Employment effects of energy conservation investment in EC countries

Based on assumed additional energy savings (32 million toe) by six technologies for the rational use of energy and the use of renewable energy sources in four member countries of the European Community, the total additional energy savings by such technologies in EC 10 are estimated to be about 140 million toe in the year 2000. An enforced energy demand policy inducing these energy savings may lead to considerable positive economic effects. The realization of the additional potential of the technologies studied may, for one, lead to a yearly net employment effect of about 530,000 man-years (in assumed future productivities) by the year 2000, totalling about 3.3 million man-years over the entire working life of the installations. The positive economic effect is achieved by a reallocation of demand from 'standard' energy technologies to the technologies under study. Besides the positive employment effects, each of the technologies has a positive net impact on GDP and decreases the net dependence on imports.