Energy efficiency in SMEs: overcoming the communication barrier

Abstract

This article discusses ineffective knowledge and information communication as an important barrier to improving energy efficiency in small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) and considers how to make functional communication an enabler of future SME energy-efficiency programmes. Energy auditsimportant tools when addressing energy efficiency in companiesare often performed by professionals with an engineering background, which does not reflect the backgrounds of those receiving the audit, inhibiting the interpretation of those audits. SMEs must actively process the information, and their employees must be able to connect the information to existing knowledge. We analysed two methods used by Swedish municipal energy-efficiency programmes to improve energy efficiency in SMEs. The results indicate that in the programme providing SMEs with third-party information, but without any possibility to process the information, the energy-efficiency results were poor, while in the programme in which SMEs were actively engaged in all stages and could discuss problems and results with peers, the energy-efficiency results were better. In implementing SME energy-efficiency programmes, municipalities should avoid simply offering audits. Instead, they should find methods that facilitate knowledge creation among the participants, allowing the participating SMEs to share experience and knowledge with one another and with experts, and to take home ideas, testing them in their own contexts, and communicating their experiences. This would be a way to make communication an enabler rather than a barrier.

Fostering investment in resource efficiency actions: the case of European SMEs

“…In addition, financial support and fiscal incentives (Hoogendoorn et al 2015), regulation (Ren et al 2018) and knowledge from external groups of pressures (Williamson and Lynch-Wood 2001) have been pointed out as main external driving forces enhancing resource efficiency. On the other hand, ineffective knowledge and information communication, lack of expertise and financial resources are highlighted as main barriers for resource efficiency (Côté et al 2006;Hochman and Timilsina 2017;Hampton 2019;Palm and Backman 2020).…”

Development of a toolkit for assessing and overcoming barriers to the implementation of energy saving projects

“…In particular, paper [15] points out the need to provide up-to-date information on energy efficiency. Research [18], using the example of the implementation of Swedish municipal energy efficiency programs of enterprises, emphasized the importance not only of comprehensive information support of these enterprises but also of their ability to process information.…”

“…The first of these conditions is the growth of the magnitude of the discounted profit of an enterprise after the project implementation. This condition can be represented in the form of such inequality: Thus, the left side of inequality (18) characterizes the magnitude of the discounted profit of an enterprise after the implementation of an energy-saving project. At the same time, the right part of this inequality contains a formula for capitalizing the profits of an enterprise in case of refusal to implement a project.…”

“…Now we substitute I with a product of I by coefficient 1 -b 22 in expression (18) and convert inequality (14) into equality and express b 22 from it. As a result, we get a formula to determine the level of the first economic barrier on the way to implementation of an energy-saving project at an enterprise, which will be funded by profit reinvestment: 21 1 .…”

Efficiency in an Intensive Energy Industrial Consumer

“…The case study is based on the production of white glassware dedicated to the production of calcium-sodium glass founded in 1996 located near Leiria/Portugal. The production process has several stages, from raw material to the final product Figure 2 [6]. To satisfy the factory needs of electrical power, there is an electric transformation equipment with a power of 400kVA, outside its facilities.…”