Colin Nolden

Exploring the Role of Servitization to Overcome Barriers for Innovative Energy Efficiency Technologies – The Case of Public LED Street Lighting in German Municipalities

In this paper we analyse the case for public application of LED street lighting. Drawing from the energy services literature and transaction cost economics, we compare modes of lighting governance for modernisation. We argue that servitization can accelerate the commercialisation and diffusion of end-use energy demand reduction (EUED) technologies in the public sector if third party energy service companies (ESCo) overcome technological, institutional and economic barriers that accompany the introduction of such technologies resulting in transaction costs. This can only succeed with a supportive policy framework and an environment conducive towards the dissemination of specific technological and commercial knowledge required for the diffusion process.

Innovative Procurement Frameworks for Energy Performance Contracting in the UK Public Sector

Procurement Frameworks for Energy Performance Contracting (PFEPCs) simplify the process of negotiating, developing and implementing Energy Performance Contracts (EPCs) with Energy Service Companies (ESCOs). This paper analyses their role in promoting the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures in the UK public sector. Compared to conventional approaches to procuring goods and services involving detailed specifications, PFEPCs translate the challenge of upgrading, retrofitting and replacing energy related equipment and infrastructures into required outputs through functional specifications. The innovativeness of specific PFEPCs often lies less in the diffusion of ‘developmental’ innovative energy efficient solutions, although partner bidding approaches create favourable conditions for innovation. However increasing standardisation and bundling prove successful at lowering transaction cost, which enables ESCOs to address projects which would not be considered in the absence of PFEPsdue to high transaction costs. This particular organisational innovation opens the market up to new approaches to implementing costeffective energy efficiency measures.

Drivers and Barriers for Municipal Retrofitting Activities Evidence from a Large-Scale Survey of German Local Authorities

Local authorities are key actors for implementing innovative energy efficiency technologies (retrofitting) to reduce end-use energy demand and consequently reduce negative effects of high energy use such as climate change and public budget deficits. This paper reports the results of a large-scale survey of German municipalities assessing drivers and barriers for deploying LED street lighting as an example of innovative retrofits. The results indicate competencies and capacities, transparency of the underlying technology base, and a clear proposition of savings are crucial drivers for municipal retrofitting engagement. Most significant barriers include lack of experience, the tendency to wait for future improvements of innovative energy efficiency technologies, and existing contracts with energy suppliers, manufacturers, or other conventional retrofitting contractors. Investments in municipal competency building (both regarding technologies and procurement) as well as diffusing standard tendering criteria and (public) monitoring their effectiveness are highly recommended to accelerate the municipal modernisation process.

The Road to Paris

To many extents, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change represents the culmination of a 25-year diplomatic debate involving a multitude of stakeholders, including policy makers, scholars, and a plethora of different interest groups. At the same time, the Paris Agreement embodies the foundation of a global transformation that can lead to the establishment of a low-carbon society and economy worldwide by the end of this century. Understanding how such utopic ambition has been codified and ratified in an international treaty and whether the treaty can trigger low-carbon transformation processes requires first of all an understanding of its history. By providing a summary of the key events that characterised the 25-year pathway that led to the Paris Agreement, this chapter offers the information required to understand the Agreement’s ambition. The description of the negotiation process since 1992 sheds light on the dramatic shifts of power that shaped its evolution. The Chapter concludes with a detailed description of the Paris Agreement, its content, its achievements, as well as its most significant unsolved issues.