Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI

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  • Publication
    Low power mode energy demand of household appliances - SELINA and APP projects
    ( 2017)
    Patrao, Carlos
    ;
    Almeida, Anibal T. de
    ;
    Harrison, Bob
    ;
    Schlomann, Barbara
    ;
    Damnics, Melissa
    ;
    Fonseca, Paula
    In the last decades, it has been recognized that energy consumption in low power modes for electrical and electronic products is an important issue. There is a need to expand energy efficiency efforts beyond simple standby modes into the new more complex area of networks, thus tackling the new paradigm of living based on the Internet of Things. The European project SELINA carried out a large scale in store monitoring campaign, measuring about 6300 different equipment. Since then, there is no reference to other similar market surveillance studies being carried out in Europe. In Asia, a market surveillance campaign performed by the Asia Pacific Partnership with measurements on a regular basis has been very successful. SELINA results show that 18.5% of the measured products present power values higher than the 2010 EC 1275/2008 regulation threshold in off-mode, and for standby this value reached 31%. When a comparison is made with the 2013 EC 1275/2008 regulation threshold, these values increase twice. The Asia Pacific Partnership results alert policy makers that low passive standby does not guarantee low active standby. Several studies indicate that consumer electronic products are becoming more efficient and their energy consumption is decreasing. However, because the ownership of appliances is also increasing, these improvements in energy efficiency do not seem to have significant impact in the overall consumption of the households. In addition, there is evidence that not all appliances in the market reach the performance announced by the manufacturers. Recent measurements carried out by the Natural Resources Defense Council on flat screen TVs revealed that their real energy consumption seems to be higher than announced in the label. This shows the urgent need for measurement campaigns, since no market surveillance is being carried out on regular basis, and trusting the manufacturer's data seems to be unreliable.
  • Publication
    Thermal cooling using low-temperature waste heat: A cost-effective way for industrial companies to improve energy efficiency?
    ( 2012)
    Schall, D.
    ;
    Hirzel, S. orcid-logo
    As a typical cross-cutting technology, cooling and refrigeration equipment is used for a variety of industrial applications. While cooling is often provided by electric compression cooling systems, thermal cooling systems powered by low-temperature waste heat could improve energy efficiency and promise a technical saving potential corresponding to 0.5 % of the total electricity demand in the German industry. In this paper, we investigate the current and future cost-effectiveness of thermal cooling systems for industrial companies. Our focus is on single-stage, closed absorption and adsorption cooling systems with cooling powers between 40 and 100 kW, which use low-temperature waste heat at temperature levels between 70 °C and 85 °C. We analyse the current and future cost-effectiveness of these alternative cooling systems using annual cooling costs (annuities) and payback times. For a forecast until 2015, we apply the concept of experience curves, identifying learning ra tes of 14 % (absorption machines) and 17 % (adsorption machines) by an expert survey of the German market. The results indicate that thermal cooling systems are currently only cost-effective under optimistic assumptions (full-time operation, high electricity prices) when compared to electric compression cooling systems. Nevertheless, the cost and efficiency improvements expected for this still young technology mean that thermal cooling systems could be more cost-effective in the future. However, depending on future electricity prices, a high number of operating hours is still crucial to achieve payback times substantially below 4 years which are usually required for energy efficiency measures to be widely adopted in the industry.
  • Publication
    The German energy audit program for firms - a cost-effective way to improve energy efficiency?
    ( 2012)
    Fleiter, Tobias
    ;
    Gruber, Edelgard
    ;
    Eichhammer, Wolfgang orcid-logo
    ;
    Worrell, Ernst
    In 2008, a program was established in Germany to provide grants for energy audits in small- and medium-sized enterprises. It aims to overcome barriers to energy efficiency, like the lack of information or a lack of capacity, and is intended to increase the adoption of energy efficiency measures. We evaluate the program's impact in terms of energy savings, CO2 mitigation, and cost-effectiveness. We find that firms adopt 1.7-2.9 energy efficiency measures, which they would not have adopted without the program. Taking a firm's perspective, the program shows a net present value ranging from -0.4 to 6 e/MWh saved, which very likely implies a net benefit. For the government, each ton of CO2 mitigated costs between 1.8 and 4.1 e. Each euro of public expenditure on audit grants led to 17-33 e of private investment. The cost-effectiveness of the program for firms and the low share of public expenditure underline its value for the German energy efficiency policy mix and suggest that it should be expanded in Germany. Further, the good experiences with the program in Germany should encourage countries which have not yet established an audit program to do so.
  • Publication
    Effects of economies of scale and experience on the costs of energy-efficient technologies - case study of electric motors in Germany
    ( 2010)
    Jardot, D.
    ;
    Eichhammer, W. orcid-logo
    ;
    Fleiter, T.
    Increasing energy efficiency is discussed as an effective way to protect the climate, even though this is frequently associated with additional (investment) costs when compared to standard technologies. However, the investment costs of emerging energy-efficient technologies can be reduced by economies of scale and experience curve effects. This also brings about higher market penetration by lowering market barriers. Experience curves have already been analyzed in detail for renewable energy technologies, but are not as well documented for energy-efficient technologies despite their significance for energy and climate policy decisions. This work provides empirical evidence for effects of economies of scale and experience on the costs of energy-efficient electric motors. We apply a new methodology to the estimation of learning effects that is particularly promising for energy-efficient technologies where the very low data availability did not allow calculations of learning rates so far. Energy-efficient electric motors are a highly relevant energy technology that is responsible for about 55% of German electricity consumption. The analysis consists of three main steps. First, the calculation of composite price indices based on gross value added statistics for Germany which show the changes in cost components of electric motors over the period 1995 to 2006; second, an estimation of the corresponding learning rate which is, in a third step, compared with learning rates observed for other energy-efficient technologies in a literature review. Due to restrictions of data availability, it was not possible to calculate a learning rate for the differential costs of energy-efficient motors compared to standard motors. Still, we estimated a learning rate of 9% for "Eff2" motors in a period when they penetrated the market and replaced the less efficient "Eff3" motors. Furthermore, we showed the contribution of different effects to these cost reductions, like a reduction of material use per motor produced by 15% and an improvement of labor productivity of 43%.
  • Publication
    Incentives for energy efficiency in the EU emissions trading scheme
    ( 2009)
    Schleich, J. orcid-logo
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    Rogge, K.
    ;
    Betz, R.
    This paper explores the incentives for energy efficiency induced by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for installations in the energy and industry sectors. Our analysis of the National Allocation Plans for 27 EU Member States for phase 2 of the EU ETS (2008-2012) suggests that the price and cost effects for improvements in carbon and energy efficiency in the energy and industry sectors will be stronger than in phase 1 (2005-2007), but only because the European Commission has substantially reduced the number of allowances to be allocated by the Member States. To the extent that companies from these sectors (notably power producers) pass through the extra costs for carbon, higher prices for allowances translate into stronger incentives for the demand-side energy efficiency. With the cuts in allocation to energy and industry sectors, these will be forced to greater reductions; thus, the non-ET sectors like household, tertiary, and transport will have to reduce less, which is more in line with the cost-efficient share of emission reductions. The findings also imply that domestic efficiency improvements in the energy and industry sectors may remain limited since companies can make substantial use of credits from the Kyoto Mechanisms. The analysis of the rules for existing installations, new projects, and closures suggests that incentives for energy efficiency are higher in phase 2 than in phase 1 because of the increased application of benchmarking to new and existing installations and because a lower share of allowances will be allocated for free. Nevertheless, there is still ample scope to further improve the EU ETS so that the full potential for energy efficiency can be realized.
  • Publication
    Deriving efficient policy portfolios promoting sustainable energy systems - case studies applying invert simulation tool
    ( 2006)
    Kranzl, L.
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    Stadler, M.
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    Huber, C.
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    Haas, R.
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    Ragwitz, Mario
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    Brakhage, A.
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    Gula, A.
    ;
    Figorski, A.
    Within recent years, energy policies have imposed a number of targets at European and national level for rational use of energy (RUE), renewable energy sources (RES) and related CO2 reductions. As a result, a wide variety of policy instruments is currently implemented and hence the question arises: how can these instruments be designed in a way to reach the maximum policy target with the minimum public money spent? The objective of this paper is to derive a methodology for obtaining efficient policy portfolios promoting sustainable energy systems depending on the policy target and show corresponding results from case studies in Austria, Germany and Poland. The investigations were carried out by application of Invert simulation tool, a computer model developed for simulating the impacts of various promotion schemes for renewable and efficient energy systems. With this tool, the CO2 reductions and related public expenses have been calculated for various policy mixes. In the building-related energy sector, it turned out that in all investigated regions support schemes for supply side measures are the most cost-efficient instruments. However, their potential is restricted and for achieving higher levels of CO2 reduction, promotion of demand side measures is indispensable. The paper shows that for a comprehensive comparison of policy portfolios, there are always two dimensions to be considered: efficiency and effectiveness. The more effective, i.e. the higher the implementation rate of a scheme, the more essential becomes the efficiency criteria.