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Buildings contribute significantly to CO₂ production. They are also subject to considerable taxation based on value. Analysis shows that while similar attributes contribute to both value and CO₂ production, there is only a loose relationship between the two. If we wish to use taxation to affect policy change (drive energy efficiency behaviour), we are unlikely to achieve this using only the current tax base (value), or by increasing the tax take off this current tax base (unlike extra taxation of cigarettes to discourage smoking, for example). Taxation of buildings on the basis of energy efficiency is hampered by the lack of current evidence of performance. This paper aims to model the now-obligatory (at sale or letting) energy performance certificate (EPC) data to derive an acceptable appraisal model (marked to market, being the EPC scores) and deploys this to the entire population of properties. This provides an alternative tax base with which to model the effects of a tax base switch to energy efficiency and to understand the tax incidence effects of such a policy.

The research uses a multiplicative hedonic approach to model energy efficiency utilising EPC holding properties in a UK jurisdiction [Northern Ireland (NI)] as the sample. This model is then used to estimate discrete energy assessments for each property in the wider population, using attributes held in the domestic rating (property tax) database for NI (700,000+ properties). This produces a robust estimate of the EPC for every property in its current condition and its cost-effective improved condition. This energy assessment based tax base is further used to estimate a new millage rate and property tax bill (green property tax) which is compared against the existing property tax based on value to allow tax incidence changes to be analysed.

The findings show that such a policy would significantly redistribute the tax burden and would have a variety of expected and some unexpected effects. The results indicate that while assessing the energy performance of houses can be a complex process involving many parameters, much of the explanatory power can be achieved via a relatively small number of input variables, often already held by property tax jurisdictions. This offers the opportunity for useful housing stock modelling – such as the savings possible from power switching. The research also identifies that whilst urban areas display the expected “heat island” effect in terms of energy consumption, urban properties are on average more efficient than suburban/rural properties. This facilitates spatial targeting of policy messages and initiatives.

Analogous with other studies, data deficiencies introduce the risk of omitted variable bias. Modelling of the energy efficiency in the sample is limited to property attributes that are available for the wider population of properties. While this limits the modelling exercise, it is a perennial issue facing mass appraisal worldwide (where knowledge of the transacted sample attributes generally exceeds knowledge of the unsold properties). That said, the research demonstrates the benefits of sharing data and improving knowledge of the housing stock, as taxation databases would be stronger, augmented with EPC-derived property attributes for example.

The EPC lead in time for wide residential coverage is likely to be considerable. The paper contributes to emerging literature and policy debate surrounding the effect, performance measurement and implementation of energy efficiency certification, through a greater understanding of the sectorial and geographical dispersion of energy efficiency. It provides high level research to help guide policy and decision-making, identifying key locales where there is more of a physical problem and locations where there is more to gain in terms of targeting energy improvement and/or encouraging behavioural change. The paper also allows a glimpse of the implications of a change towards a taxation regime based on energy efficiency, which contributes to the debate surrounding the “greening” of property based taxes.

Purpose – The accounting literature has demonstrated increased concern over issues of sustainability. One of the most critical issues that corporations face at the moment is climate change. This especially concerns companies that are substantial consumers of materials and energy. Corporations have increasingly acknowledged that to address this issue the existing ways of managing business must be changed.

This study examines the challenges posed by measurement of energy efficiency performance in an energy-intensive industry. It covers the challenges encountered with respect to the energy efficiency indicator and its use as a management tool.

Methodology – The case study method was used to conduct the research, which took place in a single firm in an energy-intensive process industry.

Findings – The results indicate that the current energy efficiency indicator, specific energy consumption (SEC), does not meet the criteria for good performance measurement. In particular, the controllability of energy efficiency seems problematic. Another major challenge is target setting. Measurable targets are needed to identify and prioritise areas where consumption and emission can be reduced.

Practical implications – The study provides practical knowledge on what is happening in organisations that pursue sustainable development and in particular, environmental efficiency.

Originality/value – Although the conceptual challenges in energy efficiency measurement are well known in the technical literature, discussions dealing with its management have been few in number. This study is a cross-disciplinary work and combines technical energy efficiency literature and management accounting research on performance management.

Climate change is one of the most significant challenges of our time. The existing housing stock is a crucial component in achieving international and national climate change targets through energy efficiency improvements. The private rental sector incorporates some of the worst performing housing. To address this, the UK has implemented the minimum energy efficiency standard, based on the energy performance certificate rating. However, the energy performance certificate has a number of criticisms in the UK and across the EU. This viewpoints paper discusses the primary criticisms of the EPC and whether these undermine the minimum energy efficiency standard.

This viewpoint paper draws on the recent work across academic, government and professional literature to develop a critique of the energy performance certificate and its underlying methodology as a basis on which to form the minimum energy efficiency standard.

The paper concludes that based on the current form of the energy performance certificate in the UK, the minimum energy efficiency standard is likely to unfairly advantage some landlords and penalise others. This has implications for landlords, tenants and the wider housing stock.

This paper presents a discussion of the new minimum energy efficiency standard based on the limitations of the energy performance certificate. It has implications for policymakers, researchers and practitioners in the private rental sector.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to examine in detail energy efficiency performance of German and Colombian food industries. The second is to explain the factors that have influenced energy efficiency.

Using data at the three‐digit level of aggregation, the paper compares energy efficiency across sectors of the food industry for the period 1998‐2005. Energy efficiency is analysed using the energy intensity (EI) indicator as well as a decomposition analysis. To determine the factors that have influenced energy efficiency performance, the concept of the production function is used.

The results show that both countries' food industries improved energy efficiency. During the period of study, energy consumption in the German food industry increased by an average of 1.3 per cent per year and the EI decreased 7 per cent, whereas the Colombian food industry decreased its energy consumption by an average of 1.9 per cent per the year and the EI decreased 11 per cent. However, the Colombian food industry needs 2.2 times more energy than the German food industry to produce a unit of gross production. A decomposition analysis indicated that economic and technical factors have played an important role in the energy efficiency performance because increases in economic growth and technology improvements increase the industrial sector's ability to improve energy efficiency. A second‐stage empirical analysis reveals that capital, material, investments and value‐added variables had a positive influence on energy efficiency performance in both countries. Energy prices are shown to have a positive influence on energy efficiency in the German food industry, whereas the sizes of enterprises and concentration processes played an important role on energy efficiency performance in the Colombian food industry.

The literature indicates the relative lack of attention paid to the analysis of energy use across sectors of food industry as well as the lack of studies determining the factors that have affected energy consumption and energy efficiency performance using cross‐country and cross‐sectoral comparisons.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the energy, economic and environmental performance of commercial water heating systems in Hong Kong special administrative region (SAR), China.

The research team contacted 50 facilities managers in Hong Kong, and 16 of them agreed to participate in this territorial-wide survey. The overall efficiency of different water heating systems was determined through measurements of inlet water temperatures, outlet steam/water properties, the amount of steam/water produced and the amount of energy consumed. The cost effectiveness and the amount of greenhouse gases produced per megajoule (MJ) output were also determined.

Results show that electric water heating systems had the highest mean overall efficiency, followed by gas- and oil-fired systems. However, the difference between the mean overall efficiency of the three types of water heating systems was not statistically significant, as the systems had been inspected and maintained regularly. Oil-fired systems were found to be the most cost-effective when taking fuel prices into consideration. Environmental analysis showed that gas-fired systems produced the least amount of greenhouse gases per MJ output.

Water heating is one of the major uses of energy in buildings. Hence, the efficiency of a water heating system can have a significant effect on the overall performance of a building. This paper not only provides insight on the energy performance but it also evaluates the economic and environmental performance of water heating systems.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between energy performance and property sale price in the Belfast housing market. How energy efficiency is contributes to sale price and thus appraisal value is of growing concern. The obligatory measurement of energy efficiency in private dwellings seeks to encourage improvements in energy performance. This may be capitalised into property value and may stimulate demand for energy-efficient buildings. However, the relationship between energy performance and property value remains nebulous, complex and under-researched – in part due to data limitations.

Using a hedonic pricing specification, this paper measures the effect of energy performance certificates (EPCs) on residential property value. It examines the relationship between 3,797 residential sales transactions across the Belfast housing market, showing the percentage effect on property value with respect to energy performance.

The results indicate a small but positive relationship between better energy performance and higher selling prices. Nonetheless, the findings point towards strong preference, demand tastes and a complex intra-relationship between EPCs and their capitalisation into property value. Pertinently, the findings point towards any energy-efficient-related price effect affect to be marginal alongside more “quality”-based market behaviours.

Analogous with other studies, data deficiencies and a lack of incorporating price determining variables (missing determinants) such as heating type and glazing type introduces omitted variable bias and endogeneity problems within the model structure.

This paper contributes to emerging literature and policy debate surrounding the measurement and implementation of energy-efficiency certification through a greater understanding of energy performance characteristics in determining property value.

This study aims to test whether energy performance effects single-family home sale prices. It also examines whether recommendations for supposedly cost-effective energy efficiency measures, by intervention category (construction, installation or operation/control technical measures), are perceived as untapped potential – a real option – that effects sale prices.

The energy performance measurement and dummy variables for three categories of improvement recommendations are included as explanatory variables in a hedonic regression analysis using transaction data and energy performance certificates data for 1,073 observations.

Results indicate that better energy performance effects selling prices positively. Energy efficiency recommendations seem to have an impact on sale price; home buyers seem to require a larger “discount” for more complex types of measures.

The sample only includes houses in the Stockholm; so-called sustainable buildings have not been specifically studied; and the heating source has not been accounted for.

The EU energy performance certificates provide new information and measure energy performance more exactly than many earlier (proxy) variables. This is one of the first studies to test the effect of this information, and the first one using Swedish data.

While pursuing energy management, firms simultaneously strive to boost sales as a path towards economic performance. Also, the literature suggests that family firms exhibit greater environmental commitment than their non-family counterparts. To examine these contentions, this review espouses contingency theory to interrogate the correlations of (1) energy consumption targets, (2) energy efficiency enhancing measures, (3) energy consumption monitoring and (4) the domestic sales performance of small family firms in Turkey's food sector.

Data were sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. A sample of 137 family firms in food production, processing and retail was analysed using non-linear structural equation modelling. Path coefficients were determined to estimate the extent to which energy management practices predict domestic sales.

The path analysis revealed that although energy consumption targets do not directly increase sales performance, they stimulate firms' energy efficiency enhancement measures and energy consumption monitoring to produce this effect by 21%.

The contingency lens espoused leaves room to capture further antecedents in small family food firms' technical, managerial, ownership, operational and architectural configuration that may also interact with or predict the propensity for energy management.

For practitioners, the inherent findings demonstrate that there are firm-specific material benefits arising from adopting energy management practices. And, although small firms such as family food businesses may have low energy intensities, they can improve their sales performance by setting energy targets, installing energy efficiency enhancing measures and embarking on energy consumption monitoring.

Public stakeholders in Turkey such as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the General Directorate of Energy Affairs and affiliate institutions can reflect on these findings to develop a coherent national energy management policy for small firms. Such initiatives are especially relevant to Turkey and its ambitions to join the EU which requires member states to set up a national energy efficiency action plan.

This inquiry is one of the first to examine energy management in the food sector at the family firm level through the contingency lens. Theoretically, the results draw attention and shed new light on disparate energy management practices and their discrete yet substantial contribution to sales performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether financial markets value a firm’s specific corporate environmental performance (CEP), i.e. its energy efficiency. This study also investigates the mechanism through which energy efficiency is associated with firm value.

For the empirical study, a sample of 324 US-listed non-financial firms during the period 2006–2019 was accessed from Thomson Reuters Refinitiv. Using baseline ordinary least squares regression models, this study first estimates the association between energy efficiency and firm value. It then tests the role of analyst coverage (the number of sell-side financial analysts following the firm) in ascertaining the value relevance of energy efficiency. To ensure the robustness of the results, alternative estimations including endogeneity and sample bias correctness tests were performed.

The study shows that energy efficiency is associated with firm value, and the role of analyst coverage as an external corporate governance mechanism is positive and significant on the value relevance of energy efficiency. Furthermore, this study documents that the relationship is shaped by sustainability-related internal and external risks, indicating that financial analysts’ role becomes more imperative when firms are subject to high scrutiny.

This study contributes to the literature by examining the intersections of energy efficiency, analyst coverage and firm value. It attempts to demonstrate how and why CEP and financial performance are linked. In the context of growing environmental concerns, the pressure of climate change and achievement of net-zero carbon emissions, this study provides valuable insights into the financial market wherein firms’ environmentally responsible behaviours are value-enhancing, and governance mechanisms are impactful. This study suggests that financial analysts can serve as an effective external corporate governance mechanism.

The purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate energy use and performance, as well as existing energy efficiency policy and measures in the Latvian industrial sector, in order to highlight possible scenarios for energy efficiency improvements in the future.

The paper takes the form of a literature review and data analysis.

It is concluded that the existing energy efficiency measures for the industrial sector in Latvia do not work effectively. Also, it is expected that the planned measures for energy efficiency improvements for the industrial sector will not reach the defined energy saving targets in the framework of the Latvian NEEAP. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a common strategy on energy efficiency in the industrial sector in Latvia. This should be accomplished by reviewing the existing literature and data, as well as drawing up new, well‐designed energy efficiency measures.

The results of this study can be applied and used in the development of energy efficiency policy for the industrial sector in Latvia. The paper also points out the main weak points of existing policy measures that can be improved in order to meet the energy saving target for the Latvian industrial sector.

In this paper, the Latvian industrial sector's energy efficiency policy and related measures have been organized and evaluated for the first time. Also, the importance of energy efficiency improvements in the industrial sector has been highlighted. This is evident from the fact that, currently, almost no energy efficiency measure for the industrial sector in Latvia works sufficiently.