Efficient energy use can provide the fastest and most cost-effective contribution towards the solution of almost all energy policy problems such as the reduction of energy costs, supply security and climate protection. Moreover it can have a positive overall effect on the economy and on employment.
The study conducted by the Wuppertal Institute and its partners presents an initiative to increase energy efficiency. This concept for an EnergySavingFund (ESF) in Germany comprises a portfolio of 12 energy saving programmes and goes as far as to provide the basic elements of an energy bill proposal. The overall result is an investment programme of several billion Euro. This programme would allow for a savings of about 75 tWh per year in electricity in Germany until 2015 and of about 102 tWh per year in gas, oil, district-heating and coal, reducing the energy bill of the consumer by Euro 9 billion annually. These energy savings produce an overal positive effect on employment of up to 75.000 employee years and a total emissions reduction of up to 72 million tCO2-equivalents in 2015 (altogether about 1 million employee years and 1.1 billion t CO2-equivalents from 2006 to 2029 respectively).
A new independent federal institution, the EnergySavingFund, is charged with the start-up financing, coordination and control of the energy saving activities implemented locally. The Federation of German Trade Unions (DGB), amongst others, strongly supports the establishment of such an energy saving fund in its resolution on energy policy from May 2002.