Topics | Umweltbundesamt

Final energy consumption associated with buildings decreased by 20.1 % between 2008 and 2023.However, according to the 2010 Energy Concept, the heat demand of buildings should have decreased by 20 % between 2008 and 2020. In fact, consumption fell by only 10.9 %.Since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting energy-saving efforts, building-related final energy consumption ha... read more

The efficiency with which an economy uses energy can be measured by the "final energy productivity" indicator.Between 2008 and 2022, final energy productivity increased by 26%.Reducing energy consumption is more important than increasing energy productivity.The European "Energy Efficiency Directive" and the German "Energy Efficiency Act" set ambitious targets for reducing final energy consumption. read more

Efficiency increase oftentimes reduces product or service costs, which can in turn ramp up consumption (due to reduced prices), thus partly canceling out the original savings. This is known as the rebound effect. read more

The environmental and health impacts associated with products – from the pre-manufacturing stages through to production itself, distribution, use and disposal – are becoming more and more important on the path to sustainable development. read more