Abstract
Abstract The shipping industry shows potential for improvements in energy efficiency. Nonetheless, shipping companies appear reluctant to adopt these seemingly cost-efficient technical and operational measures aiming at reducing energy costs. Such phenomenon is not specific to the shipping industry and is commonly referred to as the energy efficiency gap. Decades of research in other sectors have contributed to the development of taxonomy of economic, organizational and psychological barriers that determine energy efficiency gaps through the use of a variety of research frameworks. This article aims to apply this research in the shipping context through interviews and review of existing literature and applications from other industries, with the objective of providing useful insight for shipping managers. The article discusses examples of barriers that are typical to shipping and that are related to information asymmetries and power structures within organizations. Managers of shipping firms are encouraged to look through their organizations in search of principal agent problems and power structures among the possible causes for energy efficiency gaps in their companies’ operations and possibly strive towards organizational change.
Highlights
The challenge of abating the climate impact of the shipping sector can partly be met through the adoption of technical and operational measures that increase energy efficiency 1
Energy efficiency is defined in this paper as decreasing energy use while maintaining the level of service provided
Our analysis showed that there is an energy efficiency gap in shipping and that such an efficiency gap can be analysed in terms of the theoretical frameworks used in other sector
Summary
The challenge of abating the climate impact of the shipping sector can partly be met through the adoption of technical and operational measures that increase energy efficiency 1. The Second IMO Report demonstrated in 2009 that between 25. Energy efficiency is defined in this paper as decreasing energy use (as opposed to energy cost) while maintaining (or increasing) the level of service provided. “Efficiency” is contrasted with “conservation”, which implies only a reduction in energy use. Energy efficiency is often defined as the ratio between energy and transportation work (e.g. the product of tones cargo and nautical miles).
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