Patrik Thollander

Barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency in the Swedish foundry industry

Despite the need for increased industrial energy efficiency, studies indicate that cost-efficient energy conservation measures are not always implemented, explained by the existence of barriers to energy efficiency. This paper investigates the existence of different barriers to and driving forces for the implementation of energy efficiency measures in the energy intensive Swedish foundry industry. The overall results from a questionnaire show that limited access to capital constitutes by far the largest barrier to energy efficiency according to the respondents. A comparison between group-owned and privately owned foundries shows that, except for limited access to capital, they face different high-ranked barriers. While barriers within group owned companies are more related to organizational problems, barriers within private foundries are more related to information problems. This study also found that energy consultants or other actors working with energy issues in foundries are of major importance in overcoming the largest barriers, as the foundries consider them trustworthy. They may thus help the foundries overcome organizational problems such as lack of sub-metering and lack of budget funds by quantifying potential energy efficiency investments. The two, by far, most important drivers were found to be people with real ambition and long-term energy strategies.

Improving energy efficiency in industrial energy systems : an interdisciplinary perspective on barriers, energy audits, energy management, policies, and programs

Industrial energy efficiency is one of the most important means of reducing the threat of increased global warming. Research however states that despite the existence of numerous technical energy e ...

Increased energy efficiency in a Swedish iron foundry through use of discrete event simulation

There is a long lasting debate concerning the rapidly increasing energy prices in Sweden. For industry the prices has increased by roughly 100 percent the last 5 years. This situation has resulted in an extensive energy research and the work of this paper is part of that development. The paper presents a methodology to analyze and reduce the energy use within energy-intensive companies where the Swedish foundries are the main targets. The methodology is tested on a Swedish iron foundry. The paper shows that using specially built simulation models, companies can lower their energy costs by planning the production in a more efficient way. The methodology described helps breaking down energy parameters into groups and gives examples of how the simulation model can be built to take energy use into consideration

Categorizing Barriers to Energy Efficiency – an Interdisciplinary Perspective

In this book, energy consumption in the household sector is examined. Barriers to and enablers of energy efficiency in households in relation to governmental policy formulation, the implementation ...

Energy in Swedish industry 2020 – current status, policy instruments, and policy implications

The EU has established so-called 20–20–20 targets, which in relation to energy mean that each Member State shall improve energy intensity levels by 3.3% annually, leading to a reduced primary energy use of 20% by the year 2020, calculated from a projected level based on the primary energy use in 2005. Sweden has established a less ambitious target of 1.7% annual energy intensity improvement through 2020. The aim of this paper is to evaluate, ex-ante, the EU 2020 primary energy target for the Swedish industrial sector. An applied backcasting methodology is used. The assessment made in this paper is that actions that lead to between 31.6 and 33.2 TWh/year reductions in energy end-use are needed if the EU target is to be achieved. Results from this paper shows that the current energy policy instruments are not sufficient to the EU or Swedish targets. Estimations in this paper are that a primary energy target of about 22.3 TWh/year is reasonable. The paper concludes by presenting a roadmap on how the Swedish 2020 target can be achieved through: i) energy management; ii) energy-efficient technology; and iii) energy supply measures, with an approximate cost of 280–300 MEUR or 75–80 kWh per public EUR. Three major additional policy measures are needed compared with the current policy: including all energy carriers, not just electricity, in the Swedish long-term agreements program PFE; setting up networks; and making it possible for third parties, i.e., industry, to deliver excess heat into the monopolized Swedish district heating grids.

Research on Services in the Manufacturing Industry based on a Holistic Viewpoint and Interdisciplinary Approach

This paper begins by consolidating industrial challenges and research issues concerning Product/Service Systems obtained through various activities by the authors. Based on this, it points out the importance of the holistic view in further research in this area so that PSS providers do not fall into local optimization. The intent of this contribution to our research community includes shedding light on interesting issues that thus far have been relatively invisible and with narrower scope.

Improved energy-efficient production using discrete event simulation

There is currently considerable debate concerning increasing energy prices. For Swedish industry electricity prices have increased rapidly during the last 6 years, roughly doubling the cost. This situation has been the catalyst for significant increases in energy research and the research work presented in this paper is part of this growing body. The paper reports an approach to analyse and reduce energy use within energy-intensive industry, whereby a Swedish iron foundry is used as a test case. The results show that by using a customized simulation model a company can lower its overall energy costs through improved planning of the production process. The method formulated enables the disaggregating of energy parameters into groupings and provides examples of how the simulation model can be realized in order to account for energy usage. Different aspects of energy and power usage as well as the corresponding costs are analysed.

Energy related outsourcing - the case of ESCOs in the Swedish pulp and paper industry

Industrial energy efficiency is stated as a major means of reducing the threat of increased global warming, caused by human use of fossil fuels. Energy service companies (ESCOs) have been expected to play an important role in promoting energy efficiency in different sectors of the economy, including industry. Energy related outsourcing in the complex energy intensive pulp and paper industry, with a continuous production process, represents one of the more challenging types of industrial outsourcing. This paper studies the role of ESCOs as a method to promote energy efficiency in the Swedish pulp and paper industry. A questionnaire was used, complemented by in-depth interviews with mill executives in order to gain more knowledge of the issue. The main conclusion from this paper is that the utilization of ESCOs in the pulp and paper industry is higher in activities with a lower level of energy integration in the production process, and on the contrary, the utilization of ESCOs is lower with a higher level of energy integration in the production process. Since the PPI is a mature industry with a globally well-known and well-spread technique, results from this paper, may plausibly be generalized for PPIs in other countries as well.

Barriers to Energy Efficiency: Theoretical Baseline, Previous Research, and Methodological Approaches

In this chapter, we will discuss earlier research into the often acknowledged “energy efficiency gap.” This concept refers to the assumption that though technologies, methods, and processes exist for reducing energy use in industry, barriers hinder their implementation. To reduce the energy efficiency gap, researchers have defined and analyzed barriers identified in industry. Studies classify these barriers in various ways; here, we will discuss a categorization of these barriers as market failure, nonmarket failure, behavioral, and organizational barriers. This chapter also deals with the major research design approaches used in barrier research and cites examples from studies of barriers. We also believe that structural barriers, unrelated to the site level, as well as energy services must be considered when discussing the energy efficiency gap and how to resolve the gap.

Barriers to Energy Efficiency from a Sociotechnical Perspective

In this chapter, we discuss how barrier theory can be developed, by introducing a multi-level perspective focusing on the social context in which decisions are embedded and taking account of the values and traditions established within, for example, sociotechnical regimes. We also discuss how lessons learned regarding energy use in practices other than industry can build our understanding of the barriers to and enablers of energy efficiency. We reexamine the barriers introduced in “Barriers to Energy Efficiency: Theoretical Baseline, Previous Research, and Methodological Approaches” and discuss them in relation to social science theoretical perspectives. Throughout the book, we emphasize that it is important to approach barriers from new perspectives, to arrive at new understandings or questions as to why a particular barrier is perceived as important in a company. We conclude this chapter by presenting a new way of classifying barriers and considering the impact this might have on our approach to the energy efficiency gap.