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This investigation aims to reframe the sizeable literature on barriers and drivers for energy efficiency measures (EEMs) and the phenomenon of the energy efficiency gap. The authors identify a gap between academic methods and industrial needs, as well as a neglect of the cultural dimension, despite its considerable impact. On the basis of this insight, the purpose of this paper is to integrate all of the various influences on industrial energy behavior previously identified in the literature in a refined energy cultures framework.

This paper includes a systematic literature review of research in the field of energy management, energy efficiency and cultural aspects within barriers and drivers of energy behavior. The authors select and refine an existing energy cultures framework for the industrial context. To meet industrial needs, the authors applied an ontology mapping of its core elements onto an international standard common for industrial energy management practice.

First, the authors present a refined framework for industrial energy cultures incorporating past barriers and drivers as factors. The framework enables an evaluation of attitude and behavioral aspects, underlying technologies, organizational culture and actions related to energy as a system of interdependencies. Second, the factors are ranked on the basis of the number of appearances and empirical metadata. Economic aspects such as “purchase, installment and hidden costs”, “general investment and risk behavior” and “regulatory conditions” are the highest ranked factors, but “existing knowledge about EEM”, “hierarchy approach: top down” and “environmental concerns” follow closely and represent cultural aspects, which are still underrated. Third, while illustrating a successful mapping onto a standardized process of continuous improvement, the authors also argue for heightened academia–practice efforts.

Reframing the energy efficiency gap as a problem of what aspirations play a role, what technology is chosen and how technologies are used should increase the level of implementation of EEMs in the real business world. Introducing the refined energy cultures framework serves as a starting point for future transdisciplinary collaboration between academia and practice.

Targeting the energy efficiency gap is an essential part of the sustainable development goals. The refined energy cultures framework allows for a better understanding of the industrial energy behaviors that are responsible for a significant share of a company’s success. The introduction of energy cultures serves as a starting point for future scholarly research within sustainability management accounting.

The investigation combines existing research streams, their concepts and their results about cultural aspects related to energy efficiency for both academics and practitioners. This review is the first to capture all of the various factors analyzed in academic literature using the energy cultures framework as a basis. The authors add to the theoretical development of that framework with its application to the industrial context. This is identified as a gap. Its refinement helps to holistically understand barriers and drivers of industrial EEMs to support its practical implementation.

The key purpose of this paper is to quantify the size of the energy-efficiency gap (EEG) for air conditioners at the household level in Delhi. Most of the studies in the EEG tradition broadly define EEG as the difference between the actual and optimal level of energy efficiency. The optimal level of energy efficiency is defined at the societal level (that weigh social costs against social benefits) and the private level (that weigh private costs against private benefits).

The authors base the empirical results in this study on the basis of the primary data collected through in-person interviews of the high-income urban households in Delhi in 2014-2015. The sample of 101 households was collected through purposive random sampling. The survey data include information on type and number of AC possessed, hours of operations, socioeconomic characteristics and awareness and habits of households.

Using primary data of 101 high-income urban household, the paper finds that average EEG is about 10 per cent of total electricity demand of ACs at the household level. The maximum current saving potential measured as a difference between hypothetical energy consumption, if everyone adopts five star ACs, and actual energy consumption is estimated about 14 per cent of the total electricity demand of ACs. Results from the ordinary least squares regressions demonstrate that individual’s habits, attitude, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions significantly determine the size of the EEG. Among other things, authors’ empirical analysis shows that information can play a central role in guiding investment in energy-efficient technologies. From the analysis of improving access to understandable information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction, it is found that full information leads to the significant reduction in the size of the expected private energy-efficiency gap from 10 to 2.98 per cent at the household level.

This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the EEG. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.

In this study, authors try to estimate the size of the EEG of ACs for the high-income urban households in Delhi. The private energy-efficiency gap estimated at 10 per cent of the household demand for ACs indicates existing saving opportunity for the private households. It is found that provision of comprehensive information about cost savings, payback period and emission reduction reduces the size of the EEG significantly from 10 to 2.72 per cent at the private level. This highlights the existence of limited and incomplete information in the market about the possible costs and benefits of energy-efficiency investments. This paper tests the significance of non-economic and non-social factors in determining the size of the energy-efficiency gap. Apart from socioeconomic factors such as income, occupation and education, individual’s energy-conserving habits and attitudes, awareness of energy-efficiency measures and perceptions are other important factors found to have a significant negative impact on the size of the EEG. This is particularly important for the designing of information programs by policymakers for promoting energy-efficiency choices in view of the change that is required in the behavior and attitudes of the households.

The fact that per capita energy consumption in non-OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries makes up only 30% of average consumption in OECD countries, as well as the fact that highly efficient technologies and equipment have been available for many years in developed countries where energy efficiency is one of the top priorities, has often been cited as an argument in favour of the claim that energy efficiency is relevant only for highly developed countries. In this chapter, we attempt to establish if and why this opinion is wrong in the case of Western Balkans (WB6). Evident lack of interest in this area which we identified through analysis of available literature was an important motive for the consideration of the issue of energy efficiency in WB6 countries.

Analysing the basic macroeconomic and energy indicators for WB6 countries and their comparison with indicators for European Union (EU) member countries, we found that all countries have the potential benefit from implementation of energy efficiency and conservation projects. Besides the possible energy savings, wider socio-economic benefits in WB6 countries include harmonization with EU regulations, reduced dependence on import and thus reduced risk of price shocks and potential reduction of trade deficit, creation of jobs, health benefits, better productivity and improved competitiveness.

However, realizing the full potential of energy efficiency requires removal of many financial, institutional, technical and behavioural barriers, whereby WB6 countries can use the help of institutions which provide technical assistance and funds, beside measures which fall under jurisdiction of governments.

Energy-efficiency leads to productivity gains as it can lower operating and maintenance costs, increase production yields per unit of manufacturing input and improve staff accountability. Implementation of energy-efficient technologies amongst industries, the factors influencing them and the barriers to their adoption have been the subject of several studies during the past three to four decades. Though energy-use behaviours of individuals or households are sufficiently explored, industrial energy conservation behaviour is scarcely studied. This study identifies the relationship between the different behavioural elements to open up a door for behaviourally informed intervention research.

Total interpretive structural modelling technique was used to determine the relationship between different elements of the behaviour of energy managers. Expert responses were collected to understand the relationship between the behavioural elements, through telephone interviews.

The study identified the relationship between the behavioural elements and found imperfect evaluation as the key element with the highest driving power to influence other elements.

The authors postulate that a behaviourally informed intervention strategy that looks into the elements with high driving power such as imperfect evaluation, lack of focus on energy-saving measures and the lack of sharing energy-saving objectives can lead to: an increase in the adoption of energy efficiency measures and thereby a reduction in the energy efficiency gap; greater productivity gains and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; Preparation of M&V protocol that incorporates behavioural, organisational and informational barriers.

Various policy level interventions and regulatory measures in the energy field which did not address the behavioural barriers are found unsuccessful in narrowing the energy-efficiency gap, reducing the GHG gas emissions and global warming. Understanding the key driving factor of behaviour can help to design an effective intervention strategy to address the barriers to energy efficiency improvement.

Understanding the key driving factor of behaviour can help to design an effective intervention strategy to address the barriers to energy efficiency improvement. This study argues that through the systematic analysis of the imperfect evaluation of energy audit recommendations, it is possible to increase the adoption of energy efficiency measures that can lead to greater productivity gains and reduced GHG emissions.

As a typical resource energy-intensive industry, the scale of construction industry has been expanding rapidly owing to the large-scale urbanization and the economic booming in China, which results in a sharp increase in the energy consumption of construction industry. However, it is infeasible to mitigate the energy consumption by reducing the production activities of construction industry. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of construction industry is essential for energy saving. Construction industry has close relationships with other industries. The production activities have not only consumed a great deal of energy but they have also generated a massive energy consumption from other industries. Previous literature studied the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry. However, no research has been found focusing on the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry and indirectly by the related industries. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a total energy efficiency evaluation framework to measure the energy efficiency of construction industry in depth.

This paper employs the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method and the framework of embodied energy efficiency (EEE) to establish a total energy efficiency evaluation model. Next, the comprehensive analysis of direct energy efficiency (DEE) and EEE in different provinces with various levels of urbanization and various economic levels is conducted.

The results show that the embodied energy intensity and its regularities differ greatly between provinces. From the comparison of DEE and EEE, the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu remain DEA-effective and Hainan is the only province in which the EEE is higher than DEE in 2002, 2007 and 2012. Besides, the DEE and EEE in the provinces with higher levels of urbanization and high economic levels are not more effective than those in the provinces with relatively lower levels of urbanization and low economic levels.

Previous literature studied the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry while ignoring the energy consumed indirectly by the related industries. Besides, no research has been found focusing on the regulation of energy efficiency in different provinces with different levels of urbanization and different economic levels. It can be concluded that the increasing levels of urbanization and higher economic levels have not brought development and benefits for improving DEE and EEE. Therefore, under the condition that the self-regulation of construction industry and market fail to facilitate the improvement of DEE and EEE in China, policymakers should develop policies and market incentive mechanism to encourage construction industry for employing new technologies to improve the energy efficiency. Since the EEE can reveal the energy efficiency in depth, the evaluation method of EEE should be paid more attention. Besides the fact that the EEE is lower than the DEE in almost all provinces, except Hainan province, the industrial structure is essential to develop the EEE. Hence, improving the energy structure, increasing the energy efficiency and developing new and renewable energy are the basic energy strategies in China.

Improving the energy efficiency of the existing residential building stock has been identified as a key policy aim in many countries. The purpose of this paper is to review the extant literature on investment decisions in domestic energy efficiency and presents a model that is both grounded in microeconomic theory and empirically tractable.

This study develops a modified and extended version of an existing microeconomic model to embed the retrofit investment decision in a residential property market context, taking into account tenants’ willingness to pay and cost-reducing synergies. A simple empirical test of the link between energy efficiency measures and housing market dynamics is then conducted.

The empirical data analysis for England indicates that where house prices are low, energy efficiency measures tend to increase the value of a house more in relative terms compared to higher-priced regions. Second, where housing markets are tight, landlords and sellers will be successful even without investing in energy efficiency measures. Third, where wages and incomes are low, the potential gains from energy savings make up a larger proportion of those incomes compared to more affluent regions. This, in turn, acts as a further incentive for an energy retrofit. Finally, the UK government has been operating a subsidy scheme which allows all households below a certain income threshold to have certain energy efficiency measures carried out for free. In regions, where a larger proportion of households are eligible for these subsidies,the authors also expect a larger uptake.

While the financial metrics of retrofit measures are by now well understood, most of the existing studies tend to view these investments in isolation, not as part of a larger bundle of considerations by landlords and owners of how energy retrofits might influence a property’s rent, price and appreciation rate. In this paper, the authors argue that establishing this link is crucial for a better understanding of the retrofit investment decision.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate if a green lease could eliminate the split incentive problem in two office buildings located in Stockholm, Sweden. It aims to provide a theoretical overview concerning the “energy paradox” and to describe a case study in which a green lease was to be implemented in the legal framework for two office buildings in the Stockholm region.

This paper documents a case study, in which a green lease was to be implemented in the legal framework for two office buildings, to promote a more active engagement in the buildings energy performance. In order to accomplish this, a project group was formed which consisted of representatives from the building owners, tenant, property manager, energy consultants and KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

This paper reveals that it is very hard to alter already legally binding agreements. Furthermore, it shows that the separation of ownership and usage of a building may not be optimal from an energy efficiency point of view.

The paper gives an empirical explanation as to why at times energy efficiency measures are not undertaken, even though the investments themselves bring about a positive net present value. In addition, the paper analyses the situation where property maintenance is outsourced to a property management firm, which is a common but seldom discussed situation in the literature.

In the realm of energy behaviour studies, very little research has been done to understand industrial energy behaviour (IEB) that influences the willingness to adopt (WTA) energy-efficient measures. Most of the studies on energy behaviour were focused on the residential and commercial sectors where the behaviour under investigation was under volitional control, that is, where people believe that they can execute the behaviour whenever they are willing to do so. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the industry’s intentions and behaviour that leads to enhanced adoption of energy efficiency measures recommended through energy audits. In particular, this paper aims to extend the existing behaviour intention models using the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) method and expert feedback to develop an IEB model

TISM technique was used to determine the relationship between different elements of the behaviour. Responses were collected from experts in the field of energy efficiency to understand the relationship between identified factors, their driving power and dependency.

The results show that values, socialisation and leadership of individuals are the key driving factors in deciding the individual energy behaviour. WTA energy-saving measures recommended by an energy auditor are found to be highly dependent on the organisational policies such as energy policy, delegation of power to energy manager and life cycle cost evaluation in purchase policy.

This study has a few limitations that warrant consideration in future research. First, the data came from a small sample of energy experts based on a convenience sample of Indian experts. This limits the generalizability of the results. Individual and organizational behaviour analysed in this study looked into a few select characteristics, derived from the literature review and expert feedback, which may pose questions about the standard for behaviours in different industries.

Reasons for non-adoption of energy audit recommendations are rarely shared by the industries and the analysis of individual and organisational behaviour through structured questionnaire and surveys have serious limitations. Under this circumstance, collecting expert feedback and using the TISM method to build an IEB model can help to build strategies to enhance the adoption of energy-efficient measures.

Various policy level interventions and regulatory measures in the energy field, adopted across the globe, are found unsuccessful in narrowing the energy-efficiency gap, reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming. Understanding the key driving factors can help develop effective intervention strategies to improve energy efficiency and reduce GHG emissions.

The industry energy behaviour model with driving, linking and dependent factors and factor hierarchy is a novel contribution to the theory of organisational behaviour. The model takes into consideration both the individual and organisational factors where the decision-making is not strictly under volitional control. Understanding the key driving factor of behaviour can help design an effective intervention strategy that addresses the barriers to energy efficiency improvement. The results imply that it is important to carry out post energy audit studies to understand the implementation rate of recommendations and also the individual and organisational factors that influence the WTA energy-saving measures.

Improving energy efficiency is considered one of the most desirable and effective short‐term measures to address the issue of energy security, and also reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. However, lack of access to domestic finance is the major hindrance in achieving the potential in China and India. This paper aims to report the experience of a three‐country United Nations Environment Programme/World Bank Energy Efficiency Project (involving China, India and Brazil) that is set up to address the financial barrier and identifies the lessons that can be learnt from the project.

The paper follows the post‐completion review approach of a project and presents the activities undertaken and results obtained from the project.

The project seeks to remove the financial barrier through the development of a commercial banking window for energy efficiency, energy service company development and support, exploring the need for setting up guarantee facilities and need for facilitating equity financing to the sector. The project succeeds in creating awareness and better understanding among the financial institutions in both India and China on potential of energy efficiency and need to make financing available for this. The banks in India in created specialized schemes for energy efficiency financing, and in China, the project has a positive impact on the new initiatives with the on‐lending facility and the guarantee fund for energy management companies. Experience sharing on these issues through cross‐exchange workshops proves to be very useful. The project successfully creates a platform on which further energy efficiency work can be carried out in the participating countries.

By disseminating the experience of energy efficiency financing in two developing countries, the paper contributes to knowledge that can be helpful in a wider context.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers to the implementation of energy efficiency projects in Canadian universities, including access to capital, bounded rationality, hidden costs, imperfect information, risk and split incentives. Methods to address these barriers are investigated, including evaluating the efficacy of revolving funds.

Senior administrators of 15 Canadian universities were interviewed, making use of both structured and open-ended questions. As university executives and senior technical directors are responsible for investment in energy efficiency at Canadian universities, these individuals were the focus of our study.

The results offer a curious contradiction. While “Access to Capital” was found to be the largest barrier to energy efficiency in Canadian universities, and while respondents agreed that green revolving funds are both an effective method to address these capital funding constraints, and may be an effective method to implement energy conservation projects at their university, only 2 out of the 15 universities interviewed and 7 out of the 98 universities in Canada currently make use of a green revolving fund. A general reluctance at Canadian universities to formalize processes to prioritize energy efficiency limits the associated benefits of mechanisms such as revolving funds to institutionalize energy efficiency and reduce long-term energy use.

To provide insights into barriers to energy efficiency in universities and methods to address them, including the efficacy of revolving funds.

This research is one of the first to investigate the efficacy of revolving funds to confront barriers to energy efficiency. The findings, implications and recommendations are valuable to organizations, university administrators, researchers and practitioners implementing energy efficiency measures.