Impact review of past UK public industrial energy efficiency RD&D programmes

Governments face pressures to improve national energy efficiency that are comparable to those caused by the energy crises of the 1970s. In UK industry a public programme of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) emanated from the crises and persisted until the end of the 1980s. The main element of this strategy was a full-scale commercial demonstration scheme: the Energy Efficiency Demonstration Scheme (EEDS). This work presents a bottom-up/top-down data analysis to examine the influence of the scheme on the overall energy demand trend of the UK industrial sector as separated from structural and output effects. It was concluded that earlier deployment of efficiency technologies as a result of their demonstration under the scheme may have provided a quarter of the observed energy demand reduction over the period 1979–1989. However, it should be noted that it is inherently difficult to accurately determine the extent to which earlier technology investments occur as a result of supported demonstration. The scheme’s mechanism and replacement was also discussed in order to derive lessons. Policy and economic implications for the UK were examined.

► We investigate EEDS to assess original UK public industrial energy efficiency RD&D.
► EEDS impact may have been a quarter of industrial energy demand change (1979–1989).
► Caution is noted with the ‘free-rider effect’ and evidence suggests the impact was thus 18–30%.
► There was a strong political aspect to the replacement of EEDS and a reduction in RD&D.
► We suggest more public RD&D, like EEDS, for industry and that this would be economical.