- A competitive tender to find the most cost-effective energy saving measures;
- A pilot programme promoting smart metering;
- An initiative to improve the recovery of waste heat, and;
- An initiative to promote cross-cutting technologies, namely those that enhance the efficiency of energy output or its use.
“In practical terms, (the aim is) to halve the energy consumption by 2050, which corresponds mathematically to the current combined energy consumption of the Benelux countries and Austria,” the ministry said.
The policy will have a simultaneous public awareness campaign referred to as ‘Germany makes it efficiently’.
The ministry said a significant increase in energy efficiency is a required for the success of the country’s Energiewende policy, adding that an expansion in renewable energy sources alone won’t be enough to hit the country’s emissions reduction targets.
Germany has pledged to slash its greenhouse gas output by 40 per cent below 1990 levels, but has only achieved cuts of around 27 per cent to date.
Agreements with utilities to idle lignite coal power plants should help cut emissions to 11-12.5 million tonnes of CO2 by 2020. Meanwhile supplementary measures have been introduced to boost combined heat and power (CHP) sources, which it estimates will lead to reductions of a further 4 million tonnes by the end of the decade.