Held a few days before the Federal election at Melbourne’s RACV Club, the mood at 2007 the Energy Efficiency and Demand Management Conference was one of excitement and anticipation. But for many, the question was not who would lead Australia but who would address the challenges of demand management and drive Australia forward to a more energy efficient future.

The highly successful conference indicated that the answer to this question lies not only in policy, regulation and incentives but with those working in the industry and the programs and projects they are developing, the examples they are setting and the level to which some have already raised the bar.

Gavin Jennings, Victoria’s Minister for Climate Change, the Environment and Innovation, was first to address the conference. Outlining Victorian Government iniatives for energy efficiency, Mr Jennings said the state and the nation’s response to climate change includes emissions targets and trading schemes. The challenge is to make sure there is always integrity within such schemes. While he reiterated that the clean coal industry has a role to play in Australia’s energy future, the Victorian Government will drive the renewable energy sector as hard and fast as it can.

The Californian experience

While Victoria’s policies and programs may be taking steps in the right direction, Commissioner Diane M Grueneich from the California Public Utilities Commission soon proved that there are bigger boots to fill.

California is the twelfth largest emitter of CO2 in the world but the state is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions down to 1990 levels by 2020 – 25 per cent below business as usual. To meet this target, California has embarked on a state-wide energy efficiency demand response program from 2004-2013 that will eliminate the need for ten new power pants, eliminate 9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum and see billions of dollars of savings to consumers.

In a live cross from California, Commissioner Grueneich said, energy efficiency is one of California’s major economic development programs because it makes good economic sense.

Utilities are the main administrators for energy efficiency under the program. Some of the keys to the state achieving its targets through energy efficiency are integration, innovation and collaboration. Firstly, energy efficiency must be tied into resource planning with codes and standards as well as evaluation, measurement and verification. Decoupling sales from revenues to ensure utilities companies do not lose money by saving energy is also important, as is market transformation and integration across customer demand resources, government sectors and private actors. The key to integration, said Commissioner Grueneich, is sharing information.

California’s plan also includes ambitious building and construction targets, with all new commercial construction to be zero net emissions by 2030 and new residential construction to be zero net by 2020. Commissioner Grueneich said the commission was trying to engage a host of players involved in building to really think through energy efficiency and to “lead the charge of change” and drive a dramatic shift in energy efficiency construction.

When asked about the price of energy, Commissioner Grueneich said California does have a high energy price but emphasised the importance of taking the cost of carbon into account. Moreover, taking away the artificial subsidy of using coal will increase the value of energy efficiency.

What is efficient? The need for boundaries

Director of Sustainable Solutions and Adjunct Professor at RMIT University, Alan Pears, raised some key questions about energy efficiency and demand management. Our understanding of demand management is changing, he said. Emerging demand management objectives are to cut greenhouse gas emissions, manage energy costs for users and to match demand to supply from a mix of energy sources with various outputs. Demand management also requires changing our technologies and economics, including smart meters and distributed generation and storage. Demand management will soon mean, he said, managing energy use, storage and generation on the consumer side to match net demand to externally-sources supply over time with the aim of minimising societal costs.

Mr Pears argued that we need to think carefully about the boundaries applied when assessing energy efficiency. Why would a gas distributor support five star home regulations when this could turn a money making activity into a loss? Moreover, is having no gas available in a development a good thing?

Boundaries are important, said Mr Pears, and as the body responsible for regulation, governments, not energy providers, have a key role to play in establishing them. Ultimately, we need to be more efficient in delivering energy services. There is a very large cost effective demand management potential across all sectors that is just not being captured. To turn this picture around for the better, Mr Pears said policy and legislation need to drive demand management initiatives.

Initiatives, policies and programs

Initiatives and policy are the key drivers required for industry development. The Clean Energy Council’s Jenniy Gregory chaired a session on local government initiatives, with presentations on low energy street lighting and Maribyrnong City Council’s experiences with energy performance contacts. Mirvac’s Orion Springfield development in Queensland was also put under the spotlight. With a mandate to achieve the world’s best practice in ecologically sustainable development, Mirvac has developed a shopping centre that fulfils this yet maintains its amenity for users, is capable of operating in ‘business as usual mode’ and uses proven technologies. The development is on track to achieve a 62 per cent reduction in portable water use and a 42 per cent reduction in energy use, reducing CO2 emissions by 500 tonnes annually.

Mirvac Development Director John White said the results have met expectations. On top of the centre’s significant environmental benefits, the company has benefited from community support, as well as the commercial benefit of annual savings of $370,000.

After lunch, The big picture on energy efficiency, advances for the commercial sector, government programs and creating value with demand management were discussed. Highlights for the afternoon included a presentation by Energetics Executive Director, Jonathon Jutsen, on accelerators for energy efficiency and what the major companies are driving.

The Clean Energy Council perspective

The Council used the event to call for national energy efficiency targets to immediately reduce electricity demand by a third, (see page 6).

“Australia’s stationary energy sector is responsible for 50 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions and energy demand is increasing,” said the Clean Energy Council’s CEO Dominique La Fontaine. “Energy efficiency means using our power smarter; doing more with less.”

Energy efficiency demand has really started to take its place in the sun, said Clean Energy Council Deputy Chairman, Peter Szental, as he welcomed attendees to the conference. The lesson driven home at the end of the day was that energy efficiency is an economically viable and sensible solution to Australia’s lower emissions future.