Gaia has produced a report that estimates the potential savings in energy use. According to the report findings, electricity could be saved through decisive energy efficiency measures by up to 20% (20 TWh) in Finland by 2020. Savings in heating energy could be almost 50% (30 TWh).
The report, which has been commissioned by Greenpeace, emphasises especially efficiency measures in the building sector. In about 10 years, improved energy efficiency of those buildings that are presently heated with electricity could result in savings equal to the output of one nuclear power station. Overall, equivalent of around 6 million tons of CO2 emissions could be reduced from the housing sector by 2020. Efficiency measures studied in the report include building refurbishments, installation of heat pumps to existing buildings, lowering of indoor temperatures and saving of warm water.
The report also looks at the energy efficiency potential in industry and transport. The industrial sector could save up to 6 TWh of electricity through installation of more efficient motors and variable speed drives or other similar measures, reducing CO2 emissions by around 2 Mt. In the transport sector spatial planning, subsidised public transport, and lower speed limits could bring additional 2 Mt CO2 emission savings.
While the focus of the report is on the identification of tangible measures, and exact economical and implementation considerations are left to further studies, in general the identified measures have been estimated to be economically reasonable. However, the realisation of the identified energy efficiency improvements will require economic incentives and active endorsement from the government and other parties.
The report is available at Greenpeace website (in Finnish):
Energiatehokkuustoimet kasvihuonekaasupäästöjen vähentämisessä
