Household-level energy-saving behaviors help mitigate climate change within the broader energy transition. However, existing studies have primarily emphasized direct economic incentive interventions, with relatively little attention to energy-saving behaviors in the private sphere. This study examines the drivers of private-sphere energy efficiency behaviors in a non-Western context of residential buildings, focusing on social norms, awareness, and perceived personal responsibility in China. Building from previous assertions of social practice theory, we assess whether individuals feel personally responsible for building-related emissions and whether they view occupants as the primary agents to enact operational efficiency. Using an original survey dataset of 1,042 respondents in China, we analyze both ongoing behaviors, such as turning off lights and A/C, and one-off actions, including home energy efficiency upgrades. Hierarchical regression models sequentially examine the effects of demographics, social norms, awareness, and personal responsibility. Results indicate that social normative pressures and awareness predict engagement in energy efficiency behaviors, whereas perceptions of personal responsibility do not. These findings suggest that individuals adopt desirable efficiency behaviors even without strong sense of responsibility or self-efficacy motivation, highlighting the potential of leveraging normative influence and information campaigns to overcome behavioral barriers and advance decarbonization in the residential building sector.

Sweden implemented a unique policy instrument over two consecutive five-year periods aimed at promoting industrial energy efficiency: a voluntary agreement programme (VAP) known as the Programme for Improving Energy Efficiency in Energy-Intensive Industries (PFE). This paper evaluates the second programme period using process and impact evaluation approaches. The impact evaluation revealed that the programme generated numerous benefits beyond the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The second programme period demonstrated impacts comparable to the first, underscoring the pivotal role of energy management within policy frameworks. Moreover, the findings suggest that VAPs may be among the few policy instruments capable of achieving substantial impact within industrial production processes. The process evaluation identified two critical gaps: a policy gap and a knowledge gap. Many of the positive elements present in the evaluated programme are currently absent from Sweden’s industrial policy mix. The role of the policy operator—as facilitator or intermediary—proved essential, particularly in the context of policies involving energy audits and certified energy management systems. In this case, the Swedish Energy Agency played a central role. The study concludes that continuous energy management, when integrated throughout the entire organization, significantly enhances companies’ capacity to identify and implement energy efficiency measures. This approach not only deepens internal knowledge but also fosters the development of more structured and effective routines. Furthermore, the findings suggest that financial incentives may be essential to ensure the long-term persistence of energy efficiency practices. Consequently, future policy design should include a strong facilitator and incorporate mechanisms that both reinforce organizational knowledge of energy end-use processes and promote sustained engagement over time, preferably involving a financial incentive.

Upstream supply chain emissions represent a substantial share of industry’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions. Still, energy management is seldom included in supplier assessments to ensure effective upstream emissions reduction, which can support achieving the net-zero goals at the supply chain level. Interviews were conducted with large global manufacturers and their first-tier Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) suppliers to examine: (i) the main challenges they face in evaluating and reporting suppliers’ energy management practices, and (ii) what strategies both parties need to adopt to overcome them. Drawing on agency theory, the analysis reveals that unclear energy-related expectations, a lack of clear reporting criteria, and SMEs’ limited capabilities to effectively report energy management practices that create information asymmetries and misaligned incentives. These challenges hinder the effective integration of energy management into broader decarbonization strategies. The study identifies key practices – establishing energy-related key performance indicators for reporting, developing energy-shared data protocols, and strengthening capability-building among SMEs − that can improve transparency, align incentives in the buyer–supplier relationship, and foster collaborative progress towards reducing upstream emissions. The study contributes by revealing key challenges that buyers and suppliers face in advancing energy management within upstream sustainable supply chains and provides actionable measures for integrating energy management into supplier performance assessment as part of strategic supply chain sustainability and decarbonization efforts. This study advances the sustainable supply chain management literature by improving the understanding of how energy management can be systematically embedded within supplier performance assessments in sustainable supply chains, promoting more effective decarbonization strategies.

Driven by increased exposure to climate change hazards and energy price reforms, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is keen to transform its energy-intensive building sector, with air-conditioning (AC) accounting for 70% of the energy used in buildings. While much past research has focused on technological solutions, this study investigates some of the critical AC usage patterns and energy conservation behavior in the Saudi residential sector. Harnessing a novel and original public survey with spatial granularity, this study explores socio-demographic, economic, and behavioral determinants of AC usage, thermostat preferences, and energy conservation attitudes. The study identifies household income and energy expenditure as among the more influential predictors of user behavior. Lower-income households are significantly less likely to use AC extensively, which may indicate potential equity and affordability concerns, while higher-income groups exhibit extended usage patterns, particularly year-round use and daily operation exceeding 18 h. Education, dwelling type, and ownership status are also influential factors, though with a modest effect. Regional differences, particularly in Makkah and Riyadh, reveal further contextual variations in behavior. AC switch-off and thermostat adjustment attitudes reflect a mix of economic constraints and habitual behavior. Drawing from these findings, the study underscores the need for integrated policy frameworks that combine efficiency measures with targeted behavioral interventions.

Despite the growing number of scientific investigations on developing taxonomies in various industries and categorizing energy end-use (EEU) processes, research on such frameworks in the data center (DC) sector remains limited, restricting systematic analysis of energy use, benchmarking, and identification of energy efficiency measures. This study seeks to achieve two key objectives: (1) to create a hierarchical taxonomy for categorizing EEU process, (2) and to identify the most relevant energy performance indicators (EnPIs). The methodology combines hierarchical classification of energy flows with quantitative analysis based on time-resolved operational data, allowing for detailed analysis of dynamic system behaviour and allocation of energy use across processes, applied to a DC room with a detached in-rack water cooling system in Sweden operated by Ericsson. The results of this paper present a novel hierarchical taxonomy for a water-cooled DC room with six defined EEU processes, of which four are related to data processing processes and two to support processes. Notably, over 99.9% of total EEU is connected to data processing processes which is a significantly higher figure compared to other production processes in other sectors. Moreover, the established EnPIs can facilitate benchmarking between DCs with similar infrastructures and for monitoring the energy use of various EEU processes. The proposed methodology is transferable to other DC environments with comparable system boundaries and data availability, and its reproducibility is supported by the structured and data-driven methodology, which enables replication of the analytical approach given comparable data availability.

Residential or household energy use in heating, cooling, and lighting must become more efficient to advance residential decarbonization and meet 2050 global climate targets. This study presents a typology of social impacts and behaviors, emphasizing normative community roles in decarbonization of residential buildings. We examine efficiency-related behaviors in the private sphere including lighting, air-conditioning use, and building upgrades using a nationally representative United States dataset (n = 1002). We analyze social encouragement from friends, family, and workplace. OLS analyses show that these social normative pressures significantly predict ongoing energy-efficiency behaviors, including both developing behaviors (i.e. managing air conditioning, β = 0.220, p < .001) and habitual behaviors (i.e. turning off lights, β = 0.163, p < .001). Logit models further indicate that social influence significantly increases the likelihood of one-off efficiency upgrades in the home (b = 0.336, p < .001). Results additionally distinguish three behavioral profiles characterized by differing levels of awareness of emissions and energy issues and varying degrees of peer influence. Across profiles, contextual factors such as awareness and social encouragement outweigh demographic predictors and independently shape efficiency behaviors. These findings substantiate the importance of social context in household energy management. We conclude with policy recommendations. 

SMEs often outsource energy auditing and implement energy efficiency measures for support processes. Even with the introduction of energy efficiency networks, the implementation of measures is still toward support processes. This chapter presents Lean energy management through Lean-based energy efficiency networks, providing means for fully mature energy management for process efficiency and effectiveness. Such knowledge qualifies the participating SMEs to conduct in-house energy audits and implement more measures in production processes. It highlights the contribution of each function in fulfilling the theoretical and practical elements of energy management. It also highlights the importance of motivation and commitment in achieving results by presenting three longitudinal cases that received the same training but achieved different results. 

SMEs often outsource energy auditing and implement energy efficiency measures for support processes. Even with the introduction of energy efficiency networks, the implementation of measures is still toward support processes. This chapter presents Lean energy management through Lean-based energy efficiency networks, providing means for fully mature energy management for process efficiency and effectiveness. Such knowledge qualifies the participating SMEs to conduct in-house energy audits and implement more measures in production processes. It highlights the contribution of each function in fulfilling the theoretical and practical elements of energy management. It also highlights the importance of motivation and commitment in achieving results by presenting three longitudinal cases that received the same training but achieved different results.

Energy efficiency is essential for climate change mitigation. Energy management, shaped by both technical artefacts and social constructions, can overcome barriers and achieve greater emission reductions than technology-focused approaches alone. Nine social constructions of energy management emphasize the need for a broader view that includes operations, processes, and knowledge creation and diffusion. By adopting these strategies, corporations and policymakers can substantially reduce industrial energy use and emissions. We estimate that effective energy management policies and voluntary initiatives could cut at least 5% of global industrial fossil CO2 emissions.