Regulate energy efficiency in plants to lower emissions

Heavy industry is highly energy-intensive. Transforming raw materials from the earth into primary materials - like steel, cement, aluminium, glass -requires very high temperatures. More effort is needed to find ways of reaching these temperatures without relying on fossil fuels like coal, but a good short-term alternative is to improve the energy efficiency of plants with strong goals or constraints.

Since 2009, Japan sets mandatory performance benchmarks for energy use in heavy industry plants to improve energy efficiency by 1% per year since 2009. Russia has several laws in place which set federal and regional energy efficiency standards for industrial consumers, such as steel, aluminium, paper. These firms are required to submit energy efficiency and thermal efficiency performance certificates annually. Any plants that cannot meet these benchmarks are phased out.

Alongside standards, the use of Energy Management Systems can also improve the overall efficiency of plants, thereby lowering energy consumption. Projections show that implementing ISO 50001, a standard to encourage continual improvement, can lead to deep reductions in CO2 emissions.

EXPLORE FURTHER

Report: Extended Producer Responsibility: Updated Guidance for Efficient Waste Management, OECD (2016).

Report: The Macroeconomics of the Circular Economy Transition: A Critical Review of Modelling Approaches, OECD (2018).