Leveraging Energy Efficiency Investments: An Innovative Web-based Benchmarking Tool
Creators
- 1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Decision Support Systems Laboratory, Energy Policy Unit National Technical University of Athens, Athens, 104 31, Greece
Description
Energy Efficiency (EE) plays a key role in decreasing energy consumption at a European level, while it is considered as one of the most cost-efficient means to achieve carbon reduction and reinforce energy sufficiency and security. EE financing is imperative to implement measures that will lead to achieving the desired carbon neutrality and, thus, avert climate change. The majority of EE investments ideas are abandoned during the first stages of investment generation as there is not enough interest by the involved actors to support the maturing of the idea. The present paper aims to boost EE investments by developing a web-based Tool that evaluates project ideas, connecting them with real financing proposals. All the above are being realised through standardised procedures, establishing a concrete typology of five (5) EE sectors, a well-structured risk assessment methodology of five (5) risk categories and (9) risk factors, and a benchmarking procedure that takes into account four (4) broadly used economic criteria and eleven (11) verified sustainability indicators. All the parameters are calculated using the candidate project data and EU official statistics, formulated into four (4) main criteria that are fed into a MultiCriteria Decision Analysis that performs the project’s benchmarking. The presented methodology is being practically tested through the development of three (3) innovative Tools (Assess, Agree, Assign) and a stakeholder consultation process with around 200 participants. The Tools filter and benchmark candidate project ideas, based on the standardised benchmarking and the EU Taxonomy sustainability principles, while connecting the most promising project ideas with state-of-the-art financing methods, such as the Green Loans, the Green Bonds and the Energy Efficiency Auctions. By this token, the developed Tools provenly provide added value to the respective stakeholders, offering standardisation in EE project benchmarking and financing, building trust between investors and projects developers.
Files
ASTESJ_060526.pdf
Files
(618.3 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:e9a1d3c5943850179ec8dc16f3acbae7
|
618.3 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
Funding
References
- A. Papapostolou, F.D. Mexis, E. Sarmas, C. Karakosta, J. Psarras, "Web-based Application for Screening Energy Efficiency Investments: A MCDA Approach," 11th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications, IISA 2020, 2020, doi:10.1109/IISA50023.2020.9284403.
- International Energy Agency (IEA), Net Zero by 2050, Paris, 2021.
- Council of Europe Development Bank, Energy Poverty in Europe: How energy efficiency and Renewables can help, 2019.
- OECD/IEA, Energy Efficiency 2018: Analysis and outlooks to 2040, 2018.
- M. Andrei, P. Thollander, I. Pierre, B. Gindroz, P. Rohdin, "Decarbonization of industry: Guidelines towards a harmonized energy efficiency policy program impact evaluation methodology," Energy Reports, 7, 1385–1395, 2021, doi:10.1016/J.EGYR.2021.02.067.
- A. Papapostolou, C. Karakosta, K.-A. Kourti, H. Doukas, J. Psarras, "Supporting Europe's Energy Policy Towards a Decarbonised Energy System: A Comparative Assessment," Sustainability, 11(15), 4010, 2019, doi:10.3390/su11154010.
- Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG), Energy efficiency – the first fuel for the EU economy, 2014.
- A.B. Jaffe, R.N. Stavins, "The energy-efficiency gap," Energy Policy1, 22(10), 804–810, 944.
- Horizon H2020 Triple-A project, Updated Web-Based Database on Energy Efficiency Financing and Supporting, , Deliverable 3.5, 2021.
- C. Karakosta, A. Papapostolou, Transformation Pathways towards a Clean, Secure and Efficient European Energy System: A MCDA Approach, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2019.
- Financing Energy Efficiency | EEFIG Underwriting Toolkit, May 2021.
- H. Doukas, "On the appraisal of 'Triple-A' energy efficiency investments," Energy Sources, Part B: Economics, Planning, and Policy, 13(7), 320–327, 2018, doi:10.1080/15567249.2018.1494763.
- T. Fawcett, G. Killip, "Re-thinking energy efficiency in European policy: Practitioners' use of 'multiple benefits' arguments," Journal of Cleaner Production, 210, 1171–1179, 2019, doi:10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2018.11.026.
- C. Karakosta, K. Papapostolou, G. Vasileiou, J. Psarras, Financial Schemes for Energy Efficiency Projects: Lessons Learnt from In-Country Demonstrations, Academic Press, 2020.
- T. Tsoutsos, S. Tournaki, E. Farmaki, P. Sonvilla, P. Lensing, J. Bartnicki, A. Cobos, M. Biscan, "Benchmarking Framework to Encourage Energy Efficiency Investments in South Europe. The Trust EPC South Approach," Procedia Environmental Sciences, 38, 413–419, 2017, doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2017.03.125.
- N. Carbonara, R. Pellegrino, "Public-private partnerships for energy efficiency projects: A win-win model to choose the energy performance contracting structure," Journal of Cleaner Production, 170, 1064–1075, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.151.
- LAUNCH H2020 | Sustainable Energy Assets in Europe, May 2021.
- RenOnBill | About, May 2021.
- The Project – EEnvest, May 2021.
- E2DRIVER, May 2021.
- X-tendo Toolbox, May 2021.
- C. Karakosta, A. Papapostolou, Linking Stakeholder Engagement to Multiple Future Policies in the European Energy Sector, 383–392, 2020, doi:10.4018/978-1-7998-1196-1.ch022.
- A. Ishizaka, P. Nemery, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis: Methods and Software, Wiley, West Sussex, 2013.
- C. Karakosta, A. Papapostolou, J. Psarras, Concrete Steps towards the Promotion of Renewable Energy Deployment in an Effort to Tackle Climate Change, Nova Science Pub Inc, 2016.
- F.D. Mexis, K. Touloumis, A. Papapostolou, C. Karakosta, Deliverable 4.2, Final Triple-A Standardised Tools, Triple-A Project: Enhancing at an Early Stage the Investment Value Chain of Energy Efficiency Projects funded by European Union's Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No 846569, Athens, 2021.
- Austrian Energy Agency, LED Street Lighting Procurement & Design Guidelines, developed for "Premium Light Pro" Project, funded by European Union's Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement No 695931; Road lighting – Part 5: Energy performance indicators, CSN EN 13201-5, 2015, 2017.
- T. Loureiro, M. Gil, R. Desmaris, A. Andaloro, C. Karakosta, S. Plesser, "De-Risking Energy Efficiency Investments through Innovation," Proceedings, 65(1), 3, 2020, doi:10.3390/proceedings2020065003.
- Triple-A Final Report on Risks of Energy Efficiency Financing and Mitigation Strategies Typology, Athens, 2020.
- F. José, S. Greco, M. Ehrgott, Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys, Springer Nature, 2006.
- B. Roy, J.R. Figueira, J. Almeida-Dias, "Discriminating thresholds as a tool to cope with imperfect knowledge in multiple criteria decision aiding: Theoretical results and practical issues," Omega, 43, 9–20, 2014, doi:10.1016/j.omega.2013.05.003.
- W. Yu, Aide multicritère à la décision dans le cadre de la problématique du tri: concepts, méthodes et applications, Diss. Université Paris IX-Dauphine, 1992.
- V. Mousseau, R. Slowinski, P. Zielniewicz, ELECTRE TRI 2.0 a Methodological Guide and User's Manual, Laboratoire d'Analyse et de Modélisation de Systèmes pour l'Aide à la Décision (LAMSADE), Paris, 1999.
- E. Mills, "Risk transfer via energy-savings insurance," Energy Policy, 31(3), 273–281, 2003, doi:10.1016/S0301-4215(02)00040-X.
- L. Wang, J. juan Peng, J. qiang Wang, "A multi-criteria decision-making framework for risk ranking of energy performance contracting project under picture fuzzy environment," Journal of Cleaner Production, 191, 105–118, 2018, doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.04.169.
- Industrial Energy Accelerator (2020): Energy Efficiency Risk Management – A Report for Financial Intermediaries in Brazil. Report prepared by adelphi (Germany) and SITAWI (Brazil) under the UNIDO lead IEA initiative. January 2020.
- T. Pettinger, Factors affecting investment, Economics Help, 2019.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Understanding Cost-Effectiveness of Energy Efficiency Programs," 2008.
- EBF, Sustainable Finance.
- Bankers Almanac, Standard & Poor's Definitions, 2018.
- United Nations, SDG Indicators, Jul. 2021.
- Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Groups (EFFIG), De-risking Energy Efficiency Platform, Apr. 2020.
- D. Kahlenborn, C. Annica, I. Georgiev, F. Eisinger, D. Hogg, Defining 'green' in the context of green finance, Brussels, Belgium, 2017.
- Internatioanl Capital Market Association (ICMA), Green Bond Principles, May 2020.
- Aggregation and bundling of loans for Energy Efficiency – the holy grail for the European Investment Bank: An opportunity for Housing Federations? | Build Up, Dec. 2020.
- Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, "Teg Report Proposal for an Eu Green Bond Standard," (June), 1–79, 2019.
- P. Radgen, K. Bisang, I. Koenig, "Competitive tenders for energy efficiency – lessons learnt in Switzerland," in ECEEE INDUSTRIAL SUMMER STUDY PROCEEDINGS, 81–89, 2016.
- Swiss Office for energy, Energy efficiency bidding and auctions: Ten years of experience in Switzerland, 2019.
- H2020 Triple-A Project, Aug. 2021.
- CSR School – Corporate Sustainability & Responsibility, Aug. 2021.