Feasibility of the European obligations
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Appendix 1 Terms and definitions
Autonomous saving
A saving that is not induced by policy, for example because outdated machinery is replaced with newer, more efficient machinery or because
old and poorly insulated houses and offices are demolished and replaced with new ones. The increase in fuel prices also provides an incentive to
use less energy. It can be concluded from the literature that the autonomous saving is between 0.8 and 1 per annum.
CO
2
emissions trading system
A system for companies in the EU to buy and sell allowances to emit greenhouse gases. The allowances held by the companies form the cap on
the total emission. If a participating company emits less CO
2
it can sell its unused allowances to other participants; if a company wants to emit more
CO
2
it must buy additional allowances. The total emissions by all companies participating in the system therefore cannot be higher than
the cap. Emission allowances will increasingly be allocated to companies on the basis of supply and demand after an initial period in which they
were allocated free of charge. Not all companies participate in the system. Those that do are responsible for 40 of total CO
2
emissions in Europe.
Cost effectiveness
The ratio between the benefits attributable to an instrument and the costs incurred to achieve those benefits. We use the generally accepted method
of expressing cost effectiveness in money per unit of energy saved, which means that the higher the cost effectiveness the less favourable an
instrument is. In this report, cost effectiveness is calculated on the basis of national costs, not only the costs incurred by the government but also
those incurred by energy consumers.
Dissaving
A negative energy saving.
Energy efficiency
An energy saving due to the more efficient use of energy per unit of production, per kilometre driven or per square metre of office space. This
is the definition used in the Energy Saving Monitoring Protocol. In the Protocol, an energy saving is the performance of the same activities or
the fulfilment of the same functions with less energy. Since an energy