Empirical investigation of barriers and drivers to the adoption of energy conservation measures, energy management practices and energy services in the Swedish iron and steel industry
2014 (English)In: Journal of Cleaner Production, ISSN 0959-6526, E-ISSN 1879-1786, Vol. 84, no 1, p. 509-525Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The Swedish iron and steel industry is focused on the production of advanced steel grades and accounts for about 5% of the country's final energy consumption. Energy efficiency is according to the European Commission a key element for the transition towards a resource-efficient economy. We investigated four aspects that are associated with the adoption of cost-effective energy conservation measures: barriers, drivers, energy management practices and energy services. We used questionnaires and follow-up telephone interviews to collect data from members of the Swedish steel association. The heterogeneous observations implied a classification into steel producers and downstream actors. For testing the significance, the Mann–Whitney U test was used. The most important barriers were internal economic and behavioural barriers. Energy service companies, in particular third-party financing, played a minor role. In contrast, high importance was attached to energy management as the most important drivers originated from within the company. Energy management practices showed that steel companies are actively engaged in the topic, but need to raise its prioritisation and awareness within the organisation. When sound energy management practices are included, the participants assessed the cost-effective energy conservation potential to be 9.7%, which was 2.4% higher than the potential for solely adopting cost-effective technologies.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014. Vol. 84, no 1, p. 509-525
Keywords [en]
Industrial energy efficiency, Barriers, Drivers, Energy management, ESCOs, Iron and steel
National Category
Energy Systems
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-18214DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.078ISI: 000345731000053Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84922884844OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-18214DiVA, id: diva2:768393
2014-12-032014-11-282018-03-13Bibliographically approved