Impact Assessment of the Efficient Lighting and Appliances Project

With support from the World Bank, the Government of Mexico has undertaken a program intended to achieve higher energy efficiency (EE). The Efficient Lighting and Appliances Project (Proyecto de Eficiencia en Iluminación y Electrodomésticos, or PEE for short in Spanish) forms part of the investment plan for Mexico of the Clean Technology Fund and it was endorsed by its Committee in January 2009. Component 1 of the PEE was implemented from May 2011 to September 2012 and partially financed the distribution of self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps for use in the residential sector. Component 2 offered a program for the replacement of refrigerators and air-conditioners, including subsidies and financing, from April 2009 to January 2013.   SENER commissioned Econoler, to assess the impact of PEE, in order to be able to identify the benefits derived from the adoption and acceptance of more efficient technologies, energy and environmental impacts, as well as side effects due to the actions implemented.

Econoler therefore carried out the following tasks:

• Analyzed and revised the PEE documents ;
• Developed an assessment plan of the impacts and of the market;
• Designed the data collection tools (surveys, questionnaires, etc.);
• Collected external data and interviewed relevant stakeholders;
• Analyzed the results of the data collection;
• Assessed the impacts of PEE’s Components 1 and 2:
• Developed the baselines for self-ballasted compact fluorescent lamps, refrigerators and air conditioners;
• Calculated the net and gross energy savings;
• Defined the project’s environmental impacts in terms of GHG emissions reduction;
• Identified secondary impacts through a macroeconomic analysis, a study of the effects of direct employment and economic distribution, an analysis of socioeconomic benefits, a calculation of economic savings due to reduction of energy consumption and deferral of the investment in electric infrastructure.
• Assessed of the PEE market:
• Analyzed the beneficiary and non-beneficiary populations using a statistical approach, PEE’s causal effects and market transformation;
• Evaluated the PEE’s cost-effectiveness;
• Provided recommendations about future programs’ design.

  The main findings of this assessment were the following:

• Energy impacts did not reach the expected energy savings for the appliances program, while energy and demand savings reached expectations for the lighting program;
• Environmental impacts included the reduction of almost 2 million tCO2 for Component 2 and 13.6 million tCO2 for Component 1;
• The PEE induced several impacts in areas such as direct employment, revenue for the Mexican economy, electricity bill reduction, and reduction of governmental subsidies;
• The two components are now widely recognized and they provided valuable information on energy efficiency in Mexico.
• Both components were cost-effective for the Mexican government.