Everybody wins as German cabinet finalizes energy efficiency strategy

On December 10, 2014, the German cabinet announced the new National Plan of Action for Energy Efficiency (NAPE) and with it, its energy efficiency strategy for the current legislative period.
   The new plan not only aims to reduce energy costs by creating energy savings in industry, commerce, and private households, but focuses much more on supporting innovative ways of saving energy as well as business models for new products and solutions.
   The government also reconfirmed its goals of reducing energy use by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 levels. This comes on the tail of the EU’s recent reduction target of at least 27% by 2030.
   NAPE is based on three pillars: advancing energy efficiency in buildings, establishing energy efficiency as an investment and business model, and increasing self-responsibility for energy efficiency.
   “Today’s decision is fantastic news for companies in the energy efficiency sector,” says Henning Ellermann, energy efficiency market expert at Germany Trade & Invest. “The German government is sending a clear message that energy efficiency is not only central to the country’s ambitious energy transition but also that energy efficiency represents a lucrative and dynamic industry it is keen to see develop.”
   The government’s announcement includes a number of measures to be pursued immediately in the current legislative period such as a new competitive tendering model that aims to support energy efficiency projects that generate the greatest energy savings for the lowest cost. Financial support and tax reductions for energy efficient building refurbishments are also to be pursued pending talks with the federal states that are scheduled to be concluded in February 2015. The action plan will also see the creation of energy efficiency networks with trade and industry to support the exchange of information.
   The national action plan also foresees the development of an energy efficiency strategy for buildings and improved conditions for energy service providers to develop new fields of business. Furthermore, new financing concepts as well as improved energy efficiency consulting through new quality criteria for energy consultants are in the pipeline.