IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v114y2018icp63-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Technical skills, disinterest and non-functional regulation: Barriers to building energy efficiency in Finland viewed by energy service companies

Author

Listed:
  • Kangas, Hanna-Liisa
  • Lazarevic, David
  • Kivimaa, Paula

Abstract

Energy inefficiency in the building stock is a substantial contributor to climate change. Integrated energy service companies (IESCs) have a potentially important role in improving energy efficiency. This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the energy efficiency barriers in the Finnish building sector based on data from interviews with twelve IESCs. Taking a novel supply side perspective, we place IESCs at the centre of the emerging energy services business ecosystem to identify the barriers and hindering factors (real world illustrations of barriers). From this perspective, we also examine cause-effect relationships between the hindering factors and the actors. Hindering factors, reported by IESCs, were categorised under a revised barrier taxonomy consisting of economic market failures and economic market, behavioural, organisational and institutional barriers. The most salient hindering factors—lack of technical skills, disinterest in energy efficiency improvements and non-functional regulation—were analysed with respect to ecosystem actors causing and affected by these factors. Public actors have a key role in overcoming these barriers, for instance, by creating new possibilities for entrants to take part in decision-making, increasing the functionality and practicality of policies and by providing up-to date energy efficiency information.

Suggested Citation

  • Kangas, Hanna-Liisa & Lazarevic, David & Kivimaa, Paula, 2018. "Technical skills, disinterest and non-functional regulation: Barriers to building energy efficiency in Finland viewed by energy service companies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 63-76.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:114:y:2018:i:c:p:63-76
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2017.11.060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421517308066
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.11.060?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Marilyn A., 2001. "Market failures and barriers as a basis for clean energy policies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(14), pages 1197-1207, November.
    2. Rosenow, Jan & Bayer, Edith, 2017. "Costs and benefits of Energy Efficiency Obligations: A review of European programmes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 53-62.
    3. Clarysse, Bart & Wright, Mike & Bruneel, Johan & Mahajan, Aarti, 2014. "Creating value in ecosystems: Crossing the chasm between knowledge and business ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1164-1176.
    4. Lauri Pulkka & Miro Ristimäki & Karoliina Rajakallio & Seppo Junnila, 2016. "Applicability and benefits of the ecosystem concept in the construction industry," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 129-144, February.
    5. Duplessis, Bruno & Adnot, Jérôme & Dupont, Maxime & Racapé, François, 2012. "An empirical typology of energy services based on a well-developed market: France," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 268-276.
    6. Ástmarsson, Björn & Jensen, Per Anker & Maslesa, Esmir, 2013. "Sustainable renovation of residential buildings and the landlord/tenant dilemma," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 355-362.
    7. Vine, Edward, 2005. "An international survey of the energy service company (ESCO) industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 691-704, March.
    8. Kindström, Daniel & Ottosson, Mikael, 2016. "Local and regional energy companies offering energy services: Key activities and implications for the business model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 491-500.
    9. Sorrell, Steve, 2007. "The economics of energy service contracts," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 507-521, January.
    10. Chai, Kah-Hin & Yeo, Catrina, 2012. "Overcoming energy efficiency barriers through systems approach—A conceptual framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 460-472.
    11. Kemp, René & Pontoglio, Serena, 2011. "The innovation effects of environmental policy instruments — A typical case of the blind men and the elephant?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 28-36.
    12. Sorrell, Steve, 2015. "Reducing energy demand: A review of issues, challenges and approaches," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 74-82.
    13. Weber, Lukas, 1997. "Some reflections on barriers to the efficient use of energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(10), pages 833-835, August.
    14. Jerry A. Hausman, 1979. "Individual Discount Rates and the Purchase and Utilization of Energy-Using Durables," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 33-54, Spring.
    15. Nagesha, N. & Balachandra, P., 2006. "Barriers to energy efficiency in small industry clusters: Multi-criteria-based prioritization using the analytic hierarchy process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1969-1983.
    16. Mahapatra, Krushna & Gustavsson, Leif & Haavik, Trond & Aabrekk, Synnøve & Svendsen, Svend & Vanhoutteghem, Lies & Paiho, Satu & Ala-Juusela, Mia, 2013. "Business models for full service energy renovation of single-family houses in Nordic countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1558-1565.
    17. Cagno, E. & Worrell, E. & Trianni, A. & Pugliese, G., 2013. "A novel approach for barriers to industrial energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 290-308.
    18. Hannon, Matthew J. & Bolton, Ronan, 2015. "UK Local Authority engagement with the Energy Service Company (ESCo) model: Key characteristics, benefits, limitations and considerations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 198-212.
    19. Blumstein, Carl & Krieg, Betsy & Schipper, Lee & York, Carl, 1980. "Overcoming social and institutional barriers to energy conservation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 355-371.
    20. Marino, Angelica & Bertoldi, Paolo & Rezessy, Silvia & Boza-Kiss, Benigna, 2011. "A snapshot of the European energy service market in 2010 and policy recommendations to foster a further market development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6190-6198, October.
    21. Kivimaa, Paula & Kern, Florian, 2016. "Creative destruction or mere niche support? Innovation policy mixes for sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 205-217.
    22. Jaffe, Adam B. & Stavins, Robert N., 1994. "The energy-efficiency gap What does it mean?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(10), pages 804-810, October.
    23. Bertoldi, Paolo & Rezessy, Silvia & Vine, Edward, 2006. "Energy service companies in European countries: Current status and a strategy to foster their development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(14), pages 1818-1832, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanna-Liisa Kangas & David Lazarevic & Paula Kivimaa, 2017. "Technical skills, disinterest and non-functional regulation: Energy efficiency barriers viewed in an ecosystem of energy service companies," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-04, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    2. Apriani Soepardi & Pratikto Pratikto & Purnomo Budi Santoso & Ishardita Pambudi Tama & Patrik Thollander, 2018. "Linking of Barriers to Energy Efficiency Improvement in Indonesia’s Steel Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Trianni, Andrea & Leak, Jarrod & Hasan, A S M Monjurul, 2025. "Switching on ESCOs: Barriers, challenges and opportunities for the development of Australia's ESCO market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    4. Jafarzadeh, Sepideh & Utne, Ingrid Bouwer, 2014. "A framework to bridge the energy efficiency gap in shipping," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 603-612.
    5. Bertoldi, Paolo & Boza-Kiss, Benigna, 2017. "Analysis of barriers and drivers for the development of the ESCO markets in Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 345-355.
    6. Helms, Thorsten, 2016. "Asset transformation and the challenges to servitize a utility business model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 98-112.
    7. Kindström, Daniel & Ottosson, Mikael, 2016. "Local and regional energy companies offering energy services: Key activities and implications for the business model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 491-500.
    8. Brown, Donal & Hall, Stephen & Martiskainen, Mari & Davis, Mark E., 2022. "Conceptualising domestic energy service business models: A typology and policy recommendations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    9. Häckel, Björn & Pfosser, Stefan & Tränkler, Timm, 2017. "Explaining the energy efficiency gap - Expected Utility Theory versus Cumulative Prospect Theory," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 414-426.
    10. Monjurul Hasan, A S M & Trianni, Andrea & Shukla, Nagesh & Katic, Mile, 2022. "A novel characterization based framework to incorporate industrial energy management services," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    11. Bilous Liliia, 2020. "Determination of energy efficiency barriers taxonomy in socio-economic model of Ukraine," Technology audit and production reserves, Socionet;Technology audit and production reserves, vol. 3(4(53)), pages 14-21.
    12. Polzin, Friedemann & von Flotow, Paschen & Nolden, Colin, 2016. "What encourages local authorities to engage with energy performance contracting for retrofitting? Evidence from German municipalities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 317-330.
    13. Cagno, E. & Worrell, E. & Trianni, A. & Pugliese, G., 2013. "A novel approach for barriers to industrial energy efficiency," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 290-308.
    14. Töppel, Jannick & Tränkler, Timm, 2019. "Modeling energy efficiency insurances and energy performance contracts for a quantitative comparison of risk mitigation potential," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 842-859.
    15. Paolo Bertoldi & Marina Economidou & Valentina Palermo & Benigna Boza‐Kiss & Valeria Todeschi, 2021. "How to finance energy renovation of residential buildings: Review of current and emerging financing instruments in the EU," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), January.
    16. Rockstuhl, Sebastian & Wenninger, Simon & Wiethe, Christian & Häckel, Björn, 2021. "Understanding the risk perception of energy efficiency investments: Investment perspective vs. energy bill perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    17. Backlund, Sandra & Thollander, Patrik & Palm, Jenny & Ottosson, Mikael, 2012. "Extending the energy efficiency gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 392-396.
    18. Costa-Campi, María Teresa & García-Quevedo, José & Segarra, Agustí, 2015. "Energy efficiency determinants: An empirical analysis of Spanish innovative firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 229-239.
    19. Athena Piterou & Anne‐Marie Coles, 2021. "A review of business models for decentralised renewable energy projects," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1468-1480, March.
    20. Thollander, Patrik & Backlund, Sandra & Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico, 2013. "Beyond barriers – A case study on driving forces for improved energy efficiency in the foundry industries in Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 636-643.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:114:y:2018:i:c:p:63-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.