Energy efficiency can be incorporated into Country Development Cooperation Strategies to effectively inform assistance planning, budgeting and resource allocation.

All USAID missions are required to develop and implement five-year Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS) to inform planning, budgeting and resource allocation. These country-based strategies show how assistance efforts are synchronized across the agency and incorporate Presidential Initiatives and USAID and U.S. government policies and strategies. Energy efficiency is a key component of USAID’s Climate Change and Development Strategy (2012-2016) because it facilitates multiple benefits including economic growth, decreased reliance on fossil fuels, national security and public health. As such, energy efficiency can be integrated into a number of Development Objectives within a CDCS.

Economic Growth

Energy efficiency stimulates economic growth and creates jobs in a number of different ways. First, it helps ensure a reliable energy supply to power economic growth and provides increased resilience to fuel price variability. Manufacturers who incorporate energy efficiency activities into their facilities benefit from reduced operational costs. Energy efficiency measures also help decrease the unit cost of agriculture products, decreasing prices and improving food security for high-risk populations. Disposable income among targeted consumers can increase as a result of energy efficiency, giving consumers increased purchasing power and stimulating increased consumption of goods and services. By creating jobs and helping lower energy costs while improving energy reliability, energy efficiency provides numerous benefits to a country’s economy.

Resource Conservation

Energy efficiency reduces end-use energy demand and in doing so decreases demand for the fuel resources used to generate electricity, such as coal, natural gas and petroleum. The end result is improved resource-use effectiveness and increased resource conservation. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides a simple methodology for calculating the amount of coal, natural gas or petroleum used to generate a kilowatthour (kWh) of electricity, which can be used to calculate the fuel savings from each kWh of electricity saved as a result of energy efficiency. The amount of fossil fuel used to generate a kWh is dependent on the efficiency or heat rate of the power plant that produces the electricity and the heat content of the fuel used to generate that electricity (both expressed in British Thermal Units or BTUs). While there is currently no international database of power plant heat rates, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has published a methodology for calculating coal power plant efficiency. Heat content values for coal, natural gas and petroleum are available on the EIA website.

After planners establish a vetted methodology for calculating energy efficiency impacts based on the technology employed, estimations for energy use, reductions and efficiencies can be scaled up to determine the impacts of conservation efforts at the city, regional and economy levels. Cities can play a significant role in reducing heating and cooling loads by making buildings more energy efficient through passive design strategies, the use of energy efficient appliances, distributed renewable energy systems, combined heat and power, and by employing cool and green roofs which reduce the urban heat island effect. Water efficiency measures at the building scale and onsite storm and wastewater management and treatment can also reduce energy use associated with water pumping and treatment. Lastly, cities that adopt multi-modal transportation plans which incentivize the use of renewable-powered electric vehicles, bicycle share and bus rapid transit (BRT) result in reduced emissions and lower energy consumption.

Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

Energy efficiency lowers greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the amount of fuel required for electricity generation and heating. In addition to helping mitigate climate change, energy efficiency can also play a role in helping people adapt to changes in the climate by improving resiliency. Reductions in energy consumption improve the overall reliability and resilience of energy systems and benefit the populations who rely on them. For example, if a major storm forces power plants to go offline and causes a sudden drop in energy supply, countries with widespread adoption of energy efficiency measures will be better positioned to respond because they have already reduced their demand for energy and may be able to keep critical infrastructure running during the crisis.

Gender Equality

Sustainable development is only possible when women and men have an equal opportunity to improve their economic condition and their quality of life. Energy-efficient technologies can form the basis for small-scale enterprises and local village-based initiatives. These types of local entrepreneurial activities empower women and help them control their economic future while providing an opportunity for them to become part of a more sustainable, distributed energy economy. For example, when households obtain cleaner, more efficient cookstoves, the amount of time women spend gathering fuel and tending the stove decreases, allowing them to pursue other ventures which can bolster household income.

Improved Health Outcomes

Energy efficiency provides health benefits at multiple levels within society. By lowering the demand for electricity produced from burning fossil fuels, energy efficiency reduces the emission of harmful pollutants which negatively impact health, particularly in rapidly growing cities. Efficiency improves household comfort by enabling families to afford the amount of power needed to heat their homes and reducing associated cold weather-related illnesses. Energy efficiency also improves health infrastructure by reducing the risk of power disruptions to vaccine and medicine cold chains and to medical equipment, either from load shedding or when power is lost during a natural disaster. The process of restoring power or supplying energy through a backup source during a crisis is both faster and easier if less power is needed in the first place.

In rural areas, energy-efficient cook stoves may have positive health impacts. The World Health Organization estimates that 4.3 million people die annually from exposure to household air pollution caused by burning solid fuels like wood, charcoal and other forms of biomass, and the number of deaths caused by indoor air pollution rivals deaths from malaria and AIDS in many developing countries. The use of energy-efficient stoves may reduce exposure to indoor pollutants by requiring less fuel to achieve the same or better thermal performance.