Energy Conservation, Decentralization of Cogeneration Systems, and Public Intervention

It is technically possible to decrease the Danish fossil fuel consumption by 50 % within less than 20 years, without a decrease in the material standard of living and without nuclear power. Although Denmark followed an active and internationally praised energy policy, 1987 will probably see a Danish record in fossil fuel consumption, beating the old record from before the first energy crisis in 1973. Nevertheless there has been some success in developing conservation methods and renewable energy technologies like wind power and biogas—based village energy plants—and therefore it now seems technically possible to initiate a strategy for reduced consumption of fossil fuels. The present sectorized and centralized organization of energy systems makes the supply side based on fossil fuels dominate over consumer-oriented conservation technologies blocking effective conservation strategies. It is therefore necessary to regionalize and decentralize the energy systems in order to synchronize conservation, supply-side energy efficiency and renewable energy use, and in that way effectively reduce the consumption of fossil fuel.