When it comes to energy efficiency Australia continues to fall behind the rest of the world, according to the 2016 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard.
Compiled by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Ecomony (ACEEE), Australia ranked 16 out of 23 countries in the assessment which covers policy settings as well as energy efficiency performance.
Australia's peak body for energy efficiency, the Energy Efficiency Council (EEC) said the poor result reduces Australia’s international competitiveness, increases energy bills and greenhouse gases, and increases the number of Australians that die each year during hot and cold weather (currently 3,000 per annum).
EEC CEO, Luke Menzel, said the report underlined the cold hard fact that Australia has fallen well behind global competitors.
“Australia lags well behind other wealthy countries on energy efficiency, in fact we’re in the same group as Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Thailand,” he said.
“Australia’s consistently poor rankings for smart energy use are a direct result of energy efficiency being an afterthought in our energy policy.
"We continue to fall behind while leaders like Germany take an integrated approach, investing in energy efficiency, battery storage and low carbon generation at the same time."
ACEEE's assessment took into account energy efficiency performance metrics in the building, industrial and transport sectors, as well as government commitments and actions on best practice policy.
"Australia's performance on building efficiency is reasonable, ranking 9th out of 23 countries. This is due to sensible rules that protect businesses by requiring office owners to advertise how efficient their buildings are when they sell and lease them," Menzel said.
"However, Australia's score for industrial energy efficiency is woeful; out of 23 nations Australia ranked 21st. Brazil, Mexico and Russia all performed better than Australia on industrial efficiency, and only South Africa and Saudi Arabia performed worse. "
Menzel said successive federal governments have largely ignored energy efficiency. However, he believes the new Minister for the Environment and Energy, Josh Frydenberg, has already made energy efficiency a priority.
”Last year, as Minister for Energy and Resources, he set a target to improve Australia’s energy productivity (a measure of energy efficiency) by 40 per cent by 2030," Menzel said.
“To deliver on this target the Minister will need to make serious reforms. I'm hopeful this terrible global ranking is the wake-up that prompts the energy sector to get behind the Minister.”
Earlier in the week the EEC released the Australian Energy Efficiency Policy Handbook which aims to kick-start a discussion about the actions necessary to meet Australia’s energy productivity target, and sets out a suite of evidence-based recommendations.
The Australian Energy Efficiency Policy Handbook is at the EEC website: www.eec.org.au/handbook