Database for monitoring and evaluating government energy efficiency programs: a Japanese case

Panel: 8. Monitoring and evaluation: building confidence and enhancing practices

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Author:
Osamu Kimura, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Japan

Abstract

To monitor the governmental support for energy efficiency and assess its progress, it is vital to keep track of basic aspects of energy efficiency programs, such as expenditures, targeted sectors, supported technologies and energy savings achieved. However, because energy efficiency programs are so diverse and are sometimes managed by various departments of a government, it is often difficult even to make a comprehensive list of the programs and to identify the total amount of public funding for them, not to mention their energy savings. In this paper, the author makes a case study of Japanese energy efficiency programs using a unique database called "Governmental Program Review Sheets" (GPRS). GPRS covers all of the programs funded by the Japanese government, of which number amounts to around 5000, and contains basic information such as objectives, outlines, expenditures, and outcomes of each program in a standardized format. GPRS was firstly published in 2010 by the government as an administrative reform activity, and since has been being amended annually. GPRS can be a powerful database for monitoring and evaluating energy efficiency programs. By using GPRS, the paper provides comprehensive quantification of public funding to support energy efficiency in Japan, as well as their cost per saved energy, and makes some policy recommendations. The paper also tries a comparative analysis between Japan, US and Europe concerning similarities and differences of public funding for energy efficiency based on related data from literature in other two regions. The paper concludes by discussing the usefulness of program database like GPRS for making and evaluating energy efficiency programs.