The article analyzes the international experience of improving energy efficiency due to increasing the level of energy production from renewable sources and technological changes. Empirical verification of the related hypothesis has been carried out for the USA, China, India, Germany and Russia using econometric tools. The necessity of the transition to a new energy structure based on the active introduction of energy-efficient technologies, renewable energy sources, integrated systems and intellectual energy services based on an open grid architecture is substantiated. The posed hypotheses confirm the following: the production of energy from renewable sources is increasing in all countries, not only in the countries with the lack of fossil energy sources (Germany, India, China), but also in the USA and Russia; the growth of energy consumption caused by the growth of the economy and the population is humped due to the introduction of energy-efficient technologies and due to an increase in the share of renewable energy; growth in the share of renewable sources in energy consumption and total factor productivity increases energy efficiency in terms of GDP per unit of energy used in Germany, India and Russia. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.