Project description
"Efficiency First" (E1st) is a fundamental principle for policy decisions, planning, and investments in the energy sector that is increasingly important in European energy and climate policy. The ENEFIRST project is helping to make the E1st principle more concrete and practical, to better understand its relevance to energy demand and its broader implications across sectors and markets, with a focus on the buildings sector. ENEFIRST's methodology is based on three pillars. (i) Identifying key policy areas where the E1st principle can be applied to achieve the greatest impact in terms of energy system benefits by screening five potential application areas and applying the E1st principle in three regions in the EU, (ii) applying the E1st principle in policy instruments by assessing the applicability and transferability of international E1st approaches and quantifying the impact of the E1st principle; and (iii) applying the E1st principle by designing policy instruments and analyzing their application in country case studies.
