The Peer Review on Energy Efficiency: Helping Economies Help Themselves

In the energy efficiency community, we often talk about "global implementation" as the best way to realize energy efficiency's many environmental and economic benefits.

But like many things, global implementation is much easier said than done. Each country's energy needs are quite different, and often there's not a one-size-fits-all solution.

There are, however, best practices and sound strategies that, if implemented correctly, can help just about any country successfully put energy efficiency to work. For the past year, I've been part of an efficiency experts working group that has aimed to distill these practices and strategies and work with governments to put them into place.

Specifically, I'm one of nine international energy efficiency experts participating in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) Peer Review of Energy Efficiency (PREE) program, launched in 2008.

The Peer Review on Energy Efficiency

What is a "Peer Review on Energy Efficiency"? The program was created when APEC recognized that although many economies in the world have embarked on a path to accelerate energy efficiency into their domestic markets, most have not done so in either a systematic fashion or in a manner that allows for a comprehensive review of their policies, regulatory structure, or programs.

So in the Sydney Declaration of September 2007, APEC highlighted the need for each of its member economies to improve its energy efficiency as a means to cost-effectively achieve energy security, improve business productivity and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Less than a year later in March 2008, at APEC's Energy Working Group (EWG) meeting #35 in Iquitos, Peru, Japan proposed the formation of a Peer Review on Energy Efficiency. This would be a concrete program to help each economy achieve its energy efficiency goals and was endorsed by the EWG members.

Goals and objectives of the APEC PREE

From that recommendation, the APEC PREE was born. It is designed to yield a comprehensive review of the energy efficiency needs of a specific country and develop a policy, regulatory and programmatic framework to allow the country to implement a highly effective energy efficiency program for a country.

The specific objectives of the APEC PREE program are as follows;

• Share information on Energy Efficiency performance as well as policies and measures for improving energy efficiency among member economies;
• Provide opportunities for learning from other member economies' experiences and for broadening the network among energy efficiency policy experts;
• Explore how Energy Efficiency overall/sectoral goals and action plans could be effectively formulated in each APEC economy under review, taking into account the diversity of possible strategies to be used;
• Monitor progress toward attaining Energy Efficiency goals on an overall and/or sectoral basis and implementing action plans; and
• Provide recommendations for voluntary implementation, and for how implementation of action plans could be improved with a view to achieving energy efficiency goals.

So with these lofty objectives in mind, two PREEs are conducted each year.

PREE Efforts in 2009

Last year, I took part in two PREEs, one in Vietnam and one in Thailand. (This year, I'll join the team again for PREEs in Chinese Taipei and Peru.)

So what happens during a PREE? First, the team reviews all relevant materials provided by the host country and then meets with the key experts, leaders and government and business organizations within the subject country to review and understand all relevant energy efficiency legislation, regulations, policies and programs in the country.

The agenda also includes at least one field trip to an industrial site where energy efficiency practices/measures have been implemented; in Vietnam we visited a steel plant, and in Thailand, we visited a T-5 fluorescent lamp manufacturing plant. On the Vietnam and Thailand PREEs this took about eight days.

During that time frame, each expert drafts a specific section of the initial report, which includes details about the particular efficiency sector (e.g. buildings, transportation, etc) in the country. This initial report identifies what is being done well and where additional efficiency measures could be taken. This report also has preliminary recommendations and each section is subsequently vetted in group meetings by the entire team.

Recommendations for the Government of Viet Nam

Then the team recommends the most relevant best practice programs and policies that can be replicated within the subject country. So for example, in the case of the Vietnam PREE we noticed that the Government of Viet Nam (GOVN) did not have efficiency sector goals integrated into a their national strategy. So we recommended that the GOVN should integrate sectoral-based energy efficiency goals that relate to the national goals specified for the overall economy.

In another instance, we determined that there was a very low technical capability in the implementation and enforcement of the building energy code. So we recommended that the GOVN set a priority in capability building in order to expedite implementation and enforcement of the Building Energy Code as well as to effectively pursue the energy efficiency programs for the buildings and construction industry.

In the Vietnam PREE, we had 40 specific recommendations in the various energy efficiency sectors. We finalized our report and presented it to the minister of energy in a meeting on the final day. Once accepted by the minister, the report was then sent through an APEC review process and approved by the APEC Energy Working Group. Our most recent report on our Vietnam trip can be viewed in full on the Alliance website.