Nearly 300 Policy Ideas for Energy Sufficiency

Sufficiency is essential for ambitious climate and energy strategies. There are plenty of policy ideas for the political implementation of energy sufficiency, which are available in the "Energy Sufficiency Policy Database" of the junior research group Energy Sufficiency (EnSu). The research group is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the funding priority "Social-ecological Research" (SöF).

The research was conducted by Johannes Thema, Senior Researcher in the Energy Policy Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute, Dr. Benjamin Best, Senior Researcher in the Structural Change and Innovation Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute, and Frauke Wiese, Junior Professor at the Europa University of Flensburg, and Carina Zell-Ziegler, researcher at the Öko-Institut (Office Berlin). Nearly 300 policies are characterised with instrument types, policy objectives, measure descriptions, indicators and further information. The indicators can support the integration of sufficiency into quantitative models and scenarios. The database is freely accessible online and can be filtered and searched by sector as well as the parameters mentioned. It serves both scientific policy advice and energy modeling. The database can be used by actors from politics and administration and shows the many ways in which consumption reduction can be supported, promoted and enforced by policy.

For the building sector, the database contains a particularly large number of proposals. For example, property owners could convert commercial buildings into residential space. To achieve this, regulations and barriers at the building authority would have to be reduced. Avoiding traffic also plays an important role in saving energy. The database offers numerous tips on how to reduce the number of cars, for example by introducing more parking bans in inner-city areas and a reduction of tax benefits for car drivers. In addition, bicycle lanes and pedestrian paths can support active modes. For industry, the database compiles many policy measures that can enhance durability and repairability. Producers are advised to keep spare parts on stock so that products are repaired rather than replaced with new ones.

An analysis of the first 281 entries in the database will be published shortly under the title "Building a Database for Energy Sufficiency Policies''. The "Energy Sufficiency Policy Database" can be found in the following link.