The answer to competition from emerging countries with low wage costs must be very different according to the affected sector. We need to draw a distinction between manufacturing industry and services that can be relocated and other sectors: consumer services, retail, construction, most business...

The paper first outlines the challenges the global energy system is facing. It then summarises the present knowledge of energy efficient solutions in all energy using sectors from primary energy to useful energy and, more importantly, from useful energy to energy services (material efficiency...