The Lower House of Germany’s Parliament has passed a new law, the Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG), intended to make saving energy compulsory in all economic sectors. The new bill includes regulation for energy savings in public buildings, industry and data centres across Germany, with the goal of cutting final consumption by 26.5% by 2030 and 45% by 2045 (from 2008 levels). The Energy Efficiency Act notably says that the German federal government must save 45 TWh/year by 2030, and that the states (Länder) will have an individual objective to save 3 TWh/year by 2030.
In addition, companies with an energy consumption of more than 7.5 GWh/year will be obliged to introduce energy or environmental management systems. Companies with an energy consumption of more than 2.5 GWh/year will have to publish concrete plans for economic energy efficiency measures. Efficiency requirements will also be introduced for existing data centers and new data centers of 300 kW or more will have to use waste heat and cool.
Germany's energy consumption has been steadily decreasing over the past years, but the country missed its 2020 target of a 20% cut in consumption from 2008 levels.
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