Definition
All sectors
- What is the difference between gross domestic consumption, primary energy consumption and TPES (Total Primary Energy Supply)?
They all refer to the total energy consumption of a country. The gross domestic consumption is the terminology used by Eurostat: it includes non-energy uses and international air transport. Primary energy consumption is defined by the Energy Efficiency Directive as the gross domestic consumption without non energy uses. TPES is used by IEA: it includes non-energy uses and excludes international air transport.
Related question
- What does energy consumption at normal climate means?
A consumption at normal climate is the consumption which would have occurred, with a normal climate over the heating and cooling periods. The normal climate is defined as the average climate observed over a certain period over the past (20 years or more).
Related question
- What is the difference between primary and final energy consumption?
The primary energy consumption includes the consumption and conversion losses in the energy transformations, i.e. in the energy industries (e.g. power generation, refineries) while the final energy consumption is the sum of the consumption in industry (excluding the energy sector), transport, buildings (residential and services) and agriculture, excluding the fuels used for power generation by autoproducers.
Related question
- What is an energy consumption with climate corrections?
An energy consumption with climate corrections is a consumption at normal climate.
Related question
- What is a number of cooling degree day?
The number of cooling degree days (CDD) is the sum over each day of the cooling period of the difference between the average outside temperature and a reference indoor temperature. The higher this number the warmer is the cooling period. The CDD value depends on the level of the reference indoor temperature (between 20°C and 23°C depending on the sources).
Related question
- What is a number of heating degree days?
The number of heating degree days (HDD) is an indicator of winter severity, and thus of heating requirement. It is calculated as the sum over each day of the heating period (e.g. October to April) of the difference between a reference indoor temperature and the average outside temperature. The higher this number the colder is the heating period. The HDD value depends on the level of the reference indoor temperature (typically 18°C). The national value should be a population weighted average of meteorological stations, so as to be representative of national heating or cooling consumption rather than an arithmetic average.
Example: if the average temperature of a day is 5°C, HDD = 13 = 18 - 5.
Related question
- What is a normal number of degree days?
The normal number of degree days corresponds to a long-term average of the number of heating degree days (or cooling degree days) over a given period in the past (e.g. 25 years for Eurostat, 20 years for some countries). The number of years taken into account depends on the source. It can be calculated over a fixed period (e.g. 1980-2004 for Eurostat) or a moving period. In ODYSSEE, it is based on the 2000-2020 average, in order to have a more recent reference period.
Related question
- What is an energy efficiency indicator?
An energy efficiency indicator is an indicator used to assess the progress in energy efficiency and to measure energy savings.
Related question
- What does “observed” mean for energy efficiency indicators?
An observed indicator means that it is directly calculated from observed values of consumption, i.e. without any corrections.
Related question
- What are the different types of energy efficiency indicators?
Energy efficiency indicators can be indicators of specific energy consumption, of unit energy consumption, of market diffusion of efficient technologies and practices and of energy intensities, relating an energy consumption to a variable of economic activity.
Related question
- Why are energy efficiency indicators usually climate corrected?
Energy efficiency indicators are climate corrected so that their variation from one year to the other is independent of climatic influences (such as a colder winter implying a higher consumption of heating).
Related question
- What does energy intensity mean in ODYSSEE?
In ODYSSEE, an energy intensity is defined as the amount of energy required to produce one unit of activity expressed in monetary terms at constant prices (GDP or value added). The term “energy intensity” is sometimes used with the same meaning as specific energy consumption; this is not the case in ODYSSEE.
- What is the difference between unit energy consumption and specific energy consumption?
A specific energy consumption (or specific consumption in short) is the quotient describing the total energy consumption per unit of output or service in physical unit (e.g. GJ or toe per ton of steel, kWh per m², litre of fuel per km). A unit energy consumption (or unit consumption in short) relates an energy consumption to a consumption unit (dwelling, car, refrigerator) (e.g. kWh/dwelling). In ODYSSEE, unit and specific consumption are considered as being similar and refers to energy efficiency indicators in physical units.
- What are the differences between “bottom-up” and “top-down” indicators?
“Bottom-up” indicators refer to energy efficiency indicators defined at the level of individual consumers (buildings or factories, i.e. “micro level”), whereas “top-down” indicators are defined at national or regional level and are based on statistics of energy use and activity by sector, sub-sector or end-use representative of the country or region. Both types of indicators are usually expressed in the same unit (for instance kWh/m2 for buildings); only their scope and interpretation differ. “Bottom-up” indicators are usually used to assess the impact of a specific energy efficiency programme. Top-down indicators assess the overall trends in energy efficiency whatever the driver (policy, prices, autonomous progress).
Related question
- What is the definition of energy savings in ODYSSEE?
Energy savings calculated in ODYSSEE correspond to top-down energy savings, i.e. to savings linked to the decrease of a specific or unit consumption: they correspond to the energy not consumed because of a reduction in the indicator value. For instance if the unit consumption of refrigerators decreases from 400 to 300 kWh between 2000 and 2015 in a country with a stock of refrigerators of 2 million units, the energy savings in 2015 are equal to (400-300)*2*106 = 200*106 kWh = 200 GWh (compared to 2000). In other words, without these savings, consumption would have been 200 GWh higher in 2015.
Related question
- What is the definition of final energy savings?
Final energy savings refer to the energy savings of final consumers, i.e. industry, buildings (i.e. residential and services), transport and agriculture, measures with the same definition as the final consumption (in particular to convert electricity into energy units).
- What are negative energy savings?
Negative energy savings correspond to the fact that specific energy consumption is increasing instead of decreasing, which raise the energy consumption instead of reducing it as would be the case if there were energy savings. Such an increase is generally due to non-technical factors (behaviours, operational issues, as with low capacity in industry and freight transport).
- What is ODEX?
ODEX (“ODYSSEE energy efficiency index”) is the indicator used to measure energy efficiency progress by sector. Its value is 100 for the base year; a value of 80 in year t means an improvement of 20%.
The detailed calculation of ODEX is explained in http://www.odyssee-mure.eu/publications/other/odex-indicators-database-definition.html
More infoRelated question
- What is the rate of energy saving in ODYSSEE?
The energy savings rate measures the rate of energy efficiency improvement over a period. It is directly derived from the energy efficiency index (ODEX): if ODEX = 80, the energy saving rate is equal to 20%.
The detailed calculation of ODEX is explained in http://www.odyssee-mure.eu/publications/other/odex-indicators-database-definition.html
More info - What is the difference between gross and technical savings in ODYSSEE?
Gross savings, also called apparent energy savings, is the result of a calculation based on the observed variation of specific or unit consumption. Technical savings are corrected to account for the fact that technical efficiency cannot get worse: they are equal to the gross savings minus the negative savings; in other words, they do not take into account the negative savings.
- What is the meaning of annual additional savings?
Annual addition savings measure the energy savings compared to the previous year, i.e. due to the decrease of the specific or unit consumption between year t-1 and t. They are also called annual new savings.
- What is the meaning of cumulated energy savings?
Cumulated energy savings can have two meanings: they can cumulate the annual new savings over a period or cumulate (“cumulated new savings”) or the total amount of energy not consumed (“cumulated savings”). The second definition corresponds to all the savings registered year after year since a reference year, i.e. to the definition used in the Article 7 of EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).
Related question
- What are the so called “energy intensive branches” in industry?
The usual energy intensive branches of industry sector considered at EU level are steel, cement, pulp and paper, chemicals and non-ferrous metals (i.e. aluminium, copper). They are called energy intensive as they represent a significant share of the total energy consumption of industry (around 2/3) and the energy expenditures represent a high share of the production cost. More information at http://www.odyssee-mure.eu/publications/efficiency-by-sector/industry/energy-consumption-trend-industrial-branch-eu.html
Related question
- How does ambient heat is taken into account in the ODYSSEE database?
Ambient heat corresponds to the renewable energy extracted by heat pump in the air (air heat pump), from the ground or water (water and ground heat pumps). In ODYSSEE database, ambient heat is excluded from the final energy consumption by sector because some countries do not split it by sector. If we keep ambient heat consumption in these consumptions, it will be underestimated and not comparable for countries without the split by sector. It is also excluded from all the energy efficiency indicators and energy intensities, so as to have comparable indicators among countries and also because ambient heat is not a real consumption of an energy source. In particular if ambient heat were accounted in consumption data, the diffusion of efficient heat pumps, which can decrease consumption for heating by a factor 4, would not appear as an energy efficiency improvement as the consumption including ambient heat would not decrease . However, we ask for the total ambient heat consumption of the countries.
- What does energy intensity at constant structure mean?
Energy intensity at constant structure is the fictive value which indicates how energy intensity would have evolved if GDP and the structure of industry had not changed: it is calculated at year t using the structure of year t-1 as a reference, applying the Divisia method. The annual variation in this intensity at constant structure is then expressed in the form of an index taking one year as a reference (currently 2000). For this reason, the actual intensity and the intensity at constant structure are equal for the year 2000.
Comparing the variation in actual intensity with the variation in intensity at constant structure shows the impact of structural changes on the variation in intensity.
For instance, if actual intensity over a period decreases by 1%/year and intensity at constant structure decreases by 0.6%/year, this means that structural changes explain a reduction in intensity of 0.4%/year. This implies a growing share of low-energy-intensity sectors (e.g. services) or industrial branches (e.g. equipment) in GDP.
Transport
- What does passenger-km (pkm) and tonne-kilometre (tkm) mean?
Passenger-km is the indicator used to measure the traffic of passengers by transport mode: it corresponds to the travel of one person over one km.
Tonne-kilometre is the indicator used to measure the traffic of goods by transport mode: it corresponds to the move of one tonne over one km.
- What does specific consumption of cars mean?
The specific consumption of cars measures the fuel economy of a car: in Europe it is expressed in litres/100 km (l/100 km) while in Latin America it is expressed in l/100 and in USA in miles per gallon (mpg).
- What is the modal shift in transport?
Modal shift represents the change in the share of each transport mode in the total traffic. It is calculated separately for passenger transport and for the transport of goods.
- What is the unit consumption of road transport per car equivalent?
The unit consumption of road transport per vehicle is not a good indicator of energy efficiency as it may be influenced by a shift in the composition of the vehicle stock. For instance, if the share of motorcycles increases this will decrease the average consumption per vehicle all things being equal... and this is not linked to energy efficiency improvements.
A better aggregate indicator is the “unit consumption of road transport per equivalent car”, which relates the total consumption of road transport to a fictitious stock of vehicles, measured in terms of number of equivalent cars.
Related question
- What consumption are included in the transport sector?
The energy consumption of transport only includes the energy used for motive purposes (traction) and not the consumption in transport buildings (e.g. airport, railway station); the latter being included in services. It includes the consumption of road vehicles, trains and boats and airplanes used for domestic traffic. The consumption of airplanes for international traffic is included in some sources (e.g. case of Eurostat and Odyssee) and excluded in others (case of IEA).
- What are public transport modes?
Public transport of passengers includes buses (urban and intercity), rail transport (metro, tramway, trains).
Related question
Link to tool - What is the definition of the stock of vehicles?
The stock of vehicles usually refers to vehicles that are really on the road and exclude vehicles that are no longer being used. However, in some countries this stock may also include all vehicles that have been registered if the vehicles’ registry does not correct for the scraped vehicles.
Related question
- What is border trade or fuel tourism?
Border trade or fuel tourism relates to the consumption of motor fuels that are purchased by foreign vehicles, mainly because of cheaper prices than in their own country. In energy consumption statics (i.e. energy balance), this consumption of foreign vehicles appears in the energy consumption of road transport. Some countries (13 in the EU) separate in some statistics and analysis what is consumed by domestic vehicles, the so called “domestic road consumption”, and what is consumed by foreign vehicles. Such a separation is also done in Odyssee and all energy efficiency indicators for road transport are calculated on the basis of this domestic road consumption. The magnitude of the border trade is especially important in Luxemburg as it represents 80% of the consumption of gasoline and diesel (26% in Austria, 16% in Slovenia and 12% in France, over the last 5 years).
Related question
Industry
- What is the difference between value added and production index?
Both are indicators of the volume of production. The value added is the difference between the turn-over of the branch (i.e. output value) and the intermediate consumption (i.e. the consumption of raw materials and energy in monetary value); it should be measured at constant price to reflect changes in volume. The production index is based on detailed data of production in physical values at sub-branch level that are weighted to get an index at branch level. They are both produced by national statistical offices.
- What does energy intensity at constant structure mean?
Energy intensity at constant structure is the fictive value which indicates how energy intensity would have evolved if the structure of industry had not changed: it is calculated at year t using the structure of year t-1 as a reference, applying the Divisia method. The annual variation in this intensity at constant structure is then expressed in the form of an index taking one year as a reference (currently 2000). For this reason, the actual intensity and the intensity at constant structure are equal for the year 2000.
Comparing the variation in actual intensity with the variation in intensity at constant structure shows the impact of structural changes on the variation in intensity.
For instance, if actual intensity over a period decreases by 1%/year and intensity at constant structure decreases by 0.6%/year, this means that structural changes explain a reduction in intensity of 0.4%/year. This implies a growing share of low-energy-intensity branches (e.g. equipment) in industry value added.
Related question
- What does structural changes mean?
In industry the sum of value added by branch is equal to the total value added. The industry structure is the share of each branch in this total. Structural changes mean that the share of each branch in the total is changing over time; this is due to different growth by branch: some growing faster than the average will see their share in the total increasing while and others, with a lower growth, will see their share decreasing.
Related question
- What does energy intensity at adjusted structure mean?
Energy intensity at adjusted structure mean is the fictive value that would have been registered if the industry structure had been the same as in a reference country: it is used in ODYSSEE for comparisons between countries.
Related question
- What does the steel consumption include in ODYSSEE?
In Eurostat and IEA energy balances, until 2018, the energy consumption of steel included the steel production energy consumption and the energy consumption of blast furnaces. However, these two items are now separated, and the blast furnaces consumption is now included in the transformation sector. In ODYSSEE, it has been decided for the moment to continue to include blast furnaces consumption in the indicators concerning the steel industry (including ODEX and decomposition), in particular because it gives a better assessment of energy efficiency improvement and also because some countries’ data do not separate steel and blast furnaces consumption for older years (data published begins in 1990) and so, data series are inconsistent with the separation. Nevertheless, in ODYSSEE database, both data will be separated when possible from the 2020 update.
Households
- What is the consumption per dwelling scaled to EU average climate?
The consumption per dwelling of a country scaled to EU average climate corresponds to a fictive value of the consumption per dwelling of that country calculated with the EU average climate, i.e. with a fictive value of the space heating and cooling part of the consumption corresponding to the EU number of heating or cooling degree days.
Services
- What is the labour productivity?
The labour productivity measures the valued added generated per employee.
All sectors
- Where do I find definitions of the measure types?
You can find the definitions here: http://www.esd-ca.eu/Media/esdca/files/private/mure-guidelines
- What are Article 7 measures?
According to Article 7 of the EED (Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU) EU Member states must set up an energy efficiency obligation scheme. This scheme requires energy companies to achieve yearly energy savings of 1.5% of annual sales to final consumers in the time period from January 1st 2014 to December 31st 2020. Alternatively the obligated countries may implement energy efficiency policies that save an equivalent amount of final energy in this time period. These can be extensions of measures, which already were part of a NEEAP.
- What is the difference between semi quantitative impact and impact evaluation?
Impact evaluation data is posted as expected total savings of the measure either in PJ Energy or kt Co2eq. emissions (also both can apply) compared either with a fixed year or to a reference development. The semi-quantitative impact in difference is no absolute evaluation of the impact. Each measure posted to MURE is requested to have an expert judgement on its semi-quantitative impact. The exact definition of the semi-quantitative impact can be seen at “How do you evaluate the semi quantitative impact?”.
Related question
- What is the difference between NEEAP measures 1 to 3?
NEEAP (National Energy Efficiency Action Plan) measures are regarding to the measures which are mentioned in the NEEAP of each EU member state. Up to now there were three NEEAPS published (2007, 2011, 2014) representing NEEAP 1-3. It is planned that every 3 years NEEAPs are published.
Related question
- What do “Other” “Fixed year”, etc. mean regarding the field “Impacts: saving determined with respect to”?
“Other” and “Fixed year” relate to how the impact of the measure is determined. When it is related to a fixed year all savings are determined in comparison to that fixed year. When the impact is determined any other way the evaluation page mentions “Other” in the field.
- What is the “Number of periods” referring to? (Radar Graphs)
It refers to the number of time periods you want to divide your search period into. It will divide the time period into equally long time spans which then are plotted separately.
Related question
