Adoption Of Energy Efficiency Measures Research Articles

Looking beyond energy efficiency and the role of financial literacy in experiencing fuel poverty: Evidence from Irish homeowners

Previous research has established that an effective way to fight fuel poverty is to increase levels of energy efficiency in residential buildings. A different strand of research has shown that the adoption of energy efficiency measures is more likely if people have high financial literacy. We combine these two strands of research by conducting a new survey among Irish homeowners and directly analysing the association between financial literacy and fuel poverty. Given that energy efficiency renovation is not always economically viable, we also investigate the drivers of other strategies to cope with high energy prices, such as switching the household’s energy supplier and using direct debit payments. While our results confirm that high energy efficiency is associated with lower fuel poverty, at least for some measures, we find no evidence of a link between people’s financial literacy and the energy efficiency level of their homes. We find only weak evidence of a direct negative association between financial literacy and fuel poverty. We investigate several related aspects of fuel poverty using our survey data. We find that low overall household income is strongly associated with a higher prevalence of subjective measures of fuel poverty, a lower likelihood to engage in some energy cost mitigation strategies, and the likelihood to see administrative challenges as insurmountable barriers in the retrofit process. Policy measures aiming to reduce fuel poverty or increase energy efficiency or financial literacy should therefore all focus on low-income households.

Optimising Energy Efficiency through Effective Supply Chain Management: A Comparative Study

Energy Efficiency (EE) is a crucial resource for social and financial development, benefiting everyone through EE developers in society. Encouraging energy problem alignment with corporate company goals increases productivity, profitability, quality, and cost reductions. EE is an essential benefit for organizations, not merely a minor concern. Most companies, particularly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), need help adopting EE measures and even encounter opposition. Funding and awareness (particularly of life cycle cost impacts) are the biggest obstacles. One way weaker organizations might overcome such constraints and improve EE is from the Supply Chain (SC) perspective. Since most EE studies and practical strategies concentrate on single-firm energy usage, this article examines peer-reviewed journal articles on EE incorporation in SC development and oversight to identify research needs. Several literature evaluations have focused on sustainability or Supply Chain Management (SCM), but none have addressed EE. First, this article explains how energy usage in SCM improves systemic EE. Then, a study technique is developed, and the selected publications are examined and classed by their methodologies.

Adoption of energy-efficiency measures by Australian low-income households

Increasing the adoption of energy-efficiency measures (EEM) by households is one of the practical strategies to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For the 3.24 million low-income households in Australia, partly due to their potentially disproportionately large waste of usable energy, there is a gap between the potential for energy efficiency through existing EEM and the actual energy-efficiency level. Many measures increase energy efficiency in buildings; however, barriers persist for such households to adopt these measures, of which limited research has yet to be conducted. In response, this study examines the relationships involved by a questionnaire survey of 212 low-income households in Australia, showing that financial barriers have the greatest influence followed by split incentive barriers, with the provision of information having no significant role to play. This paper contributes to filling the gap of limited energy-efficiency research involving low-income households, revealing the effect of energy-efficiency barriers on their adoption of EEM.

Energy policy to overcome energy efficiency barriers: A Literature Review

This paper examines the pervasive barriers hindering the widespread adoption of energy efficiency measures across various sectors. It categorizes these barriers into economic barriers, high upfront costs, organizational challenges, such as technical expertise and behavioral barriers, namely risk aversion and framing. To address these barriers, a comprehensive review of energy efficiency policies is conducted. These policies include incentives, coercive instruments, award systems, university industry collaboration, and technical support. To review energy efficiency barriers and policies, a methodological approach integrating non-structured snowball sampling with targeted literature review techniques was devised. Finally, the paper underlines that the success of these policies is contingent upon the active involvement, the collaboration, and the feedback of businesses, ensuring the feasibility of these policies. Their proactive engagement is indispensable in tackling energy efficiency barriers and driving the implementation of energy-efficient technologies, thus paving the way for a more sustainable and competitive businesses.

The Influence of Organizational Factors on the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures in Companies

Abstract This paper aims to research the organizational factors influencing the implementation of energy efficiency measures in companies. The analysis was performed on a sample of companies from Serbia included in the World Bank Enterprise Survey. The raw data collected by the World Bank were utilized to analyze the correlation between various organizational factors and the adoption of energy efficiency measures. The analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between management maturity and the implementation of energy efficiency measures in companies. These findings suggest that improving energy efficiency is not an isolated process but rather closely related to the maturity of management practices, highlighting the importance of comprehensive organizational development for achieving optimal energy management.

Barriers and drivers to energy efficiency in the Portuguese water sector: Survey analysis

Over the last decade, there has been heavy pressure to improve the energy and environmental performances of operations, systems, and facilities in the water supply and wastewater treatment sector. However, the almost non-existent assessment of the barriers and drivers that respectively hinder and potentiate the energy efficiency in the sector inhibits a proper understanding of how energy efficiency policies, strategies, and interventions play out on the ground and their level of success or failure. To help bridge this gap, a set of questionnaires was conducted to Portuguese water and wastewater utilities to identify the most prevalent barriers and drivers of energy efficiency. Results show that the three main barriers to energy efficiency are the lack of human resources, the need to focus on daily operational issues, and diverging priorities for different departments. In turn, the top three drivers are the reduction of operating costs due to lower energy costs, the existence of support and financing lines dedicated to energy efficiency, and the willingness to improve the image and social responsibility of the utilities. They also show that improving access to different types of financing in downstream utilities is essential to drive energy efficiency, while for upstream ones, legal and regulatory incentives, such as setting energy and environmental targets, are more beneficial. Finally, the main findings of this study can help decision-makers and legislators define sector-oriented policies adjusted to the different types of utilities that will leverage the adoption of energy efficiency measures and strategies in water and wastewater utilities worldwide.

Assessing the effectiveness of energy efficiency measures in the residential sector gas consumption through dynamic treatment effects: Evidence from England and Wales

Improving energy efficiency (EE) is vital to ensure a sustainable, affordable, and secure energy system. The residential sector represents, on average, 18.6% of the total final energy consumption in the OECD countries in 2018, reaching 29.5% in the UK (IEA, 2020a). Using a staggered differences-in-differences approach with dynamic treatment effects, we analyse changes in residential gas consumption five years before and after the adoption of energy efficiency measures. The analysis includes energy efficiency interventions involving the installation of new heating-related insulation equipment—i.e., of loft insulation and cavity walls, supported by energy efficiency programmes in England and Wales between 2005 and 2017—using a panel of 55,154 households from the National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework (NEED). We control for, among other factors, energy prices and the extent to which gas consumption changes are dependent on household characteristics and variations in weather conditions. Our results indicate that the adoption of EE measures is associated with significant reductions in household residential gas consumption one year after their implementation. However, the effect does not last in the long run and energy savings disappear four years after the retrofitting of cavity wall insulation measures and after two years following the installation of loft insulation. The disappearance of energy savings in the longer run could be explained by the energy performance gap, the rebound effect and/or by concurrent residential construction projects and renovations associated with increases in energy consumption. Notably, for households in deprived areas, the installation of these efficiency measures does not deliver energy savings. These results confirm the existence of effects that reduce the energy savings from the adoption of these efficiency technologies over time and indicates that, for some groups, these net savings do not seem to materialize.

Barriers to firms’ energy efficiency in transition countries

ABSTRACT This study seeks to explore the firm’ barriers of energy efficiency in a set of 28 Transition economies exploiting the enterprise survey data collected by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) jointly with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG). Based on the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model and on the construction of three different indicators to evaluate the energy efficiency, we find that the barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures mainly lack financial resources and profitability. Findings obtained from the interactions are also worthy of note. In particular, we find that the absence of profitability starts being stronger for non-EU countries. Instead, there is no evidence of heterogenous effects for industry sectors.

Energy efficiency in cold supply chains of the food Sector: An exploration of conditions and perceptions

Temperature-controlled cold supply chains (CSCs) are essential to ensure the availability of high-quality food products all year round. Cooling and freezing account for approximately 30% of the electricity consumption in the food sector alone. Improving energy efficiency could therefore make a substantial contribution to achieving climate neutrality in this sector. Many analyses of energy efficiency seek to understand the adoption of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) in individual companies. Yet they hardly address the adoption of EEMs specifically in CSCs, in particular in the food sector. The novelty of this paper lies in analysing the conditions for and perceptions of energy efficiency along food CSCs. This also covers the implications of applying the theory on barriers to EEM in such chains. For this purpose, the paper combines the results of an interview study with 61 participants and a survey with 122 respondents from private sector organizations active in food CSCs in the European Union. It focuses on factors affecting the adoption of EEMs in CSCs, in particular a) the structure of food CSCs, b) non-energy benefits and c) behavioural and organizational aspects. The findings suggest that a) energy efficiency is more prevalent in individual companies than along entire CSCs, that b) non-energy related benefits seem relevant but are less perceived along CSCs and that c) the adoption of EEMs in CSCs is complex due to the structural, behavioural and organizational factors only present in multi-company settings such as CSCs. Linking these findings to the theory of barrier underlines that it is advisable to explicitly consider the inherent characteristics of CSCs when investigating barriers to energy efficiency and deriving implications for policy making thereof.

Impact of Energy Efficient Design Strategies on Users Comfort in Selected Mixed-Use Buildings in Lagos State, Nigeria

Human comfort is a major criterion for mixed-use buildings to be habitable, leading to the usage of technologies such as HVAC and artificial lighting. These devices demand high electricity, causing a 25% rise in building greenhouse gas emissions. It is important for architects to develop energy efficient design strategies in order to maintain and improve user comfort in mixed-use buildings. This study investigated the impact of energy efficiency design strategies on users’ comfort in selected mixed-used building in Lagos State, Nigeria, with a view to identify areas for further improvements. The research adopted a quantitative approach. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data. The Statistical Product & Service Solutions software was used to analyse the data. The result was presented with the aid of texts, tables and graphs. The findings indicated that building orientation was one of the most important techniques, affecting each dimension of human comfort. This revelation suggests that when adopting energy efficiency measures, a building’s early design stage should focus on enhancing human comfort. The study recommended that professionals conduct critical analysis on buildings in the design stage to guarantee energy-efficient approaches used throughout the planning, design, and construction stages of mixed-use buildings. In order to create sustainable future designs, it is therefore necessary to recognise the significance of energy efficient design techniques on users’ comfort.

Electrifying High-Efficiency Future Communities: Impact on Energy, Emissions, and Grid

To combat climate change and meet decarbonization goals, the building sector is improving energy efficiency and electrifying end uses to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels. All-electric buildings are becoming a trend among new constructions, introducing opportunities for decarbonization but also technical challenges and research gaps. For instance, further investigation is needed to understand how the adoption of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) in all-electric communities would affect energy consumption, carbon emissions, and grid planning. This paper presents a case study of a mixed-use, all-electric community located in Denver, Colorado. We use URBANopt™, a physics-based urban energy modeling platform to model the community and then evaluate the impact of EEMs and DERs (i.e., photovoltaics [PV], electric vehicles [EVs], and batteries) on the community’s energy usage, carbon emissions, and peak demand. The results show that adding EEMs and PV led to both energy consumption and carbon emissions reductions across all building types. However, we saw fairly limited impact of EEMs and PV on buildings’ peak demand in our case. Additionally, due to overnight EV charging activities and higher grid carbon intensity at night, the carbon emissions in multifamily buildings have a noticeable increase compared to scenarios without vehicles. Finally, the addition of batteries helped reduce peak demand by 11%–29%. The modeling workflow and evaluation methods can be applied to similar communities to evaluate their performance and the effect of integrating EEMs and DERs.

Environmental Regulations and Energy Efficiency: The Mediating Role of Climate Change and Technological Innovation

Low-carbon energy transformation increases energy efficiency, and environmental regulation is necessary for carbon neutrality. Energy efficiency is widely accepted As a cost-effective method of reducing air pollution and improving the economic performance of manufacturing industries. In order to make their manufacturing sectors more energy-efficient, a large number of countries have implemented legislation. It is possible to tailor these interventions to a specific company or industry by using measures to control and direct interventions in the marketplace. These policies might be beneficial, but the experiential study of the impacts of these interferences on energy-saving technology acceptance has not been conclusive. Many environmental policy measures have an effect on the level of the asset in energy efficiency machinery. The years 2010–2019 are covered in this research, which compiles a database of Chinese industries from various sources. As a result, we have access to a wide range of factors and strategy devices that could influence the adoption of energy efficiency measures. Regulation, taxes, subsidies, and exemptions are among the instruments we will examine. These findings support the development of environmental regulations in China that will further improve energy efficiency and carbon neutrality.

Impacts and savings of energy efficiency measures: A case for Mexico's electrical grid

In the efforts to decarbonize the electricity sector, energy efficiency approaches have consistently shown co-benefits that merit investment and further development. Tools that can help decision-makers evaluate the economic and environmental impacts could accelerate the adoption of energy efficiency measures and support the development of targeted incentives, both spatial and temporally. In this work, a unified, corrected, and high-resolution electricity consumption framework is first developed to produce new data insights with an increased spatial and temporal resolution, allowing the possibility of performing detailed energy policy scenarios. A case scenario for Mexico is constructed, where the impacts in the electrical grid from a suite of energy efficiency measures are quantified at high spatial and temporal resolution. The novel data sets are used to model electricity-reduction approaches in great detail for the most electricity-consuming economic activities in the country. It is shown that commercial electricity consumption is underestimated by up to 3 × in government reports and that US$ 11B could be saved in the wholesale electricity market —equating to 142 MtCO2eq of avoided emissions— if a 12% electricity reduction target is implemented to the top-20 most demanding economic activities over the years 2021–2035. Potential priorities for incentives are identified based on criteria suited for different stakeholders, including economic and environmental justice dimensions.

Prediction of Residential Building’s Solar Installation Energy Demand in Morocco Using Multiple Linear Regression Analysis

The building sector is one of the main energy-consuming sectors in Morocco. In fact, it accounts for 33% of the final consumption of energy and records a high increase in the annual consumption of energy caused by further planned large-scale projects. Indeed, the energy consumption of the building sector is experiencing a significant acceleration justified by the rapid need for the development of housing stock, wich is estimated at an average increase of 1,5% per year; furthermore, tant is an estimated increase of about 6,4%. In this sense, building constitutes an important potential source for rationalizing both energy consumption and energy savings through the adoption of energy efficiency measures. Energy consumption control efforts in the residential building sector involve socio-economic, technological, and environmental concerns that require sophisticated research. Indeed, different types of quantitative models have been developed and examined so as to find a solution for the optimizing energy consumption. In this work, we have highlighted the importance of using solar heaters to reduce energy demand in terms of the use of domestic hot water. To do this, we have defined the needs and characteristics of a solar installation of a residential building located in Casablanca through a calculating tool “SOLO 2000” in addition to the use of multiple linear regression analysis to deduct the impact of irradiation and solar contributions on the energy demand of the solar installation.

An Analysis of Influencers of Energy Security for SMEs in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Investments in the exploitation of the continent’s raw material reserves have resulted in little (positive) impact on the energy security situation within Africa. This paper attempts to explore factors influencing the level of energy security of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, and from the dimension of availability, affordability, economic efficiency and environmental stewardship or sustainability of energy. The cross-sectional survey design was employed as the design for the collection and analysis of data. The study applied a quantitative research method in examining the indicators of energy security for SMEs in Accra Metropolis in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The population covered about 500 SMEs who have about 100 employees and total revenue of $1 million or the equivalence in Ghana Cedis. A sample of 246 was selected through a cluster and simple random sampling. The analysis adopted statistical techniques to conduct descriptive, exploratory and inferential analysis of the data collected. Factors that influence the level of energy security of SMEs are broadly categorized into the environment and economic change, political factors, physical disruptions and market conditions. Ge- nerally, the level of energy security under the availability dimension is medium among the SMEs. Issues of affordability, economic efficiency and environmental stewardship provide high medium interventions on energy security for SMEs. It is recommended that managers of Ghana’s energy sector should ensure prudent management of the country’s energy resources since the disruption of supply lines or sources form the key conditions that influence the energy security level of SMEs. SMEs should adopt energy efficiency measures to ensure that energy is conserved for future use.

Building retrofit hurdle rates and risk aversion in energy efficiency investments

Despite extensive empirical evidence of the environmental benefits of green buildings and the increasing urgency to reduce carbon emissions in cities, there has been limited widespread adoption of energy retrofit investments in existing buildings. In this paper, we empirically model financial returns to energy retrofit investments for more than 3600 multifamily and commercial buildings in New York City, using a comprehensive database of energy audits and renovation work extracted from city records using a natural language processing algorithm. Based on auditor cost and savings estimates, the median internal rate of return for adopted energy conservation measures is 21% for multifamily buildings and 25% for office properties. Logistic regression modeling demonstrates adoption rates are higher for office buildings than multifamily, and in both cases adopter buildings tend to be larger, higher value, and less energy efficient prior to retrofit implementation. The economically significant magnitudes of returns to adopted energy conservation measures raise important questions about why many property owners choose not to adopt. As such, we discuss incentive and regulatory mechanisms that can overcome financial and informational barriers to the adoption of energy efficiency measures.

The correlation of energy performance and building age in UK schools

In response to the climate emergency crisis, the UK became the first major economy to commit to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. By adopting energy efficiency measures, UK schools alone could prevent the release of 625,000 tonnes of CO2, the major emissions contributor. These improvements could also result in significant financial savings and enhanced comfort and productivity. The lack of understanding of how energy is used in schools is one of the key factors impairing the progress towards emissions reduction, and the relationship of this with building age, age-typical features and benchmarks is the knowledge gap the authors have attempted to bridge in this work through the largest known available dataset of school energy audits, which included a total of 150 schools built between 1873 and 2015 were conducted and analysed. Findings are reported in two stages: first, the energy consumption was correlated with building age, and second, age-typical features that influence energy efficiency were identified. The results showed that school buildings consume on average more than 200 kWh/m2/year of heating energy and more than 70 kWh/m2/year of electricity, approximately 35% and 70% higher, respectively than target values. Newer schools were found to consume less heating energy but more electricity than the older buildings. The conclusions discuss design, build and use factors that significantly impact the studied schools’ energy use, and aim to inform more efficient building design and policymaking.

Barriers to and Drivers of Energy Management in Swedish SMEs

The energy efficiency gap is known as the difference between optimal level of energy efficiency and the actual level of achieved energy efficiency. Energy management has proven to further close the energy efficiency gap. Energy management may differ depending on whether it concerns a large, energy-intensive company or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are of high interest since they form a large share of the economy today. For SMEs, a lighter form of energy management, in the form of energy efficiency network participation, has proven to deliver sound energy efficiency impact, while for larger, energy-intensive firms, a certified energy management system may be more suitable. However, various barriers inhibit adoption of energy efficiency measures. While there is an array of research on barriers to and driving forces for energy efficiency in general, research on barriers to, and driving forces for, energy management is rare, one exception being a study of energy-intensive pulp and paper mills. This holds even more so for industrial SMEs. This paper aims to identify the barriers to, and drivers for, energy management in manufacturing SMEs. Results of this explorative study show that the top four barriers to energy management are lack of time/other priorities, non-energy-related working tasks are prioritized higher, slim organization, and lack of internal expert competences, i.e., mainly organizational barriers. The top four drivers for energy management are to reduce production waste, participation in energy efficiency networks, cost reduction from lower energy use, and commitment from top management. Furthermore, results show that energy management among the studied SMEs seems to not be as mature, even though the companies participated in an energy management capacity building program in the form of energy efficiency networks, which, in turn, shows a still largely untapped potential in the societal aim to reduce the energy efficiency and management gaps. The main contribution of this paper is a first novel attempt to explore barriers to, and drivers for, energy management among SMEs.

How important are perceived barriers and drivers versus other contextual factors for the adoption of energy efficiency measures: An empirical investigation in manufacturing SMEs

This study examines determinants of adoption of energy-efficiency measures (EEMs) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector, where the energy-efficiency gap is more likely to persist according to findings in previous literature. By simultaneously examining the relevance of multiple groups of perceived barriers and drivers and several other objectively measurable contextual factors, this research aims to fill the noted gap in econometric evidence. Discrete choice models are applied to a representative sample of 220 Slovenian manufacturing SMEs, comprising 10% of all manufacturing SMEs in the country to validate the relevance of barriers and drivers for both past adoptions of EEMs and firms’ plans for adoption in the future. In line with previous empirical findings, results show that economic incentives, namely cost reductions for past investments and the potential for energy savings for future investments, are among the key drivers, while limited financial resources in more indebted firms blocked decisions to implement EEMs. Interestingly, energy-efficiency-related determinants play a more significant role than other self-perceived barriers and drivers. The importance firms place on energy efficiency, running energy-efficiency awareness programs for employees in the firms and obtaining information through external advice or energy audits triggered past company investments. Energy-intensive and innovative firms that are more aware of the importance of energy efficiency and those that have carried out investments in the past are more prone to adopt EEMs in the future, also confirming the path-dependency of energy efficiency activities. Lessons for policy-makers and managerial implications lie in spreading awareness about energy efficiency among managers and employees, building competence, and providing information on the potentials for energy efficiency improvements and on the availability of public and private funds.

Methodological analysis for assessing the relation of the energy cost with losses of water – a case study

The rational use of energy is being increasingly encouraged. In some countries, there are even subsidies for industries to adopt energy efficiency measures. One of the sectors with great opportunities for efficiency is sanitation, where a large part of energy consumption refers to pumping stations. The objective of this work is to demonstrate the consumption of electrical energy and possible reduction of electrical energy consumption in a sector of study of the Autonomous Water and Sewage Service (SAAE) of the municipality in the south of Minas Gerais. To determine the measures to be taken to reduce energy costs, it is necessary to perform a system diagnosis. For this, field trials were carried out. The study sector had an average expense of R$ 42,097.44/year due to water losses in the system. When considering only electricity costs, they represent 34.20% of the costs in relation to water losses (R$ 14,395.90/year). The system presented 27.73% of total water losses, an energy consumption of 0.6627 kWh/m³ only for the R3 pumping station and 1.302 kWh/m³ when also considering the Water Collection and Treatment Plant (WTP).