Voluntary Agreements for Industrial, Commercial and Public Organisations

Finlands energy efficiency policy for industrial, commercial and public organisations relies mainly on voluntary agreements initiated in 1992 and significantly extended in 1997. In November 1997, MTI signed six new framework agreements on energy conservation with the organisations of industry and employers, energy producers and energy distributors: - Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers, - The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, - The Finnish Energy Industries Federation, - The Finnish District Heating Association, - The Finnish Electricity Association, and - The Finnish Petroleum Federation. In addition, the State Real Property Authority signed a co-operation programme which is equivalent as regards its objectives to an agreement and to which most of the other governmental real estate entities have acceded. The agreements remained in effect until 2005. In signing the framework agreements, industrial organisations were committed to promoting energy conservation and inducing their members. A company joining an agreement was committed to appointing someone to take charge of energy conservation affairs, auditing and analysis of energy consumption, preparing its own energy conservation plan, taking measures according to the plan, and reporting annually to the sector organisation concerned. By the end of 2001, some 115 companies had joined the voluntary industrial agreements, representing about 85% of total energy use by Finnish industry. All major energy users joined. In the power plant sector, 22 companies signed an energy conservation agreement, representing 90% of Finlands electricity production. The agreement in the district heating sector was signed by 40 companies, accounting for 70% of the district heat energy sold in Finland. An agreement on electricity transfer and distribution was concluded with 42 companies, covering 76% of electricity supply to final consumers. The agreements signed by MTI also covered 55% of municipalities (with a goal of 10% less specific heat consumption in municipal buildings in 2005 compared to 1990) , 73% of commercial buildings and 10% of truck transport activities, and 35% of the bus transport sectors energy consumption. In addition, two co-operation programmes - which correspond to energy conservation agreements - were initiated: one applied to the States own real estate and the other applied to buildings heated by oil. The conservation agreements have given a major boost to energy audits. One of the targets of the Voluntary Agreements is to have 80% of the energy use in industry and commercial and public buildings audited by the year 2005. With regard to agreements made by industry, the energy sector, and municipalities and joint municipal boards, their annual reporting data from 2000 revealed that the total impact of the conservation measures implemented so far in the companies and corporations encompassed by the agreements was 2.2 TWh/year. Of this total, 2 TWh/year, or over 90%, comes up in the annual reports of industry. At the end of 2006, there were eight energy conservation agreements in force covering not only industry but also the energy sector, the property and building sector and the municipal sector, buses and coaches and residential properties. The agreements cover about 60 per cent of Finlands total energy consumption. Companies and communities subscribing to the agreements undertake to carry out energy audits or analyses in their own properties and production plants, to draw up an energy efficiency plan, and to implement cost-effective conservation measures. The Ministry of Employment and the Economy, for its part, undertakes to subsidise energy audits and analyses, as well as energy efficiency investments fulfilling certain criteria. At the end of 2006, the total annual impact of the efficiency measures in all participating companies was 7.7 terawatt-hours. Of this, heating and fuels accounted for 6.0 and electricity for 1.7 terawatt-hours. The

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