National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2017-2023.

The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan is a national policy aiming at reducing primary energy consumption by 14% by 2023 through 55 actions defined in six categories; namely buildings and services, energy, transport, industry and technology, agriculture and cross-cutting areas. The timeframe of this policy is 7 years covering the period between 2017 and 2023. The overall purpose of this Action Plan is to ensure energy efficiency, in order to alleviate the burden of energy costs on the economy, ensure supply security in energy, reduce the risks arising from foreign dependency, ensure transition to a low-carbon economy and protect the environment.
Energy efficiency and security will be promoted in the energy sector. To this end, efficiency standards will be developed for renewable energy infrastructure. Consumer awareness will be raised on energy consumption quantities, energy efficiency improvement measures and energy saving on energy-consuming equipment, in order to reduce their consumption and change their consumption habits. Furthermore, support will be provided to increase the number and diversity of energy efficiency projects in the industry. Energy intensity will be reduced by at least 10% in each subsector of industry through sectoral cooperation. Minimum energy performance standards will be set for the sector, processes, machines and equipment and the use of using energy-efficient machines and equipment will be promoted. Energy efficiency performance standards and environmentally-friendly design, production, labelling system will be developed and the legal framework will be strengthened in line with the relevant EU Directives. Awareness will be raised among consumers on environment-friendly design and product labelling. The technical and economic best practices will be promoted in the construction sector and energy saving targets will be developed for buildings to promote green buildings and sustainable settlements. To this end, a guide will be developed by the Ministry which contains the energy performance criteria, financial indicators and efficiency analyses of each one of various materials, equipment pieces and technologies used in buildings. An inventory of the buildings in the urban and rural areas will be developed, including information particularly on the building characteristics, the actual energy consumption and emission data of buildings. A national database will be established to enable benchmarking and energy efficiency assessment of buildings. Moreover, energy-efficient, low emission and environment-friendly vehicles will be promoted to reduce CO2 emission and protect the environment. The legislative framework will be developed to promote zero emission transport.
Energy efficiency measures will be implemented in the agriculture sector. Support will be provided for the replacement of tractors aged more than 20 years and harvesters aged more than 10 years with energy-efficient ones, and shared use of tractors and harvesters will be promoted. Efficiency improvement projects will be supported that include cover the improvement of the currently used irrigation systems or their replacement with more energy-efficient ones. Training and awareness-raising activities will be undertaken for farmers on resource-efficient water consumption. In order to ensure resource efficiency in sustainable agricultural production, direct and indirect energy inputs will be reduced in the stages of agricultural production, preparation, drying, storing, cooling and transporting of agricultural products based on feasibility study results. The use of renewable energy resources (solar, wind, geothermal, biomass) for agricultural production processes will be promoted in order to make use of distributed energy systems by supplying the energy needed in sustainable agricultural production on site and through local resources and reduce energy costs and environmental impact of agricultural production. Agricultural by-products and waste potential will be identified to produce biomass and promote its use of agricultural by-products and waste as fodder and soil improving material in priority.
The General Directorate of Renewable Energy under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources shall be the responsible institution for monitoring and coordination of this Action Plan.