Since its creation in 2012 Energy Efficiency Trends has established itself as the place to go for information on the energy efficiency market. This edition, however, marks something of a new beginning: regular readers will notice a new look, new analysis as well as a new name on the front cover.
Let us start with that last point by welcoming our new partner, the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB). GIB will be supporting EEVS Insight and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) in expanding the contributor base, contributing its market intelligence to the research and promoting the publication’s insights to a wider audience. See also Section 4 for GIB’s analysis on the market potential for UK energy efficiency.
In terms of analysis, there are two major changes. Firstly, the fact that we are in our eighth edition means that we can now see how the market is changing over time. Trends in technology choice, financing options and project size provide new insights into the evolution of the sector. Second, the report (including historic data) is now exclusively UK-focused. Around two-thirds of survey respondents are UK-based and we felt our analysis would be more meaningful if narrowed to that country only. We continue to collect data on other countries, which we hope to include in future reports specific to those markets.
And last of all, the new look. Having come on board as partners in 2013 BNEF are now leading the analysis of the survey results and production of the report. The new format brings Energy Efficiency Trends in line with BNEF’s global coverage of the clean energy sector.
Having committed to the future of the sector with our revamp of Energy Efficiency Trends, we would have been disappointed if the analysis were to have found the market moving in the opposite direction. Thankfully, this was not the case: our confidence indicator is at an all-time high, median project sizes peaked in Q2 while more projects than ever are being funded through external sources of capital. While non-domestic energy efficiency in the UK is still a long way short of its potential, there is plenty of optimism.
For more information, please visit the Trends portal on the EEVS website: http://www.eevs.co.uk/trends.html