Meeting Summary

The Sixth APEC Workshop on APEC Energy Statistics was held jointly by EGEDA with the Training Workshop on Energy Efficiency Indicators conducted by the APEC Expert Group on Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EGEE&C) on September 17-21, 2007 in Singapore. This was in conjunction with the Study on Energy Efficiency Indicators being conducted by EGEE&C in cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Representatives from Australia; Brunei Darussalam; China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; Korea; Indonesia; Malaysia; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States and Vietnam. Canada and Mexico were not able to send their representatives. Mr Shigeru Kimura of IEEJ, Mr Harbans Aulakh and Mr Robert Tromop of New Zealand shared the chairmanship of this 5-day joint training workshop. The complete list of participants is attached as Annex 1.

Mr David Tan, Deputy Executive Officer of the Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore welcomed the participants to the training workshop. Mr Aulakh, representing EGEE&C and Mr Kimura, representing EGEDA, delivered their opening remarks and expressed the expectations of the both working groups from the joint workshop.

The main items of the Agenda are as follows:

A. Workshop on APEC Energy Statistics

• 1. Review of Quarterly Energy Supply, CO2 Emission and Monthly Gas Data Collection
• 2. Review of JODI
• 3. Review of 2005 Annual Data Collection
• 4. Review of Data Collection on Energy Indicators in APEC

B. Training Workshop on Energy Efficiency Indicators

• 1. International Comparisons of Energy Efficiency Indicators: Insights from IEA
• 2. Issues and Considerations for Developing Energy and Output Data Collections & Surveys
• 3. Allocation Techniques and Issues for Setting Up a Basic Energy Balance
• 4. Identifying Data Sources and Managing Databases
• 5. Using the IEA Template for Indicator Development
• 6. Indicators to Support Policy Needs: Hierarchy, Methods and Uses
• 7. Sectoral Energy Indicators in APEC OECD Economies
• 8. Energy Indicators in the Context of Economic Performance
• 9. Establishing an Analysis System for Energy Indicators
• 10. Energy End-Use Data: New Zealand Energy End-Use Database
• 11. The Hong Kong Energy End-Use Database: An Introduction
• 12. Energy Efficiency: Conceptual and Measurement Issues
• 13. Decomposition Technique
• 14. Monitoring Energy Efficiency Performance: Canada, New Zealand and USA Studies
• 15. Energy Efficiency Target Setting and Monitoring - Issues and Approaches
• 16. Wrap-up and Future Steps, - Panel Discussions on (i) Data Collection, Analysis and Use and (ii) Energy Efficiency Indicators and their Applications

A. Workshop on APEC Energy Statistics

• 1. Review of Quarterly Energy Supply, CO2 Emission and Monthly Gas Data Collection
  EDMC as coordinating agency of EGEDA reported on its various energy data collection activities in the APEC Region. Mr Kimura of IEEJ made presentations on quarterly energy supply, CO2 emission and monthly natural gas data collection in APEC. He mentioned that timeliness, completeness and quality of data as matters that need to be improved although timeliness in 2007 has greatly improved.
• 2. Review of the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) in APEC
  Mr Edito Barcelona of IEEJ reported on the status of JODI in the APEC region. He mentioned that timeliness has been improved as well as completeness. He also reported on the quality evaluation of the JODI data and encouraged the EGEDA delegates to improve data quality. He also reported on the 6-months JODI data collection using the expanded format and the JODI internship at IEFS attended by 2 representatives from Vietnam.
• 3. Review of the 2005 Annual Data Collection
  Mr Takuya Miyagawa of IEEJ reported on the status of 2005 annual data collection. He mentioned that timeliness was better than the previous year. He also reported that many economies made the same mistakes in the previous year and encouraged the EGEDA delegates to take note of the issues identified by IEEJ. Mr Miyagawa also mentioned that IEEJ will be resetting the deadline for submission on the end of November citing that November was the deadline before IEEJ revised the reporting format. Russia mentioned that due to the schedule of its statistical activities, it will not be able to make the November deadline. It would only be able to submit the annual data from April which is 4 months after the deadline set by IEEJ.
• 4. Review of Data Collection for Energy Indicators
  As the last presentation on the APEC Energy Statistics Workshop, Mr Kimura reported on the collection of the energy indicators data using the IEA template. He mentioned that only 8 of the 14 non-OECD economies submitted the templates and only a few were able to fill in most of the cells. He suggested some measures to increase the number of submitted data such as contacting other statisticians to collect macroeconomic data in the delegates' respective economies, conducting a small survey and transfer of know-how in more advanced economies to developing economies

B. Training Workshop on Energy Indicator Analysis

• 1. International Comparisons of Energy Efficiency Indicators: Insights from IEA
  Mr Michel Francoeur of the International Energy Agency (IEA) made a presentation on International Comparisons of Energy Efficiency Indicators: Insights from IEA. He discussed IEA's work on this field arising from the July 2005 Gleneagles Communique of the leaders of the G8 countries. The initial reports on the work have been published by the IEA and have been released. He presented some results and made the following conclusions:
  Indicators help analyze efficiency trends and identify new opportunities for improvements
  IEA countries have made progress on energy efficiency, but efforts need to be strengthened
  Good data is essential for detailed energy indicators and credible policy-making
  IEA is supporting energy indicator work in non-member countries and cooperation with APEC is very important

• 2. Issues and Considerations for Developing Energy and Output Data Collections & Surveys
  Ms Stephanie Battles of the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the US Department of Energy (DOE) discussed the issues and considerations for developing energy and output data collection through surveys. The main message of her presentation was how to optimize limited resources to obtain the targeted data. She also discussed the laws in the United States which supports energy data collection of the EIA.
• 3. Allocation Techniques and Issues for Setting Up a Basic Energy Balance
  Mr Francoeur discussed the allocations techniques and issues for setting up a basic energy balances. His presentation took note of the cost of data collection but he stated that making the wrong policy decisions due to wrong information might outweigh the cost of data collection. He provided some examples on ideal allocation of data. This lecture provided some insights to the EGEDA delegates on how to further improve energy data in their economies.
• 4. Identifying Data Sources and Managing Databases
  In her second presentation during the day, Ms Battles of IEA discussed how EIA supplements their surveys with data from other sources such as data available on the Internet, i.e., EIA's State Energy Profiles, Energy Audit Data, Trade Associations data, State and Regional Energy Offices as well as Other Federal Agencies, i.e., Household Vehicles Energy Use: Latest Data & Trends. She also mentioned that EIA developed end use estimates using conditional demand regression models, i.e., household end use estimation. Apart from identifying data sources, she also discussed managing databases as practiced at the EIA.
• 5. Using the IEA Template for Indicator Development
  Later in the day, Mr Francoeur discussed the IEA template for energy efficiency indicators. He mentioned that the objective in the preparation of the template was to be able to collect data for the energy indicators work. The template was agreed upon by people involved in data collection and those involved in indicators analysis. He also explained the template to the participants in details and mentioned that it is adaptable to reflect the specificities of different economies.
• 6. Energy Efficiency: Identifying Opportunities, Setting Targets and Monitoring
  Dr Harbans Aulakh of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) of New Zealand made a presentation on Identifying Opportunities, Setting Targets and Monitoring Energy Efficiency. His presentation was based on New Zealand's experience which was enabled by a law, the "EE&C Act 2000" of New Zealand. The law defines energy efficiency as a change to energy use that results in an increase in net benefit per unit of energy used. Dr Aulakh also stated the targets and strategies set for the implementation of energy efficiency law.
• 7. Indicators to Support Policy Needs: Hierarchy, Methods and Uses
  Dr Jeffrey Bor of the Chinese Culture University of Chinese Taipei made the presentation on Indicators to Support Policy Needs: Hierarchy, Method and Uses on behalf of Dr. Nigel Jollands of IEA. The presentation's objective was to introduce the mission and measures of energy efficiency indicators in IEA and to introduce the role or energy efficiency indicators for policy use citing Chinese Taipei as an example. He stated that energy efficiency in IEA is one of the broad focus areas of IEA's G8 Gleneagles Program and subject of IEA's concrete recommendations to G8 countries. As regards the Chinese Taipei example, Dr Bor showed how they were able to isolate the main reason for the decline of energy efficiency in the economy.
• 8. Sectoral Energy Indicators in APEC OECD Economies
  Mr Barcelona made a presentation on the sectoral energy indicators in APEC OECD economies. He mentioned that he used the completed energy indicators templates from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. He showed energy indicators starting from primary energy intensity down to the major sectoral energy intensities. He explained the dangers of comparing such indicators without in-depth analysis of the reasons behind the numbers. For the differences in residential energy and transport energy consumption intensities, he mentioned some reasons that need to be considered when making comparisons such as climate differences for the residential sector as well as modal differences in the transport sector.
• 9. Energy Indicators in the Context of Economic Performance
  Dr Bor presented on energy efficiency indicators in the context of economic performance and cited another study made in Chinese Taipei using the multi-level approach. He explained that the approach effectively fulfills the pyramid concept of EEI with theoretical methodology as analytical techniques are basically the same. He explained how they identified the source of declining energy efficiency in his economy using multi-level energy efficiency indicators analysis.
• 10. Establishing an Analysis System for Energy Indicators
  Mr Francoeur of IEA again made a presentation on establishing an analysis system for energy indicators. He mentioned that a solid energy balance is highly beneficial to the development of energy indicators. He suggested that the new data requirements should be defined before building a new collection strategy and to conduct end-use mapping of energy and activity for an effective energy indicators analysis.
• 11. Energy End-Use Data: New Zealand Energy End-Use Database
  Dr Harbans Aulakh of EECA of New Zealand discussed EECA's Energy End-Use Database. The database is disaggregated into 13 sectors and further into end-use classes. The database provides a picture of energy use within the country as a whole or a particular region, determine the energy used for a particular purpose in a particular sector or assess the effects on energy use of policy decisions.
• 12. The Hong Kong Energy End-Use Database: An Introduction
  Mr Cho-yee Ip of the Electrical Mechanical Services Department of the Hong Kong Government discussed the Hong Kong Energy End-Use Database. He cited the circumstances that led to the establishment of the database, who manages and updates the database, the scope, the approaches for data generation, sources of data, the structure of the database and the updating information. He mentioned that the database is used to track energy use trends, identify areas for energy efficiency improvement, evaluate energy efficiency programs and track and compare energy use intensities.
• 13. Energy Efficiency: Conceptual and Measurement Issues
  Professor BW Ang of the National University of Singapore (NUS) made a presentation on Conceptual and Measurement Issues of Energy Efficiency. He discussed energy efficiency trends and mentioned the possible reasons/sources of decreasing and increasing trends can be traced by decomposition analysis. One of the points that he stressed upon was that decreasing energy intensity does not necessarily mean improved efficiency. It might be due to other factors such as changes in economic, industrial or even technological structure of the economy.
• 14. Decomposition Technique
  Professor Jonathan Lermit of New Zealand gave a lecture on decomposition analysis. He mentioned that changes in energy consumption levels are due to economic growth, changing economic structure and energy efficiency. He then proceeded by introducing the Divisia Decomposition Method which isolates the effects of the three factors mentioned above by both classroom lecture and hands-on exercises. Decomposition can be carried out from macro economic level down to energy consumption processes or end-use levels. He also mentioned energy quality as a factor that affects the level of energy consumption that could be split off from energy efficiency change. The idea seems to be a new that most of the participants failed to understand or accept the use of such factor in decomposition analysis. What made it more difficult to understand was the assignment of values to various products. There may be a need to further demonstrate the accuracy of the assigned values before such could be acceptable to persons who have just started in indicator analysis.
• 15. Monitoring Energy Efficiency Performance: Canada, New Zealand and USA Studies
  Prof BW Ang made another presentation entitled, Monitoring Energy Efficiency Performance: Canada, New Zealand and USA. The presentation was a review of Energy Efficiency Monitoring and Analysis Systems (EEMAS) of the three countries. It also included a comparison of the key features of the EEMAS as well as the technical and practical issues in developing the EEMAS. Prof Ang's presentation mentioned the EEMAS design criteria to wit:
  EEMAS should provide meaningful information needed by users
  Basic principles and construction methods should be theoretically sound
  It should give measures that can be easily understood and interpreted
  It should be transparent and based on readily available data
  Measures could be regularly updated
• 16. Wrap-up and Future Steps, - Panel Discussions on (i) Data Collection, Analysis and Use and (ii) Energy Efficiency Indicators and their Applications
  Mr. Robert Tromop of the EECA of New Zealand and Vice-Chair of EGEE&C moderated the panel discussion. Below are the statements made by the experts:

Energy Indicators

Dr Aulakh stressed that energy efficiency means reduction in energy use but with improvement to service. He also mentioned that reporting should not rely on one analytical methodology as there is no single indicator that could define energy efficiency but it is a set of indicators. He also raised a question on why sophisticated methods are applied on unsophisticated data.

Prof Ang of NUS re-echoed Dr Aulakh's statement that "One size does not fit all" and he stated that training needs of various economies are different.

Dr Bor of Chinese Taipei mentioned that EEI is a key tool for any economy. Therefore, capacity building should focus on improvement of data as EEI greatly depends on data system. IEA should help up with data / hands-on exercises for data analysis.

Prof Lermit of New Zealand mentioned that energy efficiency is not an end in itself. There is a need to understand how energy will become a future problem. It is therefore necessary to do what you can with what you have.

Data Issues

Mr Kimura of IEEJ mentioned that many economies still face challenges to collect detailed and accurate data for producing energy indicators. He suggested to EGEDA focal points to contact people in charge of socio-economic data to be able to collect such statistics. As regards energy data, there is a need to improve data collection by improving capacity. EGEDA focal points should report the outcome of the workshop to decision makers informing them of the importance and relevance of energy indicators. Mr. Kimura also mentioned that on the next workshop, EGEDA and EEG&C should allocate some time to learn top-down approach in disaggregating energy data.

As regards energy indicators, Mr. Kimura mentioned that Mr Tromop has identified the necessary indicators for non-OECD APEC member economies. Therefore, collecting data challenge is not so much. EGEDA members can easily find the data requirements in their respective economies. However, EDMC as CA of EGEDA will continue to assist member economies in improving energy statistics.

Ms Battles of EIA stressed that the top-down approach to end-use data collection is not simple. She also mentioned that decision makers need to be educated about the use of energy indicators. As regards surveys, she mentioned that these depend on what the data are going to be used for. She does not agree with relying on data collected by non-professionals.

Mr. Francoeur of IEA reiterated that the link between statisticians and policy makers is important. He also mentioned that APEC economies and IEA can learn from one another if the data are comparable. He suggested to EGEDA delegates to use imagination in collecting energy data. He also mentioned that energy data should be communicated so that the data are made known.

Adjournment

The joint workshop was adjourned at around 2:00 PM as scheduled. EGEDA and EGEE&C promised to continue cooperative efforts. IEEJ as CA of EGEDA encouraged the delegates to further improve on their data collection as well as timeliness and completeness of data submission.