Drivers, Barriers, and Success Factors for Improving Energy Management in the Pulp and Paper Industry

Akvile Lawrence,Magnus Karlsson,Patrik Thollander

doi:10.3390/su10061851

Abstract

Successful energy management is a way to achieve energy efficiency in the pulp and paper industry (PPI), which is important for assuring energy supply security, for increasing economic competitiveness, and for mitigating greenhouse gases. However, research shows that although energy use within PPI can be reduced by 5.5–19.4% per year, some of this by energy management practices, energy management is not always implemented. Why is this so? What are the barriers to, and drivers of implementation? How can the barriers be overcome? A systematic review of barriers and drivers in energy management in the PPI within peer-reviewed scientific articles suggests that the world-wide events that affect energy supply, volatility, and use seemingly also affect the number and frequency of research articles on energy management in the PPI. The perception of energy management in the PPI seems to be dominated by the understanding that it can mostly be achieved through technological improvements aiming to improve energy efficiency. The main driver of energy management was shown to be economic conditions: high and unstable energy prices, followed by drivers such as the need to remain internationally competitive, collaboration and energy management systems. Meanwhile, examples of the most important barriers are technical risks, lack of access to capital, lack of time and other priorities, and slim organization. The success factors for enhancing drivers and overcoming barriers were continuous energy accounting, energy-related collaboration, energy-efficiency programmes, and benchmarking. Altogether, success factors for energy management for improved energy efficiency could be summarized in the 4M framework—the “4M for energy efficiency”: mind, measure, monitor, and manage—that could be used as the energy management memory-tool that could lead to improved energy efficiency in other sectors as well.

Highlights

Nowadays, the pulp and paper industry (PPI) is dependent on energy efficiency (EE) for profitability and as a necessity for assuring energy supply security, for increasing economic competitiveness, and for mitigating greenhouse gases
Research shows that the real-time systematic, transparent, and accurate monitoring of energy use at a typical newsprint paper mill can be achieved by building an energy management (EnM) system (EMS) for data acquisition, integration, and calculations from the integrated data, including energy calculations for water and steam and presentation of the energy information on-line [71]
Energy accounting by modelling seemed to be prevalent in EnM in the PPI and was used for practical, real-time accountancy and the forecasting of various “what-if” scenarios

Summary

Introduction

The pulp and paper industry (PPI) is dependent on energy efficiency (EE) for profitability and as a necessity for assuring energy supply security, for increasing economic competitiveness, and for mitigating greenhouse gases. Research has demonstrated the existence of an energy-efficiency gap—the difference between the EE that could be achieved theoretically and the actual EE [1]—and that some of this gap can be reduced by EnM practices ([2,3]). Research presents the means for minimizing this gap by summarizing and describing the methods and technology for making use of energy more efficiently. Key questions are as follows: why do firms not always implement profitable investments in energy-saving technology and methodology, becoming more energy efficient? Key questions are as follows: why do firms not always implement profitable investments in energy-saving technology and methodology, becoming more energy efficient? In particular, why is EnM not used to its full extent?

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion