Energy saving by firms: decision-making, barriers and policies

Abstract

Abstract.Promoting investments in energy saving technologies is an important means for achieving environmental goals. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence on success conditions of policies is scarce. Based on a survey among Dutch firms, this paper sets out to identify the factors that determine the investment behaviour of firms, their attitude towards various types of energy policy, and their responsiveness to changes in environmental policy in the Netherlands. On the basis of discrete choice models, this paper aims to investigate empirically whether (and how) these strategic features vary over firm characteristics and over sectors. JEL-codes: D20, Q40, Q48

An energy efficient Swedish pulp and paper industry – exploring barriers to and driving forces for cost-effective energy efficiency investments

“…The response rate was 40 replies or 68% which may be considered high compared to similar studies, e.g. Velthuijsen (1995) andde Groot (2001). To avoid imbalanced results between different types of mills, the results were initially split into two groups: one which consisted of mechanical mills and the other chemical mills.…”

“…One market related driving force is thus cost reductions resulting from lower energy use (de Groot et al, 2001 anddel Rio Gonzalez, 2005). Other market related factors stressing the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures include the threat of rising energy prices and international competition, derived from Rohdin and Thollander (2006).…”

Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap—A Systematic Review of Empirical Articles on Drivers to Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing Firms

“…Among the included articles, 59% consider energy-intensive industries and 26% non-energy-intensive sectors, while 15% of the studies do not report an industrial focus. In accordance with definitions in previous studies, we consider the following sectors as energy-intensive: chemical and petrochemical, basic metals, non-metallic minerals, paper and print, and food and tobacco [22,[52][53][54][55]. A preliminary temporal analysis of the sectorial distribution of the empirical data (Table A2) indicated a relatively stable coverage of the sectors.…”

Information Flow and Its Significance in Coherently Integrated Policymaking for Promoting Energy Efficiency

“…In their survey of investment decisions in energy saving technologies of 138 Dutch firms, de Groot et al (20) found that while the economic potential for cost savings is the most important driving force behind such investment decisions, a stricter environmental policy is actually acceptable for most firms, provided that it does not negatively affect profitability and compromise competitive position of firms. Also, a policy that is enforced and monitored internationally (i.e., applied to their business competitors) is more acceptable than one that only applies to the local market.…”