COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 9 June 1980 concerning new lines of action by the Community in the field of energy saving

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having taken note of the communications of 21 June 1979 from the Commission entitled "Third Report on the Community's programme for energy saving" and "New lines of action by the European Community in the field of energy saving".

Having taken note of the opinion of the European Parliament (1),

Having taken note of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Having regard to the Council resolutions of 17 December 1974 concerning, on the one hand, Community energy policy objectives for 1985 (3) and, on the other hand, a Community action programme for the rational use of energy (4),

Having regard to the conclusions reached by the European Council in July 1978 and March 1979, which reaffirmed and enlarged the scope of the objectives for the rational use of energy for 1985,

Whereas it is necessary to determine objectives for 1990 for the Community energy-saving programme;

Whereas the Member States and the Community as a whole have, in general, made good progress towards achieving the objectives set for 1985;

Whereas, however, all the Member States must contribute to the achievement of the Community objectives by the adoption of comparable energy-saving programmes, with due regard for the circumstances peculiar to each Member State;

Whereas coordination of the programmes of the Member States and, where necessary, of specific actions at Community level can contribute to better results, in conformity with the Treaties, 1. approves the objective of progressively reducing the average ratio for the whole of the Community between the rate of growth in gross primary-energy consumption and the rate of growth in the gross domestic product to 0 77 or less by 1990;

2. agrees that Member States should, where this proves necessary, adapt their energy-saving programmes so that by the end of 1980 each Member State has an energy-saving programme covering all the main sectors of energy use and an appropriate energy-pricing policy. In order to produce comparable effects, these programmes should be based on energy-pricing guidelines and measures recommended in the basic programme set out in the Annex. They must, however, be adapted to the specific priorities and conditions in the Member States;

3. agrees that work must be speeded up, particularly in international organizations, on the technical specifications of methods for measuring energy consumption and on performance standards, especially those relating to heat generators and domestic appliances;

4. invites the Commission, on the basis of the information provided by the Member States, to keep it abreast of progress made with national energy-saving programmes and calls upon the Commission to report to it on progress made towards attaining Community energy-saving targets. (1) OJ No C 117, 12.5.1980, p. 66. (2) OJ No C 113, 7.5.1980, p. 1. (3) OJ No C 153, 9.7.1975, p. 2. (4) OJ No C 153, 9.7.1975, p. 5.

ANNEX GUIDELINES FOR A BASIC ENERGY-SAVING PROGRAMME RECOMMENDED TO EVERY MEMBER STATE

A. ENERGY PRICING

Energy pricing should be based on the following principles: - consumer prices should reflect representative conditions on the world market, taking account of longer term trends;

- one of the factors determining consumer prices should be the cost of replacing and developing energy resources;

- energy prices on the market should be characterized by the greatest possible degree of transparency.

Publicity about energy prices and the cost to the consumer of energy used by appliances and installations should be as widespread as possible.

B. MEASURES TO ENCOURAGE THE RATIONAL USE OF ENERGY

The following measures are recommended: 1. Energy saving in the home - a substantial upward revision of compulsory minimum performance requirements for new housing and heating systems;

- regulations to ensure individual metering, billing and control of heating systems in multi-occupied residential buildings;

- performance standards and control of servicing of heating systems;

- publicity campaigns and advice centres for energy saving in the home;

- financial aids for necessary improvements to existing houses, an exemplary programme for dwellings in public ownership;

- labelling to indicate the energy consumption of domestic appliances.

2. Energy saving in industry - energy auditing, especially in industries consuming large volumes of energy;

- financial aids for small and medium-sized businesses, publicity campaigns;

- financial and tax aids to encourage investment to save energy;

- financial aids for the commercial promotion of new energy-saving technologies, equipment or methods (demonstration projects).

3. Energy saving in agriculture - promotion of the use of energy-saving agricultural equipment for the transport and processing of crops, informing users of the scope for making better use of existing equipment and of the use of energy-saving techniques of cultivation, and training them accordingly;

- rational use of chemical fertilizers;

- better use of locally available alternative energy sources to heat farm buildings and glass houses.

4. Energy saving in offices and in commerce - an exemplary public-sector programme;

- compulsory minimum performance standards for new offices;

- performance standards and control of servicing of heating, cooling and ventilation systems.

5. Energy saving in transport - information and publicity campaigns;

- implementation of a standard method of measuring the fuel consumption of vehicles;

- if necessary, implementation of measures to ensure that new vehicles sold within the Community comply with voluntary targets for lower fuel consumption announced by car manufacturers in the Community;

- collecting such available national data as will enable progress towards these voluntary targets to be examined at Community level.

6. Energy production

Measures to encourage the rational use of heat resulting from the generation of electrical energy and from industrial processes, as well as the development of heat distribution networks.

7. Information and education - sustained publicity drives on energy saving;

- educational programmes in schools, technical colleges and universities and vocational retraining programmes.

8. Sustained efforts in research, development and demonstration