The COMBI Project

Calculating and Operationalizing the Multiple Benefits of Energy Efficiency in Europe (COMBI) was a two-year research project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the heading ‘Energy Efficiency Research and Innovation’. The project, which commenced in March 2015, aims to quantify the multiple non-energy benefits of energy efficiency via a range of quantitative research methods.

Although the multiple benefits of energy efficiency are gaining relevance in current research and policy debates, scientific evidence on the subject is limited. Therefore, this project compiles existing data from from the EU area, develops modelling approaches and generates consolidated outputs on different benefits such as emissions (effects on health, ecosystems, crops, built environment), resources (biotic/abiotic, metals and non-metals), social welfare (disposable income, comfort, health), macroeconomy (labor market, public finance, GDP), and the energy system (grid, supply-side, energy security).

Visit the project website at: www.combi-project.eu.

Outputs

All project outcomes are available at an open-source online database and made more tangible via a graphic online-visualisation tool for customizing the findings with respect to geographic location and selected benefits. To this end, the development of an aggregation methodology is of central importance to avoid double-counting and presenting the various benefits in their various dimensions. Policy-relevant insights are derived and policy recommendations elaborated to facilitate the communication of non-energy benefits in relevant policy areas. The project communicates with on-going discussions on how to include multiple energy efficiency benefits into policy evaluation.