This brief paper outlines the details behind the introduction of an energy efficiency obligation on road transport fuels in France, the challenges facing its introduction, and the results from the first three years of operation. Although the French white certificate scheme has not shown much activity in the road transport sector, there are some relatively simple opportunities for promoting energy efficiency in this sector (e.g., replacing old articulated tractor units, ecodriver training for fleets, and improving the energy efficiency via programmes aimed at tyres and lubricants). However, after three years of endeavour, it is clear that the opportunities for importers of transport fuel to save transport energy are much less attractive to them than their alternative opportunities in saving fossil fuels and electricity in non-transport end uses. The energy efficiency obligations that have successfully delivered energy savings around the globe over the past two decades all focussed on stationary end uses. The simple adaption of these obligations to the transport sector has been an interesting exercise. It has not resulted in significant energy savings in the transport sector, but it has generated useful energy savings in other end-use sectors.
French White Certificates and Energy Savings in the Transport Sector
May 19, 2014
- By
- Eoin Lees