Energy Intensity vs. Efficient energy use: Lessons of the Energy Efficiency Literature

The purpose of this paper is to provide lessons and selective review of the literature on energy intensity/productivity used to study energy efficiency. Energy intensity is an average measure of energy use and is sometimes confused with energy efficiency, which requires a marginal value index comparable with energy price to measure efficient energy use. Nevertheless, energy intensity has been widely used for measuring energy efficiency and a review of this literature shows the current position of research in this area and serves as the starting point for introducing an alternative marginal yardstick to measure efficient use of energy at the sectoral or national level in any country including Iran.

Keywords:

Energy efficiency , energy intensity , efficient use of energy , energy productivity , marginal value index , microeconomics foundation