EIA: Energy efficiency progress this year slumps to slowest rate in a decade

As industry energy demand falls, energy efficiency suffers

Energy demand is expected to be much lower across all industrial sectors in 2020, as lockdowns have reduced production and consumer demand. The difference in the scale of drops in energy use between energy-intensive and less energy-intensive sub-sectors (the “structural effect”) will be a big determinant of changes in overall industry sector energy intensity. The last major financial crisis in 2008-09 showed that government stimulus spending can favour more energy-intensive industrial output. This crisis could have a similar outcome, depending on the design of stimulus packages.

Technical efficiency progress faces several challenges in the absence of targeted policy interventions, as shown by the example of high‑efficiency industrial motors, where the crisis could sideline efficiency investments, especially from light industries where significant energy savings potential exists.

Read the whole story on https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-efficiency-2020/industry#abstract.