The German energy audit program for firms—a cost-effective way to improve energy efficiency?

Fleiter, Tobias; Gruber, Edelgard; Eichhammer, Wolfgang; Worrell, Ernst

doi:10.1007/s12053-012-9157-7

Cited by 60 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Shen et al, 2012), evaluation of energy audit programs (e.g. Fleiter et al, 2012b), energy system or process optimization by statistical modeling (e.g. Giacone & Mancò, 2012), development and evaluation of energy end-use industrial policy programs and measures (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy management in industry – a systematic review of previous findings and an integrative conceptual framework

Schulze

Nehler

Ottosson

et al. 2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

316

277

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Current research points to a large energy efficiency potential in industry which is still left unexploited. One of the most promising means of reducing energy consumption and related energy costs is implementing an energy management. This paper provides a systematic review of existing academic journal publications on energy management in industry. Five essential key elements of an energy management based on overarching themes are identified within the body of literature (strategy/planning, implementation/operation, controlling, organization and culture) and the specific findings relating to each key element are synthesized. Subsequently a conceptual framework of an energy management is developed which illustrates that a comprehensive approach is necessary in order to effectively exploit the existing energy efficiency potential. Finally implications for further research are described.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy management in industry – a systematic review of previous findings and an integrative conceptual framework

Schulze

Nehler

Ottosson

et al. 2016

Journal of Cleaner Production

316

277

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Farla and Blok (1995) estimated the degree of free-rider for the Dutch Energy Bonus to be as high as 85 % [24]. This could be compared with estimations for Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) estimated to be 0-50 % for the current Swedish LTA-program PFE [18], and for energy audits; 0 % as a general estimation based on a compilation of 42 European industrial energy programs [46], up to 9 % found in the German program [23].…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…They showed that about half of the suggested measures where implemented, where measures with low investment costs were preferred [21][22]. Fleiter et al [23] presents an evaluation of the German energy audit program and show that participating SMEs adopted 1.7-2.9 of the measures. Farla and Blok [24] found that the investment subsidy, the Dutch Energy Bonus, suffered from a large degree of free-rider effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of industrial energy and climate policies in Japan and Sweden with emphasis towards SMEs

Thollander

Kimura

Wakabayashi

et al. 2015

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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The threat of increased global warming resulting from the use of fossil fuels stresses decisionmakers to formulate and adopt policies towards different sectors of the economy. In light of the great earthquake in Japan 2011, energy efficiency also plays an important role in meeting the challenge of power supply shortage. Energy policies towards industry are of particular importance as a major part of the energy in the Economy is used in industrial production. The number of papers investigating and presenting experience from energy end-use policies are scarce. Furthermore, for those present, they often only include a very brief analysis.From a public point of view, evaluations of energy programs are of major importance to measure the performance of the programs. From an energy policy designer point of view, it is of major importance to not only see the cost-effectiveness of the policy but also to understand the fundamental mechanisms for the success or failure of an industrial energy program, in order to learn how to improve future programs.The aim of this paper is to present a review of energy end-use policy instrument in Japan and Sweden towards the industrial sector from 1990-2014, with special emphasize on industrial SMEs.From the results presented some general conclusions can be made, (1) results show that the costeffectiveness differs substantially between the evaluated programs, and (2) that from a governmental point of view, subsidies towards energy audit programs seems like the most cost-effective policy. In addition to this (3) the results from the review also stresses the importance of a clear strategy for every energy program on how the program is going to be evaluated, ex-ante or ex-post, and how the performance of the program is to be measured. This structure should be included from the start of the program.

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“…A comparison of these results with other energy audit programmes is given in Table 12, including the United States Industrial Assessment Centers (US IACs) (Anderson & Newell, 2003;Muthulingam et al, 2009), the Australian Commonwealth Government's Enterprise Energy Audit Programme (EEAP Australia) (Harris et al, 2000), Project Highland and the German energy audit programme promoted by the KfW fund (the German promotional bank) (Fleiter et al, 2012b). Only actual savings are presented in the table, and only cost-effectiveness indicators related to the public expenses.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Energy Audit Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The American programme was evaluated based on database records, while the Australian evaluation was conducted through phone interviews with 100 participating companies (Anderson & Newell, 2003;Harris et al, 2000). The German evaluation was based on online questionnaires and statistics from the KfW (Fleiter et al, 2012b), and the total energy savings in the German programme were estimated from the questionnaires (Fleiter et al, 2012b). Spill-over/free-rider effects were not considered in the first mentioned programmes, nor were the programmes' costeffectiveness indicators calculated in these energy audit programmes.…”

Section: Comparison With Other Energy Audit Programmesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Re-viewing industrial energy-efficiency improvement using a widened system boundary

Paramonova¹

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Improved energy efficiency in industry is important for reaching the targets within the EU strategy for increased sustainability. However, energy efficiency is not always prioritised within companies, and the improvement potential remains large. This paradox called an energyefficiency gap is explained by energy-efficiency barriers. The low interest in energy efficiency is also explained by the fact that it is not within companies' core competences and not perceived as strategic. The public policies aiming at closing the gap have thus far been concentrated on the faster diffusion of energy-efficient technologies. This is not sufficient, and the gap can be extended by including energy management practices. To bridge the extended gap, there is a need to introduce an extended system perspective. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the industrial energy-efficiency potential and possibilities for reaching this potential using an extended system boundary.In this thesis, the extended gap was quantified by means of classification of the energy data covering the most electricity-intensive Swedish industrial companies. The results show that technology-related measures represent 61% of energy savings, whereas management-related measures account for 38%. Energy efficiency due to management-related measures can be improved with lower costs. The energy-efficiency potentials for different levels of industrial motor systems were quantified, showing that the highest potential is found in the measures that include personal involvement and the optimisation of routines. This proves that the general approaches based on technological diffusion seem to not be sufficient to solve the energy paradox.The evaluation of the Swedish energy audit programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) proved that there is a lack of energy-related knowledge among SMEs. The implementation rate of measures proposed in the audits is only 54%, while there is also a need to reach the SMEs not covered by the programme. The international study of energy-efficiency potentials did not indicate energy management to be considered by SMEs at all.To bridge the extended gap, the external experts' knowledge on how to work with energy efficiency has to stay within companies. For this, there is a need for methods based on longterm orientation as well as a systematic view of complicated processes. The methods should be universal and applied in a particular context. An example of such a method for large industries is presented in this thesis, whereas applying it to SMEs is problematic due to limited resources. Participating in networks for energy efficiency can be a way to initiate energy-efficiency work within SMEs on a continuous basis. Moreover, this thesis shows that there is a need for the development of a common taxonomy for energy data as well as the development of a central portal where energy data can be reported and stored. This would simplify the monitoring of energy end-use, the control of measures implementation and the comparison betwe...

show abstract

The German energy audit program for firms—a cost-effective way to improve energy efficiency?

Cited by 60 publications

References 24 publications

Energy management in industry – a systematic review of previous findings and an integrative conceptual framework

Energy management in industry – a systematic review of previous findings and an integrative conceptual framework

A review of industrial energy and climate policies in Japan and Sweden with emphasis towards SMEs

Re-viewing industrial energy-efficiency improvement using a widened system boundary

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