listed; also cars are ranked by their sustainability or efficiency. To compare this database tool with the previous one, the author presents the efficiency table of the dishwashers in the following figure.

88

VKW, Spargeräte, http://www.spargeraete.de/vkw, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


Table 8: Most efficient dishwashers database Source: Topprodukte.at

In this case, not only the energy efficiency class is one ranking factor, also water consumption and the noise emissions are important efficiency factors. This database has obviously the latest products already integrated and seems to be quite objective, although it is not proof able. Close connected to the database, there are also interesting information possibilities about the technical criteria and the methodology of the database ranking. In addition general information, short statistics and special glossaries about these product categories can be read.89

5.3.7.

Calculation tool for stand-by losses by electronic

devices http://www.vkw.at/standby/app/index.asp The translated slogan reduce stand-by by using electricity instead of wasting it, seems to be the best way to change the customer’s behaviour and to motivate them to switch of all devices, when they are not in usage. The VKW has generated a tool to estimate the stand-by losses of all

89

Topprodukte.at, Homepage, www.topprodukte.at, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home household appliances, by offering the user to select different appliances and to measure the approximate habitual of pulling the plug. In other words, how much electronic losses are generated by the user’s accommodativeness. This electric stand-by calculation tool therefore presents a range of possible stand-by losses dependent on the user’s “switch off” habitual. The VKW tool is separated into three categories, the information and communication scope, the entertainment category and finally the household appliances. In total there are 34 different appliance sub categories and the approximate habitual of pulling the plug is ranked from doing it always to pulling it never with three sub steps. The calculation presents the final result with the total number of wasted annual electricity. The easiest way to save costs, save electricity and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to the switch the appliance after usage off and furthermore to pull the plug. In the author’s point of view the additional information about stand-by losses are becoming more and more important, because of the fact, that every private household buys more and more appliances and the household members doesn’t recognize their stand-by losses. That is the reason why the before mentioned efficiency calculation tools in connection with this stand-by calculation tool are becoming more fashionable and more important for the customers and therefore also for the manufacturer. One of the best hints by the author, as he also does, is the usage of master-slave multiple socket outlets, especially for the television and the connected entertainment appliances! Because of the latest EU energy saving policies more and more electronic equipment manufacturer have to produce appliances with little or even no stand-by losses, which are discussed in another chapter.90

90

VKW, Standby Rechner, http://www.vkw.at/standby/app/index.asp, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


Figure 18: Standby calculation tool Source: VKW, Standby Rechner, http://www.vkw.at/standby/app/index.asp, accessed October 2008

5.3.8.

Energy Consultant company “Feistritzwerke”

http://energieberatung.feistritzwerke.at/pages/init.do;jsessionid=AB2453A00055F32BF5A56D8 251612DE5 This last electricity consumption calculation tool is one of the simplest ones. The “Feistritzwerke” generated a comprehensible tool, which splits the private household into six different, typical categories. After selecting the number of household members and an electric kettle, each category presents different technical specifications. One of the most interesting features of this calculation tool is obviously the electricity calculation at each category with possible energy saving hints and linked instructions to become efficient, which seems to be a real advantage. To understand the final calculation, a detailed methodology is also integrated, next to the important links. In addition uncomplicated figures of the energy saving potentials and a diagram with the distribution of the electrical consumption let the user the final result of the consumption calculation tool understand. Furthermore the result is saveable, which many previous calculation tools don’t have integrated. Finally it can be said, that this tool presents a

Armin Leopold

From lighting to stand-by: saving electricity at home simple calculation and presentation method, but should be updated and needs a broader range of appliances.91

Figure 19: Feistritzwerke, Energieberatung, Source: Feistritzwerke, http://energieberatung.feistritzwerke.at/pages/init.do;jsessionid=AB2453A00055F32BF5A56D8251612DE 5, accessed October 2008

91

Feistritzwerke,

http://energieberatung.feistritzwerke.at/pages/init.do;jsessionid=AB2453A00055F32BF5A56D8251612DE5, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


5.3.9.

Other foreign electricity consumption calculation tools

•

http://www.co2online.de/

•

http://www.office-topten.de

•

http://www.spargeraete.de

•

http://www.ecotopten.de

•

http://www.topten.be

•

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

•

http://www.topten.ch/

•

http://www.eu-energystar.org/de/de_calculator.shtml

•

http://www.consumerspower.org/home_energy/billestimator.php

•

http://www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html

•

http://www.scrapltd.com.au/electricitycalc.htm

•

http://www.truenergy.com.au/Residential/EnergyCalculator.xhtml

•

http://www.clp-powerwise.com.hk/eng/calculator/calculator.html

Armin Leopold


5.4.

Tips on saving energy at home

“Technological advances and the development of energy-efficient products can help American families save a lot of money. Today, American families can choose refrigerators that use the same amount of power as a 75-watt light bulb, high efficiency light bulbs that last longer and require less electricity than traditional ones, and energy efficient windows that can keep hot and cold air in and prevent hard-earned dollars from flowing out. Thanks to the development of innovative technologies, American families can make better energy choices.” President George W. Bush92 In other words, everyone can save electricity and money in the household by following only some important step. When purchasing a new electronic device the most costs can be already saved, by buying the most efficient appliance the operating costs will stay low and the future electricity consumption will be the most sustainable. Watch out for the EU-Energy labelling and always try to purchase at least an A or even an A+ energy class product. In the following chapter, the most important hints for saving electricity and money in the private household will be listed. Whit the help of these energy saving tips, every household can save 200 up to 500€ per year, dependent on the actual electricity consumption. The 7 main electricity saving themes are:

92

•

Lighting

•

Dishwasher

•

Refrigerator

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Washing machine and dryer

•

Electric stove

•

Office equipment

•

Stand-by

Energy savers, USDE, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/pdfs/energy_savers.pdf, p.2, accessed

October 2008

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5.4.1.

Lighting

1. Turn the lights off in any room you’re not using or even install occupancy sensors to reduce the amount of time your lights are on. 2. Use task lighting, in other words, instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets. 3. Use tube fluorescent and energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in fixtures throughout your home to provide high-quality and high-efficiency lighting. Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent (standard) bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, which can save up to 70€ per household a year. 4. Turn off non-essential and decorative lighting, especially in unoccupied areas. 5. In addition replace flickering, dim and burned out lamps with lower wattage lamps or energy-saving lamps. 6. Lower the height of light fixtures if possible to increase usable light. 7. Trim bushes and trees away from outdoor lighting to maximize illumination and prevent shadows. 8. Take advantage of daylight by using light-coloured, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy. Also, decorate with lighter colours that reflect daylight.93 9. Especially avoid halogen floor lamps, which typically have a power of 300W or more, produce lots of heat and are actually so hot that they can cause serious burns and start fires. 10. Sometimes the fixture and the lamps need to be cleaned to minimize luminosity losses and save electricity.94

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October 2008 94

Checkliste

Beleuchtung,

Deutsche

Energie

Agentur,

http://www.energieeffizienz-im-

service.de/fileadmin/InitiativeEnergieEffizienz/auswahlhilfe/Nutzermotivation/Checkpoint/Checkliste_Beleuchtu ng.pdf, p.1, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


5.4.2.

Dishwasher

1. An efficient dishwasher uses only half the electricity and up to 9 times less water it takes to wash you dishes by hand. 2. Be sure your dishwasher is full, but not overloaded, when you run it. 3. Check the manual that came with your dishwasher for the manufacturer’s recommendations on water temperature; many have internal heating elements that allow you to set the water heater in your home to a lower temperature (e.g.: energy-saver cycle: 45°Celsius). 4. Don’t use the “rinse hold” on your machine for just a few soiled dishes. It uses 8 to 20 litres of hot water each time you use it. 5. Scrape, don’t rinse, off large food pieces and bones. Soaking or pre-washing is generally only recommended in cases of burned-on or dried-on food. 6. Since 85% of a dishwasher's electricity is used to heat the water, look for a short-cycle or economic wash feature. 7. Let your dishes air dry; if you don’t have an automatic air-dry switch, turn off the control knob after the final rinse and prop the door open a little so the dishes will dry faster. 8. Furthermore make always sure that all the filters stay clean. 9. After the dishwasher has finished the program switch the unit off and don’t let it in the stand-by mode. 10. When shopping for a new dishwasher, look for the EU-Energy label with at least an energy class A, to find a dishwasher that uses less water and 25% less energy than required by federal standards.95

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5.4.3.

Refrigerator

1. The EU Energy label on new refrigerators will tell you how much electricity in kilowatthours (kWh) a particular model uses in one year. The smaller the number, the less energy the refrigerator uses and the less it will cost you to operate. 2. A new refrigerator with an energy class A label uses at least 15% less energy than required by current federal standards and 40% less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001. 3. In addition, you should select a new refrigerator that is the right size for your household, for example 50 to 60 litres per person. Furthermore top freezer models are more energy efficient than large side-by-side models. Features like icemakers and water dispensers, while convenient, will increase energy use a lot. 4. Try to position the new refrigerator not next to a heat source, like a stove or a heater! 5. Look for a refrigerator with automatic moisture control. Models with this feature have been engineered to prevent moisture accumulation on the cabinet exterior without the addition of a heater. It is important to know, that this is not the same thing as an “antisweat” heater. Models with an anti-sweat heater will consume 5% to 10% more energy than models without this feature. 6. Don’t keep your refrigerator or freezer too cold. Recommended temperatures are 4° to 8°F for the fresh food compartment of the refrigerator and 18°F for the freezer section. 7. You should regularly defrost manual the refrigerators and freezers; the frost layer decreases the energy efficiency of the unit. Don’t allow frost to build up more than 5 millimetres. 8. Make sure your refrigerator door seals are still elastic and therefore airtight. Trying this by closing the door over a piece of paper or a Euro bill so it is half in and half out of the refrigerator. If you can pull the paper or bill out easily, the latch may need adjustment, the seal may need replacing, or in the worst case you might consider buying a new refrigerator. 9. Cover all liquids and wrap foods stored in the refrigerator. Uncovered foods release a lot of moisture and make the compressor work harder.96 10. When going on holidays, the refrigerator should be switched down to minimum cooling level or even switched off and leave the door open.97

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Washing machine and dryer

1. Wash your clothes in cold water using cold-water detergents whenever possible, which means to stay under 40°Celsius. 2. Always try to wash and dry full loads. If you are washing a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting. 3. Try to keep the dryer use to a minimum; all clothes can dry as well on normal clotheslines as in clothes dryer, without using kilowatts of electricity. 4. Consider air-drying clothes on clotheslines or drying racks. Clothing manufacturers recommend air-drying for some fabrics. 5. Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight clothes. 6. Don’t over-dry your clothes. If your machine has a moisture sensor, use it. 7. Clean the lint filter in the dryer after every load to improve air circulation and to unnecessary reduce electricity consumption. 8. Use the cool-down cycle to allow the clothes to finish drying with the residual heat in the dryer. 9. Periodically inspect by yourself or let inspect your dryer vent to ensure it is not blocked. This can save energy and may prevent fire damage. Manufacturers recommend using rigid venting material, not plastic vents that may collapse and cause blockages. 10. When shopping for a new washing machine or dryer always look for an energy class at least B or better A, which are not much more expensive, regarding the possible operating costs.98

97

Energiesparen im Haushalt, Umweltbundesamt, http://www.umweltdaten.de/publikationen/fpdf-l/188.pdf, p. 9,

accessed October 2008 98


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5.4.5.

Electric stove

1. When stove top cooking, use lids on pots to reduce heating time. 2. Water should be generally boiled with an electric kettle. 3. Boiling only a small amount of liquid should be done in the microwave. 4. Keeping stove plates and reflectors clean. 5. On the stove, use the right pot sized for the food and not a larger one. Example: Boiling eggs - you may be using more energy to boil more water, when a small pot would be sufficient. 6. Furthermore, using a pressure cooker when preparing foods that normally take a long time to cook. They speed up the cooking process and save electricity.99 7. A modern efficient induction stove can also save up to 50€ per year instead to a convenient stove. 8. Use the rest heat of the stove for keeping the food warm, instead leaving the unit switched on. 9. Avoid using bent or deformed pots and pans because they use more energy to get to the desired temperature. 10. Invest in modern, efficient cooking pots made of copper or steel, which can also save electricity.100

99

Saving tips, Eskom, http://www.eskomdsm.co.za/?q=Residential+_Saving_tips, accessed October 2008

100

Energiespartipps, Verbund AG, http://www.energiespartipps.at/download/Verbund_Energiespar_Tipps.pdf,

p.2, accessed October 2008

Armin Leopold


5.4.6.

Office equipment

1. Turning off all office devices when they are not in use can result in enormous energy savings. 2. Therefore turn off PCs, monitors, printers and copiers nightly and on weekends. 3. Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. These stand-by losses occur in most appliances that use electricity, such as VCRs, televisions, stereos, computers, and kitchen appliances. That is the reason, why this hint recommends pulling always the plug if possible. 4. Common misconceptions sometimes account for the failure to turn off equipment. Many people still believe that equipment lasts longer if it is never turned off. This incorrect perception carries over from the days of older mainframe computers. 5. Another old and common misconception is that screen savers reduce energy use by monitors; they do not. Automatic switching to sleep mode or manually turning monitors off is always the best energy-saving strategy. 6. To maximize savings with a laptop, put the adapter on a power strip that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically); the transformer in the adapter draws power continuously, even when the laptop is not plugged into the adapter. 7. Consider buying a laptop for your next computer upgrade, because of the fact that they use much less energy than large desktop computers. 8. In addition an ink-jet printer consumes 90 percent less energy than a laser printer. 9. Printers are typically 24 hours on but often used for only a few hours each day. Let more than only one low-volume departments share a printer. 10. Unplug battery and mobile phone chargers when the accumulators are fully charged or the chargers are not in use.101

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5.4.7.

Standby

1. When buying a new electronic device, always ask for the exact amount of stand-by the unit needs. 2. To know the most efficient device in the unit category, everyone should have a look on the topprodukte.at database. 3. If possible try to monitor the stand-by consumption with an electricity consumption meter, which can be borrowed at most energy consulting agencies. 4. Buy a normal power strip, which can switch off several electronic devices with only one switch, that can save about 100€ each household per year.102 5. Try to pull the plug at every device in the evening, when the device is not used anymore.

102

Energiesparen im Haushalt, Umweltbundesamt, http://www.umweltdaten.de/publikationen/fpdf-l/188.pdf, p.

23, accessed October 2008

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6. Conclusions Already today and more important in the near future everybody should think more about efficiency and has to be well informed about the electricity efficiency of electronic devices which he/ she uses. When buying a new appliance the latest World Wide Web efficient appliance database should help, inform and objectively advice the customer about the most efficient appliances, the most common energy labels and present also some practical tips for the efficient handling of the device. In reality all these sustainable measures are less important, when the user’s behaviour is not enough informed and is not willing to change the way of thinking. Therefore the manufacturer and also the electronic equipment seller have the fundamental task to convince their customers of the most essential advantages of efficient electronic devices. In the author’s point of view, the discussed electricity efficiency cannot help to reach the Kyoto target, when the private household isn’t seen as whole complex system. Electricity efficiency can be insignificant, when the insulation of the house or flat is inefficient. In this case, the combination of insulation of the building and reaching a higher electrical efficiency can be the most sustainable way of combining efficiency measures. Because of the fact, that in the last decades the architecture of a building was more important then the sustainability aspect, the huge glass facades became especially in the summertime a real inefficient energy characteristic. In details, the sun heats the so-called glasshouse up and that is the reason, why the household members are buying an energy-wasting air conditioner as an unsustainable result. Therefore even simple or innovative energy saving measures, for example new solar panels or small combined heat and power generation plants or new insulations or even planting new shade giving trees, have to be integrated in the whole energy efficiency system of a future private household. With a comprehensive outlook of the energy economy the crucial facts for the necessity of energy efficiency are highlighted. With this master thesis, the author is trying to underline the importance to change society and to present different practical solutions and measures. Finally, it can be said, that energy efficiency, in the author’s point of view can be seen as one of the main keys for a sustainable future.

Armin Leopold


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