Ecofys (Germany)

Auctions is an increasingly popular instrument for introducing competitiveness in the support schemes for renewable energy, however, designing successful auctions appears to be a challenge. Policy makers seeking to introduce auctions are faced with a range of design choices, which may affect the auction outcome significantly. This paper investigates the past experiences with auction implementations in 13 countries. We highlight popular design choices and evaluate auction performances based on a set of assessment criteria. We find that as a market-based support mechanism auctions can help driving down support costs, however, they are also prone to design errors. Adjusting the auction design to the specific conditions (national and marked) is a key parameter for success.

Purpose In the process of developing Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR)—currently tested in various pilots in the Single Market for Green Products initiative of the European Commission—the definition of product category benchmarks and environmental performance classes is a crucial element of each PEFCR. Whilst life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology developed over the last 20 years can be used for many other topics to be tackled in the pilots, there is a clear lack of methodology for the determination of benchmarks and environmental performance classes. In this article, hence, we address this gap and develop a procedure for benchmarking and environmental performance classes in LCA.

With Directive 2009/28/EC, the European Parliament and Council have laid the grounds for the policy framework for renewable energy sources (RES) in the European Union until 2020. The aim of this paper is to look more closely beyond 2020, well in advance, contrasting and analysing potential RES policy options that are currently being discussed. Generally the assessment includes RES in all energy sectors but a topical focus is put on renewable electricity, specifically within the discussion of policy options for a harmonisation of RES support. The results of the policy assessment indicate that cooperation and coordination among Member States appear beneficial to tackle current problems in RES markets, and fruitful for the period beyond 2020. By contrast, “simplistic approaches” to RES policy harmonisation, for example via a uniform RES certificate trading, are not suitable to ensure substantial future RES growth.

Buildings in Germany are responsible for more than 40 % of the total final energy consumption. The government already acknowledged the importance of the building sector in the late 1970s and thus started to develop a comprehensive policy framework. On an international level, Germany is especially known for its successful KfW incentive programmes related to energetic refurbishments of buildings that achieved significant reductions in terms of energy and emissions. But these programmes are just one piece of the entire framework. Thus, this chapter describes all parts of the policy framework that relate to the energetic refurbishment of buildings. It starts by describing the current status of a national nearly zero-energy building definition before presenting all relevant strategies and concepts including the targets of the government. After that, the regulatory policies, including the national building code the ‘Energy Saving Ordinance’ and the ‘Renewable Energy Heat Law’, are introduced before having a detailed look at the financial incentive programmes related to energy-related refurbishments and finally describing the most important market instruments.