This is not a trick question, you might say Nuclear Power generation or even Combined Cycle Gas Turbine generation (if you take issue with what the true long-term costs of nuclear decommissioning and fuel storage actually is), but the real answer is neither of those, it’s energy efficiency, simply saving energy can often be implemented at low or even no cost by energy consumers, but until relatively recently it’s not been tackled in a serious fashion.
The EU plans to improve its energy efficiency by more than 20% by 2020. In other words, 20% less energy will be used by then, according to the plans determined by the EU. If we look at the baseline in 2010 the primary energy consumption of the EU was 1772 Mtoe. So by 2020 we can expect this figure to go down to 1416 Mtoe. Substantial steps have been taken towards this objective – notably in the appliances and buildings markets. Nonetheless, recent Commission estimates suggest that the EU is on course to achieve only half of the 20% objective unless it takes action in other areas. Meanwhile the USA has the potential to reduce annual energy consumption by approx 22 percent by 2020, eliminating more than $1.0 trillion in costs.
Whether or not the plans are achieved, the cheapest form of energy will probably be energy efficiency for some time yet.
Jeremy Thomas, Renewable Consulting Practice, Isosceles
