An energy efficient Swedish pulp and paper industry – exploring barriers to and driving forces for cost-effective energy efficiency investments

Despite the need for increased industrial energy efficiency, studies indicate that cost-effective energy efficiency measures are not always implemented, which is explained by the existence of barriers to energy efficiency. This paper investigates whether this holds for the Swedish pulp and paper industry, and if so, investigates the barriers inhibiting and the driving forces stressing cost-effective energy efficiency investments. By so, this case study covers about 2% of the EU-25 industrial end-use of energy. The overall results from a questionnaire show that there is an energy efficiency gap in the sector and that the largest barriers were technical risks such as risk of production disruptions, cost of production disruption/hassle/inconvenience, technology inappropriate at the mill, lack of time and other priorities, lack of access to capital, and slim organization. As regards the driving forces for energy efficiency, the highest ranked driving forces were cost reductions resulting from lower energy use, people with real ambition, long-term energy strategy, the threat of rising energy prices, the electricity certificate system, the PFE. The results show that many of the barriers and driving forces were not solely market-related, e.g., lack of time or other priorities, slim organization, other priorities for capital investments, lack of staff awareness, and long decision chains indicate that firm-specific barriers plays an important role. These barriers may not be overcome by market-related public policy instruments but is rather a consequence of how the energy issue is organized within the firms. The second and the third largest driving forces, people with real ambition and a long-term energy strategy further support this.

Linking energy efficiency and innovation practices: Empirical evidence from the foundry sector

The Europe 2020 strategy currently promotes energy efficiency and innovation through disconnected targets focusing on either energy or R&D. Similar policies indicate that in practice, these two concepts are usually perceived as mutually exclusive. Furthermore, evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between R&D and energy efficiency is still highly limited. This exploratory study aims to address this gap by investigating the link between innovation practices and energy efficiency through a multiple case study of 30 foundries in Northern Italy. We analysed the firms' innovativeness, measured by internal R&D and Open Innovation practices (inbound and outbound), and energy efficiency, measured by specific energy consumption, level of adoption of energy-efficient technologies and barriers to energy efficiency. The results seem to show that those foundries complementing internal R&D with inbound practices have a higher level of energy efficiency, a higher level of adoption of available technologies, and a lower perception of barriers to efficiency improvements. This finding suggests that diversifying innovation practices could lead to better performance with respect to all three indicators of energy efficiency analysed. This study contributes to understanding how more innovative firms can be more energy efficient, providing interesting highlights for managers and policymakers.     

Barriers to and driving forces for energy efficiency in the non-energy intensive manufacturing industry in Sweden

The manufacturing industry is facing tougher competition which increases the demand to implement cost-effective energy efficiency measures. However, studies have indicated that obvious cost-efficient measures are not always undertaken. This is explained by the existence of barriers to energy efficiency. The aim of this study is to investigate the existence and importance of different barriers to the implementation of energy efficiency measures in the Swedish non-energy intensive manufacturing industry. Results from this study highlight a number of factors that inhibit the degree of implementation, such as the cost and risk associated with production disruptions, lack of time and other priorities, lack of sub-metering in larger organizations, etc. The study also finds a number of drivers, such as the existence of people with real ambition and a long-term energy strategy at site level.     

Tailoring cross-sectional energy-efficiency measures to target groups in industry

The improvement of energy efficiency in industrial companies plays a crucial role for the energy transition. Although significant economic potentials have been identified, the concerned actors are still struggling to realize them fully. To support the implementation of energy efficiency measures by passing policies, a deeper understanding of the barriers affecting different kinds of companies is necessary to better match the options to their needs and requirements. This paper considers companies’ characteristics and barriers to draw conclusions on energy efficiency policies and specific recommendations on energy efficiency measures. It recommends compromises for policies between high administrative efforts to design individual solutions for companies and too generic approaches, which are not tackling the specific barriers and companies’ characteristics. Our analysis assesses monitoring data of 263 enterprises of the Learning Energy Efficiency Networks LEEN in Germany. The LEEN support energy audits, company networking and assesses implemented energy efficiency measures. Lack of information combined with unfavourable reasoning in decision-making impedes the adoption of profitable measures. Thus, financial policy instruments should aim at promoting long-term decision-making. Audits turned out to be an effective information tool and are more common in LEs than in SMEs. Accordingly, the number of implemented measures and the choice of specific measures relate to company size. Regarding barriers to energy efficiency measures, we found financial barriers most prevalent, but there was no general correlation with company size. Moreover, financial restrictions are not necessarily caused by a lack of money, but also by risk aversion or unlikely payback periods. LEs are stronger affected by motivational barriers, especially if the expected organizational effort is high. Reducing transaction costs can increase the willingness to invest greater efforts in energy efficiency measures.     

An interdisciplinary perspective on industrial energy efficiency

This paper combines engineering and social science approaches to enhance our understanding of industrial energy efficiency and broaden our perspective on policy making in Europe. Sustainable development demands new strategies, solutions, and policy-making approaches. Numerous studies of energy efficiency potential state that cost-effective energy efficiency technologies in industry are not always implemented for various reasons, such as lack of information, procedural impediments, and routines not favoring energy efficiency. Another reason for the efficiency gap is the existence of particular values, unsupportive of energy efficiency, in the dominant networks of a branch of trade. Analysis indicates that different sectors of rather closed communities have established their own tacit knowledge, perceived truths, and routines concerning energy efficiency measures. Actors in different industrial sectors highlight different barriers to energy efficiency and why cost-effective energy efficiency measures are not being implemented. The identified barriers can be problematized in relation to the social context to understand their existence and how to resolve them.     

Implementation of energy efficiency measures in compressed air systems: barriers,drivers and non-energy benefits

Increased global competition and resource scarcity drives industrial companies to cut costs. Energy can be a significant component of such cuts, particularly for energy-intensive companies. Improving energy efficiency in industry is complex, as it pertains to various energy-using processes that are heavily intertwined. One such process is the compressed air system (CAS), which is used in most industrial companies worldwide. Since energy efficiency improvement measures for various types of energy-using processes differ, technology-specific measures might encounter different barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency. The same applies to the non-energy benefits (NEBs) related to energy efficiency improvement measures; since measures vary between various energy-using processes, the perceived NEBs might be different as well. The aim of this paper is to study the barriers to, drivers for and NEBs of CAS energy efficiency improvement measures from the perspectives of three actors. Carried out as an interview study combined with a questionnaire, the paper merges the perspectives of users, audit experts and suppliers of CASs. The results showed that the major barriers are related to the investment, or are of an organisational character, and that organisational and economic factors seemed to be important for making positive decisions on energy efficiency investments and measures in CASs. Major NEBs for CASs include productivity gains and the avoidance of capital expenditures. The results of this study also address the importance of having a comprehensive approach to recognise additional effects of energy efficiency improvements in CASs.     

Barriers to energy efficiency in shipping: A triangulated approach to investigate the principal agent problem

Energy efficiency is a key policy strategy to meet some of the challenges being faced today and to plan for a sustainable future. Numerous empirical studies in various sectors suggest that there are cost-effective measures that are available but not always implemented due to existence of barriers to energy efficiency. Several cost-effective energy efficient options (technologies for new and existing ships and operations) have also been identified for improving energy efficiency of ships. This paper is one of the first to empirically investigate barriers to energy efficiency in the shipping industry using a novel framework and multidisciplinary methods to gauge implementation of cost-effective measures, perception on barriers and observations of barriers. It draws on findings of a survey conducted of shipping companies, content analysis of shipping contracts and analysis of energy efficiency data. Initial results from these methods suggest the existence of the principal agent problem and other market failures and barriers that have also been suggested in other sectors and industries. Given this finding, policies to improve implementation of energy efficiency in shipping need to be carefully considered to improve their efficacy and avoid unintended consequences.     

Potential impact evaluation: an ex ante evaluation of the Mediterranean buildings energy efficiency strategy

The building sector is among the largest energy users while offering cost-effective means of reducing energy use. Dynamics of energy efficiency improvements in the building stock are very slow due to the long life span of buildings and barriers such as high investment cost. A list of general policy measures to overcome the barriers to energy efficiency improvements in the Mediterranean (MED) area was proposed by regional experts in the framework of the MARIE project. These measures could be considered as a first draft of the MED buildings energy efficiency strategy. This study assesses the potential impacts of such measures, so as to inform on their effectiveness. The MARIE measures result in larger energy savings than an equally ambitious strategy based on ‘conventional measures’. However, the benefits of MARIE arrive slowly and show large variations among regions depending on the characteristics of their current building stock.     

Barriers to electricity load shift in companies: A survey-based exploration of the end-user perspective

As countries move toward larger shares of renewable electricity, the slow diffusion of active electricity load management should concern energy policy makers and users alike. Active load management can increase capacity factors and thereby reduce the need for new capacity, improve reliability, and lower electricity prices. This paper conceptually and empirically explores barriers to load shift in industry from an end-user perspective. An online survey, based on a taxonomy of barriers developed in the realm of energy efficiency, was carried out among manufacturing sites in mostly Southern Germany. Findings suggest that the most important barriers are risk of disruption of operations, impact on product quality, and uncertainty about cost savings. Of little concern are access to capital, lack of employee skills, and data security. Statistical tests suggest that companies for which electricity has higher strategic value rate financial and regulatory risk higher than smaller ones. Companies with a continuous production process report lower barrier scores than companies using batch or just-in-time production. A principal component analysis clusters the barriers and multivariate analysis with the factor scores confirms the prominence of technical risk as a barrier to load shift. The results provide guidance for policy making and future empirical studies.     

Energy efficiency in rental housing

Where indigenous resources comprise a small amount of state's energy supplies, dollars spent on energy in that state are transferred to export economies, reducing local expenditures for goods and services. Preventing this transfer through conservation actions increases household disposable income, which, through a multiplier effect, exerts substantial impacts on local sales, investments, jobs, and the local tax base. A strong relationship can therefore exist between economic development and energy efficiency in the various sectors of a community. In some areas of a local economy, optimal levels of energy conservation can be achieved without government intervention, because of the existence of market incentives. Institutional barriers in the rental housing sector, however, contribute to a lack of thermal integrity in structures that are in many cases inhabited by those who can least afford anticipated energy price increases. This paper reviews the problems of achieving energy efficiency in rental housing and approaches used by local and state governments to overcome resulting barriers. The experience of Ithaca, NY is highlighted.     

A network approach to overcoming barriers to market engagement for SMEs in energy efficiency initiatives such as the Green Deal

The Green Deal (GD) was launched in 2013 by the UK Government as a market-led scheme to encourage uptake of energy efficiency measures in the UK and create green sector jobs. The scheme closed in July 2015 after 30 months due to government concerns over low uptake and industry standards but additional factors potentially contributed to its failure such as poor scheme design and lack of understanding of the customer and supply chain journey. We explore the role of key delivery agents of GD services, specifically SMEs, and we use the LoCal-Net project as a case study to examine the use of networks to identify and reduce barriers to SME market engagement. We find that SMEs experienced multiple barriers to interaction with the GD such as lack of access to information, training, and confusion over delivery of the scheme but benefited from interaction with the network to access information, improve understanding of the scheme, increasing networking opportunities and forming new business models and partnerships to reduce risk. The importance of SMEs as delivery agents and their role in the design of market-led schemes such as the GD are discussed with recommendations for improving SME engagement in green sector initiatives.     

Barriers' and policies' analysis of China's building energy efficiency

With the rapid economic growth and the improvement of people's living standards, China's building energy consumption has kept rising during the past 15 years. Under the effort of the Chinese government and the society, China's building energy efficiency has made certain achievements. However, the implementation of building energy efficiency in China is still far from its potential. Based on the analysis of the existing policies implemented in China, the article concluded that the most essential and the most effective ways to promote building energy efficiency is the government's involvement as well as economic and financial incentives. In addition, the main barriers in the process of promoting building energy efficiency in China are identified in six aspects. It has been found that the legal system and administrative issues constitute major barriers, and the lack of financial incentives and the mismatching of market mechanism also hamper the promotion of building energy efficiency. Finally, in view of the existing policies and barriers analysis, three corresponding policy proposals are presented.     

Creating a level playing field? The concentration and centralisation of emissions in the European Union Emissions Trading System

This article questions the assumption that carbon markets create a level playing field by exploring the relationship between the organisation of capital and the organisation of emissions in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). It constructs a database by matching installations and owners to reveal that a relatively small number of large-scale coal-fired power stations, owned by a very small group of states and corporations, are responsible for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. The findings are analysed by considering how technological dependence on coal together with the corporate institutional form combine to support the socio-spatial concentration and centralisation of capital and emissions. Case studies of the consolidation of the seven largest polluting owners from Europe's coal-dependent electricity sector and the carbon trading strategies of the two largest polluters, RWE and E.ON, then assess the impacts of energy liberalisation and emissions trading policies. The article concludes that EU energy and climate policies are pulling in different directions by clustering responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and diffusing responsibility to address climate change. The uneven distribution of emissions within the EU ETS makes an alternative policy approach that directly targets the biggest corporate and state polluters both feasible and necessary.     

Saving energy is not easy: An impact assessment of Dutch policy to reduce the energy requirements of buildings

The Dutch Government stimulates the application of energy efficiency measures to reduce the energy requirements of buildings, which are responsible for about 20% of the Dutch CO₂ emissions. For our assessment, we followed a qualitative approach, due to a lack of data. We reviewed the mix of policy instruments and used stakeholder surveys and interviews. We found that energy use is not very likely to decline fast enough to achieve the Dutch policy targets for 2020. For new buildings, the policy mix works well, but its contribution to the policy targets is limited. For non-residential buildings the current Act, which obliges enterprises to take cost-effective measures, could be enforced to a greater degree. For privately owned homes a more compelling policy is needed. An alternative policy option would be to make taxation dependent on the energy label of residential houses. This would stimulate residents to take action while retaining the desired autonomy. For rental housing, binding agreements between municipalities and housing corporations may lead to more energy saving measures. Finally, we conclude that the Dutch energy tax is an important pillar of the current policy. It provides higher cost-effectiveness of energy saving measures and legitimates more strict energy efficiency standards.     

Lessons learned from studying public initiatives to support energy efficiency finance in Thailand from 1992 to 2014

Despite the huge technical and market potential for cost-effective energy efficiency investments in Southeast Asian markets, only a small fraction of this potential has been realised. Given that the major share of global future energy demand, and associated greenhouse gas emissions, will come from emerging economies, it is important to understand the barriers to mainstreaming energy efficiency into the financial sector. This paper focuses on public initiatives that support one of the main barriers: access to capital. The researchers chose Thailand as a case study because of the range of energy efficiency finance programmes that have been designed and implemented since the early 1990s. Interviews with 21 experts from government, the private sector and academia provided the core data for this research. The analysis employed a multi-level perspective and focused on the historical evolution of public support of energy efficiency finance in the country. We identified three distinct phases of public policy development over the past two decades. Despite an impressive variety of ambitious and creative programmes, the initiatives have not yet succeeded in integrating energy efficiency into the financial sector in a meaningful way. Some of the key lessons found are that (a) it is better to treat energy efficiency and renewable energy in separate financing initiatives, (b) governments find it challenging to design effective mechanisms to de-risk financial investments, and (c) international organisations play an important role in testing and facilitating the introduction of new financing approaches and mechanisms. In emerging economies, cost-effective implementation of energy efficiency measures is a promising alternative that can reduce the need for investment in large-scale power generation capacity. The researchers hope that this paper will contribute to more effective design of programmes to incentivise energy efficiency financing in Thailand and in other economies in Southeast Asia.     

Barriers to energy efficiency improvement and decision-making behavior in Thai industry

The industrial sector is one of the main energy consuming sectors in Thailand and accounted for 36.7% of total energy consumption in 2005. The trend of rising energy prices and tougher competition increases the demand to improve energy efficiency in Thai industry. However, the existence of various barriers often hinders the realization of even some cost-effective energy efficiency measures. In an attempt to investigate key barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency improvement in Thai industry, this study found that the most important barrier expressed by both the textile and cement industries studied as well as experts interviewed is that the management is concerned about production and other matters rather than energy efficiency. Reducing product cost by reducing energy cost is found to be the main driver for energy efficiency investment. Using a conceptual industrial energy efficiency policy framework this study shows how various energy efficiency policies can affect the process of decision-making for and investment in energy efficiency in industry.     

The prospects for willow plantations for wastewater treatment in Sweden

The concept of willow vegetation filters for the treatment of nutrient-rich wastewater has the potential to address two of our most serious environmental problems today —water pollution and climate change— in a cost-efficient way. Despite several benefits, including high treatment efficiency, increased biomass yields, improved energy and resource efficiency, and cost savings, willow vegetation filters have so far only been implemented to a limited degree in Sweden. This is due to various kinds of barriers, which may be the result of current institutional, structural and technical/geographical conditions. This paper discusses the prospects of a more widespread utilisation of willow plantations for wastewater treatment in Sweden, including existing incentives and barriers, based on current knowledge and experience.     

Broadening to sustainability the perspective of industrial decision-makers on the energy efficiency measures adoption: some empirical evidence

The industry should take further efforts towards increased energy efficiency, that is a major contributor to improve industrial sustainability performance, by implementing energy efficiency measures (EEMs). However, the rate of adoption of these measures is still quite low. Hitherto, EEMs and barriers to their adoption have been evaluated almost exclusively from the viewpoint of energy efficiency decision-makers, not accounting for the broader sustainability perspective. This work aims at understanding whether an industrial sustainability perspective can better address issues related to EEMs adoption, analyzing the question through different viewpoints and insights offered by industrial decision-makers of different industrial sustainability areas within a firm. By doing this, we aim at offering a contribution in the understanding of the low rate of adoption of EEMs. As case studies, we investigated 12 firms from Northern Italy. In comparison to previous literature, results show that an industrial sustainability perspective can better explain the real decision-making process of adopting an EEM. Indeed, people knowledgeable about different industrial sustainability areas may perceive different barriers about the same EEM. EEMs may be negatively affected by reasons related to other areas of industrial sustainability, while positive reciprocal impacts may exist among areas of industrial sustainability; thus, EEMs may have effects on areas other than energy efficiency, and these effects may be perceived only by such areas. The study concludes with some remarks for policy and industrial decision-makers and advice for further research.     

Access to energy in Mid/Far west region-Nepal from the perspective of energy poverty

Energy Access to satisfy the basic needs is a big challenge in Nepal due to presence of geographical variations, poor transportability, fragmented settlements, illusive energy development strategy, and lack of sufficient capital. In this situation, Energy Poverty can be referred to absence of access to convenient, reliable, efficient and modern energy technologies to satisfy the basic needs that can support for human and economic development. The article illustrate about the energy poverty situation of Nepal, which has been defined in terms of efficiency of energy end-use devices and minimum energy requirement, basically in the residential sector of the country. Mid and Far west Development Region of the country has given focus to provide overview on energy poverty situation and measures required to reduce the poverty by 50% by 2015/16. For outlining the energy technology interventions for reducing energy poverty situation, more efforts have been given on the role of renewable energy technologies in the Mid and Far West Region of the country.     

State-level benefits of energy efficiency

This paper describes benefits attributable to state-level energy efficiency programs. Nationwide, state-level energy efficiency programs have targeted all sectors of the economy and have employed a wide range of methods to promote energy efficiency. Standard residential and industrial programs typically identify between 20% and 30% energy savings in homes and plants, respectively. Over a 20-year period of time, an average state that aggressively pursues even a limited array of energy efficiency programs can potentially reduce total state energy use by as much as 20%. Well-designed energy efficiency programs can be expected to help overcome numerous barriers to the market penetration of energy efficient technologies and accelerate the market penetration of the technologies. Energy efficiency programs are cost-effective; typical benefit–cost ratios exceed 3:1 and are much higher when non-energy and macroeconomic benefits are included. Indeed, energy efficiency and associated programs and investments can create significant numbers of new jobs and enhance state tax revenues. Several states have incorporated energy efficiency into their economic development programs. It should also be noted that increasing amounts of venture capital are being invested in the energy sector in general and in specific technologies like solar power in particular.