IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v49y2013icp444-458.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empirical investigation of energy efficiency barriers in Italian manufacturing SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Trianni, Andrea
  • Cagno, Enrico
  • Worrell, Ernst
  • Pugliese, Giacomo

Abstract

The paper identifies and evaluates barriers to industrial energy efficiency through the investigation of 48 manufacturing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Northern Italy. The research provides interesting suggestions both for enterprises and energy policy-makers. Firstly, economic and information barriers are perceived as the major obstacles to the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, whilst behavioural barriers do not seem to affect enterprises very much. Nonetheless, despite what declared, the most relevant barriers are the lack of interest in energy efficiency and the existence of other priorities, thus showing that decision-makers tend to downgrade energy efficiency to a marginal issue. Furthermore, perceived barriers do not take place exclusively in implementing energy-efficient technologies, but, with comparable importance, also in generating the interest and knowledge of the opportunities. Moreover, the study highlights that relevant differences can be appreciated for both perceived and real barriers even among SMEs, that thus should not be bundled together. In addition to that, other factors affect barriers, stimulating future research: indeed, lower real barriers can be observed with higher complexity of the production, high variability of the demand and strong competitors.

Suggested Citation

  • Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & Worrell, Ernst & Pugliese, Giacomo, 2013. "Empirical investigation of energy efficiency barriers in Italian manufacturing SMEs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 444-458.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:49:y:2013:i:c:p:444-458
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2012.10.012
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212007748
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2012.10.012?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Almeida, Anibal T. & Fonseca, Paula & Falkner, Hugh & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2003. "Market transformation of energy-efficient motor technologies in the EU," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 563-575, May.
    2. Cagno, E. & Trucco, P. & Trianni, A. & Sala, G., 2010. "Quick-E-scan: A methodology for the energy scan of SMEs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1916-1926.
    3. Rohdin, P. & Thollander, P., 2006. "Barriers to and driving forces for energy efficiency in the non-energy intensive manufacturing industry in Sweden," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1836-1844.
    4. Weber, Lukas, 1997. "Some reflections on barriers to the efficient use of energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(10), pages 833-835, August.
    5. 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.
    6. Worrell, Ernst & Laitner, John A & Ruth, Michael & Finman, Hodayah, 2003. "Productivity benefits of industrial energy efficiency measures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1081-1098.
    7. Christos Kalantaridis, 1999. "Processes of innovation among manufacturing SMEs: the experience of Bedfordshire," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 57-78, January.
    8. Ramírez, C.A. & Patel, M. & Blok, K., 2005. "The non-energy intensive manufacturing sector," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 749-767.
    9. Rohdin, Patrik & Thollander, Patrik & Solding, Petter, 2007. "Barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency in the Swedish foundry industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 672-677, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Trianni, A. & Cagno, E., 2012. "Dealing with barriers to energy efficiency and SMEs: Some empirical evidences," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 494-504.
    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. 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.
    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. Cagno, Enrico & Trianni, Andrea, 2013. "Exploring drivers for energy efficiency within small- and medium-sized enterprises: First evidences from Italian manufacturing enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 276-285.
    4. Fredrik Backman, 2017. "Barriers to Energy Efficiency in Swedish Non-Energy-Intensive Micro- and Small-Sized Enterprises—A Case Study of a Local Energy Program," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Jafarzadeh, Sepideh & Utne, Ingrid Bouwer, 2014. "A framework to bridge the energy efficiency gap in shipping," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 603-612.
    6. 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.
    7. Fleiter, Tobias & Schleich, Joachim & Ravivanpong, Ployplearn, 2012. "Adoption of energy-efficiency measures in SMEs—An empirical analysis based on energy audit data from Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 863-875.
    8. Therese Nehler, 2018. "A Systematic Literature Review of Methods for Improved Utilisation of the Non-Energy Benefits of Industrial Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-27, November.
    9. Trianni, A. & Cagno, E., 2012. "Dealing with barriers to energy efficiency and SMEs: Some empirical evidences," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 494-504.
    10. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & Worrell, Ernst, 2013. "Innovation and adoption of energy efficient technologies: An exploratory analysis of Italian primary metal manufacturing SMEs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 430-440.
    11. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & Farné, Stefano, 2016. "Barriers, drivers and decision-making process for industrial energy efficiency: A broad study among manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1537-1551.
    12. Du, Ping & Zheng, Li-Qun & Xie, Bai-Chen & Mahalingam, Arjun, 2014. "Barriers to the adoption of energy-saving technologies in the building sector: A survey study of Jing-jin-tang, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 206-216.
    13. Andrea Trianni & Davide Accordini & Enrico Cagno, 2020. "Identification and Categorization of Factors Affecting the Adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures within Compressed Air Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-51, October.
    14. Antonella Biscione & Dorothée Boccanfuso & Annunziata de Felice & Francesco Porcelli, 2023. "Barriers to firms’ energy efficiency in transition countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(36), pages 4258-4272, August.
    15. Trianni, Andrea & Cagno, Enrico & De Donatis, Alessio, 2014. "A framework to characterize energy efficiency measures," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 207-220.
    16. May, Gökan & Stahl, Bojan & Taisch, Marco, 2016. "Energy management in manufacturing: Toward eco-factories of the future – A focus group study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 628-638.
    17. Herrera, Bernardo & Amell, Andrés & Chejne, Farid & Cacua, Karen & Manrique, Raiza & Henao, Wilson & Vallejo, Gabriel, 2017. "Use of thermal energy and analysis of barriers to the implementation of thermal efficiency measures in cement production: Exploratory study in Colombia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 1047-1058.
    18. Backlund, Sandra & Thollander, Patrik & Palm, Jenny & Ottosson, Mikael, 2012. "Extending the energy efficiency gap," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 392-396.
    19. Hasan, A S M Monjurul & Tuhin, Rashedul Amin & Ullah, Mahfuz & Sakib, Taiyeb Hasan & Thollander, Patrik & Trianni, Andrea, 2021. "A comprehensive investigation of energy management practices within energy intensive industries in Bangladesh," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    20. Apriani Soepardi & Patrik Thollander, 2018. "Analysis of Relationships among Organizational Barriers to Energy Efficiency Improvement: A Case Study in Indonesia’s Steel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, January.

    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:energy:v:49:y:2013:i:c:p:444-458. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.