The action of EDF in end-use energy efficiency

Louis-Jacques Urvoas, Dominique Glachant, Luc Lorge, and Paul Baudry, EDF, FRANCE

Keywords

energy savings, energy efficiency, climate change, customer behaviour, energy supply, market demand, utilities, transaction costs

Abstract

In order to achieve the sustainability targets of climate change, security of supply, and economic efficiency, present energy efficiency policies create the conditions for the transformation of markets and end users behaviours towards more energy efficiency. EDF, as an energy supplier, has to face at the same time the opening of the energy market and the challenge of sustainability. As energy efficiency for electric utilities in monopoly was mainly based on Demand Side Management (DSM) through electricity tariffs and energy saving of electricity end uses, it is now integrated in the core business and closely linked to the requirement of reducing CO2 emissions. The solutions proposed by EDF include the supply of low carbon energy through nuclear and renewable electricity, and commercial offers saving energy by the improvement of thermal insulation in buildings, the increase of end-uses energy efficiency, and the promotion of distributed heat generation systems using renewable energy (heat pumps, solar water heaters and wood stoves). Suitable conditions of energy efficiency instruments must be developed to accelerate the market transformation towards energy efficiency. The energy savings must be delivered, not only at a high rate, but also with a good level of quality, which requires the involvement of the whole chain of retrofitting building sector. Transaction costs associated to energy savings evaluation and registration must be minimized in order to focus the effort on delivering the savings.