sectoral economic costs and benefits of ghg mitigation - IPCC

Gina Roos
Energy Demand in the Commercial Sector
SANEA (1998) report that coal use in this sector declined from 27 PJ in 1980, to 7.4 PJ in 1996,
while electricity consumption increased from 36.5 PJ to 53.5 PJ. Electricity services 86% of the
final energy demand in the sector with coal contributing the remainder although gas supplied
about 20 PJ in the hospitality and tourism subsector. A survey in 1997 found that more than 50%
of the organisations in this sector had implemented energy efficiency measures in order to reduce
costs: energy efficient lighting, microwave technology, variable speed forms, energy efficient
building management and energy efficient building designs (SANEA, 1998).
Table 1 The Percentage Expenditure for Different Final Energy Demand for a Variety of
Household Subsectors in 1996.
Final Energy
Demand
Household Subsector Expenditure (%)
Farm
Labourer
Rural
Settlement
Emergent
Farmer
Established
Farmer
Urban
Informal
Township
Houses
Electricity 28 56 50 76 32 44 74
Coal 16 10 8 10 19 16 8
Liquid Fuels 20 9 14 4 20 14 6
Gas 34 22 24 10 24 16 8
Suburban
Houses
Biomass & 2 3 4 0 5 10 4
Renewables
Source: SANEA, 1998
Table 2 The Contributions to Final Energy Demand of Different Fuel Sources for Four Different
Commercial Subsectors in 1996.
Final Energy Demand
Commercial Subsector Consumption (PJ)
Trade &
Finance
Hospitality &
Tourism
Community &
Training
Health &
Social Care
Coal 21 21 58 55
Liquid Fuels 22 10 8 8
Gas 14 22 6 4
Electricity 40 45 24 30
Biomass & Renewables 8 2 5 2
Source: SANEA, 1998
Mitigation
SANEA (1998) report that a 10- 20% energy saving through improved energy efficiency in
South Africa could lead to an effective increase of 1.5 – 3% in gross domestic product (GDP)
within the time frame of such savings. This will be achieved by creating awareness of the
benefits of, and creating economic incentives for, energy efficiency. However, barriers do exist
in terms of lack of awareness, lack of information and skills, high economic return criteria and
capital costs. This finding will be re-examined in the course of the Mitigation component of the
South African Country Study.
Two important points arise when examining the impacts of mitigation on the residential sector.
The first is that mitigation options undertaken anywhere in the economy will have an impact on
households – an aspect that can only be examined with a macroeconomic model. The results of
the model are in turn only as good as the level of disaggregation, data and assumptions on which
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