Brussels (Platts)--16Jul2007

Overall electricity consumption is growing across the residential,
service and industry sectors in the EU-25 despite evidence that EU initiatives
to curb energy use and cut back CO2 emissions have "permanently changed the 
face of the appliance market for the better in terms of efficient energy 
use," according to a report published by the European Commission's 
Joint Research Centre.

     The report, "Electricity consumption and efficiency trends in the
enlarged European Union," highlights the key findings of an in-depth 2006
survey of energy consumption in buildings and the market share of energy
efficient appliances. It calculates future potential savings based on current 
available technologies.

     It found that electricity consumption in the residential sector of the
EU-25 grew at a rate comparable to overall GDP (10.8%), "effectively
nullifying savings between 1999 and 2004," the EC said in a statement last
Friday.Meanwhile, electricity consumption in the service sector increased by
15.8% and industry consumption by 9.5%, it said.

     The report blamed rising energy demand on the widespread use of
traditional white goods such as dishwashers, tumble dryers and air
conditioners, as well as on increasing use of information and communication
technology equipment like set-top boxes, DVD players, broadband equipment and
cordless telephones.

     The increasing number of single family homes across Europe was also an
important contributing factor, the JRC "the EC's in-house scientific service"
said.

     But the JRC was upbeat in its analysis, identifying a number of areas
where it said energy savings could be made relatively easily. "The average 
consumption for a single household in the EU was 4,098 kWh in 2004," it 
said. "This could be reduced by 800 kWh per house per year, or about 20% 
less electricity consumption in each household, if replacement of existing 
appliances and equipment and a full phase out of incandescent lighting were 
to be actively promoted in all EU member states."

     New technologies allowing manufacturers to produce equipment with low 
stand-by losses would also help to save energy, the JRC said; this area is 
currently experiencing the biggest increase in consumption. And new compact 
fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and white light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are 
also now becoming more widely available could also make a big difference, 
according to the JRC. It estimates that incandescent light bulbs waste 95% 
of the electricity they use to produce visible light.

     The EC has adopted a number measures to encourage energy efficiency and 
reduce CO2 emissions over the past few years, with the EU's CO2 Emissions 
trading Scheme being the most high profile. But there are also energy 
efficiency labeling initiatives and minimum efficiency requirements, 
voluntary agreements, incentives and savings obligations. And in November 
2006, the EC proposed an action plan on energy efficiency aiming to reduce 
energy consumption by 20% by 2020.

     "The 60 measures in this action plan address many of the problems
identified in today's report," the EC said. The full report is available at
http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.eu