The Trust's Strategy

The Strategy of the Trust is to expand the market with a more comprehensive and better selection of energy efficient equipment.

The Trust aims to reduce electricity consumption in the household and public sectors and thus limit the emissions of greenhouse gasses. This will be achieved by encouraging electricity savings and ensuring the more efficient use of electricity.

To achieve its target the Trust’s overall strategy involves changing the market to encourage a more comprehensive and better selection of energy efficient equipment and increased demand for this equipment. The Trust therefore works with both the supply side (producers, suppliers, etc.) and the demand side (e.g. individual consumers).

The Trust makes use of a comprehensive range of different initiatives to influence the market, including product development, voluntary agreements with producers and suppliers, information campaigns, subsidies, fixed price agreements, making electricity consumption visible and advice.

You can learn more about the individual elements of the Trust’s strategy below.

Use of market dynamics
Every year, households, the public sector and commercial and industrial companies purchase energy and energy-related equipment worth approximately DKK 100 billion. By comparison, the Trust has a budget of almost DKK 100 million, which is a rather small sum if the money is only used as subsidies to influence buyers.

The Trust’s strategy is about influencing consumers’ choices of electrically powered equipment by involving and activating market dynamics and taking advantage of individual players’ efforts to achieve greater market share and higher earnings. As a non-commercial entity, the Trust operates in a liaison capacity between producers, retailers and consumers, and promotes openness and competition in a growing market for energy efficient appliances and systems.

Push-pull influence on supply and demand
The key element in a push-pull theory is to involve the supply side (push) while simultaneously influencing the consumer side (pull).
The Trust involves the supply side in search of win-win solutions where suppliers benefit financially by complying with requirements concerning quality, price and impartial information in order to benefit from the Trust’s information and campaign activities, and the opportunities to have products endorsed. The Trust also benefits from the fact that the supply side is involved in encouraging consumers to buy energy efficient products.

Dealing with barriers preventing energy-efficient and financially rational behaviour
The Trust combines different initiatives to deal with the barriers that prevent suppliers and consumers buying energy efficient products and acting in environmentally and financially rational ways.
 
The key point is to find the ‘right’ initiatives based on consumers’ requirements and the barriers they experience. Offers of information and advice are usually not enough.

Making it simple, safe, cheap and visible
The Trust works on the assumption that it must be simple, safe and cheap to purchase energy-efficient appliances and systems:
  • Simple: Energy efficient products need to be easily accessible on the market, and consumers need to have access to the relevant and comparative information for individual products
  • Safe: Energy efficient products should live up to consumers’ expectations on low electricity consumption and general quality standards in relation to functionality, durability, etc.
  • Cheap: Energy efficient products should not be more expensive just because they use less electricity. Greater market share for energy efficient products will also lead to greater operational savings and more competition which will push prices down further
Finally, electricity consumption and savings possibilities must be transparent.

Optimal operation of systems
The operation of some types of powered equipment can have a significant impact on the amount of electricity consumed. This particularly applies to IT systems, ventilation, cooling and lighting systems, which should be operated based on the actual demand to ensure low electricity consumption.

Subsidies and kick-start campaigns
The Trust uses subsidies in some situations. The strategy aims to give the customer a financial benefit that is greater than the subsidy itself. Additional contributions come from market players that have a financial interest in the customer choosing the product in question.

Subsidies are fixed-term initiatives that can contribute to kick-starting the market, for example through the introduction of new and particularly energy efficient appliances that would otherwise have difficulty breaking into the market. Subsidies subsequently need to bring about lasting changes in the availability and price structure without a subsidy.

Publicising the best solutions
The Trust publicises the most energy efficient solutions for different areas through the use of recommended lists. In many cases, these solutions will not be relevant immediately, but only when consumers plan to purchase new equipment or systems in connection with the refurbishment of offices or new construction.

Advice from A to Z
At the very least, the Trust wants to offer information and good advice on appliances and systems used in the household and public sectors. Making consumption visible and self-check systems are an important part of this strategy. However, the Trust will continue to identify special areas of initiative, featuring targeted campaigns, voluntary agreements, etc.

Publicising self-help systems
It is hard to behave in a financially rational way if you do not know how much electricity you use or waste. The Trust allows consumers to view their electricity consumption and compare it with others.

The Trust is also developing IT-based advice and self-help systems that will run in tandem with the Trust’s advice services and campaigns, all of which will help consumers to save electricity.

Metering equipment and help with new energy saving products
The Trust encourages product developments and market launches of low-cost energy efficient products. Top priority is being given to products that can reduce standby consumption or ones that can meter, take remote readings or manage electricity consumption.

Product endorsements, quality control and branding
The Trust allows its name to be used in connection with product marketing, and will include the names of these products on its recommended lists in order to support the development and marketing of new products that save electricity or make consumption visible.

Web sites
The Trust uses Web sites as a proactive element in its overall activities for offering information, making electricity consumption visible and self-check systems.

Liaison with producers and retailers
The Trust’s strategy is based on the assumption that the Trust acts on behalf of consumers to set standards for the supply side. The commercial and industrial sector’s response to the Trust has been very mixed. Some players are extremely sceptical of the Trust’s involvement in the market, but others see it as an advantage that a non-commercial player is providing information to consumers and endorses particular products.

The Trust’s strategy involves improving contacts with the commercial and industrial sector concerning its planned initiatives and the possibilities for partnership projects, with the aim of encouraging a general exchange of information and ideas between the parties in connection with specific campaign initiatives.

Cooperation with other actors in the electricity savings sector
The Trust and the electricity supply companies, which both administrate consumers’ funds, should try to coordinate their initiatives. The Trust wants to build its initiatives to the public sector round advice based on reports from existing labelling schemes, and advice from the supply companies.

This implies that labelling scheme expertise and data is made available to the Trust, thereby enabling it to publicise this knowledge on the Trust’s Web site.

Similarly, the Trust believes that its self-check systems could be used as the backbone for other advice providers.

Page last updated 06.10.2008