Economic Evaluation of Carbon Dioxide Emission Reduction in the Househol\d and Services Sectors in the EU

Preface On its way to its current form this report has received significant input from a considerable number of experts. In particular, a panel of experts in Brussels discussed a draft version of the report on March 29, 2000 (see Annex 2 for a list of names), and made a number of specific and more general comments and suggestions. The authors would like to thank these people for their valuable inputs into this study. For this " Final Report " it was attempted to consider their suggestions wherever possible. i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Within the EU, the household and private and public services sectors are an important source of carbon dioxide, accounting for 39% of total carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 and 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases other than CO 2 contribute for less than 1% to total greenhouse emitted. Indirect emissions related to the use of electricity play an important role in this sector. Emission from the energy supply use that can be allocated to the household and services sector contributes to about 46% of the total emissions of this sector. Description of the sectors There are approximately 140 million dwellings in the EU in 1995. It is expected that the number of dwellings will rise to 156 million in 2010. Almost 20% of the energy is consumed in the household sector. The average energy consumption of a dwelling in a country depends among others on many country specific circumstances. Important are: climate, building construction, building regulation and age distribution profile of dwellings. About one tenth (12%) of the energy in the EU is consumed in the services sector. The energy consumption of a services building depends very much on the standard of insulation, air conditioning, ventilation systems and the appliances used. The five most important energy-functions are heating, cooling, transport of air, heat and cold, lighting and office equipment. Energy demand for these energy-functions can vary considerably depending on the characteristics of the buildings. To examine (specific) CO 2 emission reduction options and their consequences it is often useful to break the services sector down into a number of sectors, e. Frozen technology reference level The emission reduction potential for 2010 is calculated using an emission reference level based on frozen technology development. In the frozen technology reference level it is assumed that there is no energy improvement obtained and that no reduction of specific energy …