New energy saving agreement supporting climate targets and security of supply  

The new energy saving agreement signed last Friday by Connie Hedegaard and the Danish Energy Association is an important step in meeting Danish energy targets and guaranteeing security of supply.

- The Danish Energy Association is pleased to sign the new energy saving agreement, helping to achieve lower energy consumption. To realise the Danish Energy Association's vision of a carbon neutral Denmark by 2050, we need to cut our energy consumption by a third over the next 40 years. Energy efficiency is one of the cheapest ways we can cut our long-term carbon emissions and guarantee secure energy supplies, says Lars Aagaard, CEO of the Danish Energy Association.

The agreement has been signed by the energy companies and the government, and increases the commitment of the energy companies to an annual 6.1 PJ from 2.95 PJ. Members of the Danish Energy Association will bear most of this burden.

The agreement is a political implementation of the political agreement of 21 February 2008. It will be financed through the energy bills of consumers, and will come into effect from January 2010.

Energy saving initiatives will be prioritised according to factors including their impact on the environment. This means that the priority of the energy savings will depend on whether they are in non-trading sectors (not subject to carbon quotas). The agreement is also designed to incentivise energy savings with a long lifetime. Something else the agreement does is to encourage the greater use of external agencies.

Under the agreement, the energy companies must actively identify potential savings in businesses, public institutions and offices, and help in the switch from oil and gas boilers in homes and other buildings.

The electricity companies are ready to meet the higher expectations. This year for example they are already beating their energy saving targets (half the new targets). After the first six months, the electricity companies achieved energy savings equivalent to 68 per cent of this year's target of 389 GWh.