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Sourcing energy services in business-to-business contexts: practices among end-customers
Facing increased pressure to use renewable energy and achieve energy efficiency, organisations have the complex task of sourcing energy services from energy providers in business-to-business (B2B) contexts. We aimed to explore how customers in such contexts approach the sourcing of energy services. Our theoretical and empirical approach linked energy as a service offering and customer–provider interfaces used in sourcing energy services to elucidate the practices adopted in such sourcing by customers in B2B contexts. To that end, we employed a qualitative research approach using the Gioia methodology and conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with representatives of 18 firms in the B2B market for energy services in Sweden. Our results revealed two central categories of how energy services are sourced: basic and advanced. The theorising of those categories as forms of direct and indirect energy efficiency, combined with four types of energy services—information-, analysis-, improvement- and contract-oriented services, which include a description of energy services exchanged, where the customer uses the energy service, the customer’s sourcing practices and characteristics of sourcing practices—provides important contributions to the literature on energy services. In turn, we propose a four-part typology of interfaces used by providers and customers of energy services that considers the type of services sourced.
Journal Article
The Tui Na manual : Chinese massage to awaken body and mind
\"A full-color, illustrated guide to Chinese tui-na massage techniques for whole-body health Demonstrates each of the 15 unique Tui-Na techniques with rich full-color photos and step-by-step instructions Explains how to use Qi points to treat conditions in close proximity to the points as well as enact healing in tender or injured regions through the use of distant points Details how to use Tui-Na in all ages to release stress, re-energize the body, invigorate the mind, and relieve pain, sciatica, headache, sports injuries, and other common ailments Tui-Na, which means \"grasp and push,\" is a Chinese system of therapy that uses massage and bodywork manipulation to relieve pain, release tension, and treat common ailments. Often practiced in conjunction with acupuncture and Chinese herbalism, Tui-Na is also used as a treatment to address specific patterns of disharmony and stimulate the overall flow of Qi, or vital energy, throughout the body. The leading authority on Tui-Na in the West, with years of study in China, Indonesia, and Thailand, Maria Mercati combines the individual techniques of Tui-Na into an easy-to-use method for whole-body health. Providing rich full-color photos with step-by-step instructions, she demonstrates each of the 15 unique Tui-Na techniques, showing clearly where to place your hands as well as offering clear diagrams of the meridian energy channels and more than 100 powerful Qi points, where Qi energy can be directly affected to restore balance and harmony. She explains how to use the Qi points to treat conditions in close proximity as well as enact healing in tender or injured regions through the use of distant yet connected Qi points. The author details how to use Tui-Na treatments to relieve neck, shoulder, and back pain, sciatica, headache, and many other common ailments, treat sports injuries, and improve athletic performance. She also shows how it can release stress, re-energize the body, and invigorate the mind, as well as provide healing massage for adolescents, the elderly, and babies. Offering a healing method that requires no special equipment and is simple enough to do at home or in a chair at work, this fully illustrated guide provides a hands-on program to help yourself and others find whole-body health\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Financing energy efficiency : lessons from Brazil, China, India, and beyond
While energy efficiency projects could partly meet new energy demand more cheaply than new supplies, weak economic institutions in developing and transitional economies impede developing and financing energy efficiency retrofits. This book analyzes these difficulties, suggests a 3-part model for projectizing and financing energy efficiency retrofits, and presents thirteen case studies to illustrate the issues and principles involved.
eBook
Drivers and Barriers to Industrial Energy Efficiency in Textile Industries of Bangladesh
Bangladesh faced a substantial growth in primary energy demand in the last few years. According to several studies, energy generation is not the only means to address energy demand; efficient energy management practices are also very critical. A pertinent contribution in the energy management at the industrial sector ensures the proper utilization of energy. Energy management and its efficiency in the textile industries of Bangladesh are studied in this paper. The outcomes demonstrate several barriers to energy management practices which are inadequate technical cost-effective measures, inadequate capital expenditure, and poor research and development. However, this study also demonstrates that the risk of high energy prices in the future, assistance from energy professionals, and an energy management scheme constitute the important drivers for the implementation of energy efficiency measures in the studied textile mills. The studied textile industries seem unaccustomed to the dedicated energy service company concept, and insufficient information regarding energy service companies (ESCOs) and the shortage of trained professionals in energy management seem to be the reasons behind this. This paper likewise finds that 3–4% energy efficiency improvements can be gained with the help of energy management practices in these industries.
Journal Article
Public procurement of energy efficiency services : lessons from international experience
This book explores energy savings performance contracts (ESPCs) as a means of overcoming some of the more difficult hurdles in promoting energy efficiency in public facilities. ESPCs represent a very attractive solution to many of the problems that are unique to public agencies, since they involve outsourcing a full project cycle to a service provider. From the detailed audit through implementation and savings verification, ESPCs can relieve public agencies of bureaucratic hassles, while service providers can secure the off-budget project financing and be paid from the actual energy savings, thus internalizing project performance risks. ESPC bidding also allows public agencies to select from a range of technical solutions, maximizing the benefit to the agency. Global experience suggests that ESPCs have been more effective at realizing efficiency gains than many other policy measures and programs, since the service providers have a vested interest in ensuring that a project is actually implemented. Many of the country governments interviewed for the study also saw enormous potential in bundling, financing, and implementing energy efficiency projects on a larger scale in the public sector, a method that increases the rate of efficiency gains and creates further benefits through economies of scale.
eBook
Empiric Results from the Successful Implementation of Data-Driven Innovative Energy Services in Buildings
The residential building sector is critical to the success of Europe’s 2030 and 2050 decarbonization targets. To achieve that success, this paper demonstrates how advanced Pay-for-Performance (P4P) energy services for energy service companies (ESCOs) can address challenges by leveraging low-cost data collection systems in buildings to offer a combination of revenues stemming from informed decision-making, energy management optimization, and active participation in demand response schemes. Our methodology includes (i) preliminary assessments to identify each building’s occupancy patterns, equipment, and smart readiness, (ii) the installation of sensors and data gateways, (iii) the deployment of data-driven energy efficiency and demand response measures, and (iv) the evaluation of non-energy services such as comfort and air quality monitoring. We conducted empirical tests in three distinct building typologies: a multi-apartment residential building in Spain, detached dwellings in Croatia, and a hotel bungalow in Greece, to measure self-consumption savings, occupant-driven energy use behaviour changes, and the potential for explicit demand response. The results indicate overall payback periods of less than 10 years, although effectiveness varies depending on occupant engagement, building suitability, and the local energy market context. These findings reinforce the technical and economic feasibility of enhanced ESCO smart services and provide practical insights for scaling up data-driven solutions to advance Europe’s energy and climate objectives.
Journal Article
Net-zero emissions energy systems
Models show that to avert dangerous levels of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must fall to zero later this century. Most of these emissions arise from energy use. Davis et al. review what it would take to achieve decarbonization of the energy system. Some parts of the energy system are particularly difficult to decarbonize, including aviation, long-distance transport, steel and cement production, and provision of a reliable electricity supply. Current technologies and pathways show promise, but integration of now-discrete energy sectors and industrial processes is vital to achieve minimal emissions. Science , this issue p. eaas9793 Some energy services and industrial processes—such as long-distance freight transport, air travel, highly reliable electricity, and steel and cement manufacturing—are particularly difficult to provide without adding carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) to the atmosphere. Rapidly growing demand for these services, combined with long lead times for technology development and long lifetimes of energy infrastructure, make decarbonization of these services both essential and urgent. We examine barriers and opportunities associated with these difficult-to-decarbonize services and processes, including possible technological solutions and research and development priorities. A range of existing technologies could meet future demands for these services and processes without net addition of CO 2 to the atmosphere, but their use may depend on a combination of cost reductions via research and innovation, as well as coordinated deployment and integration of operations across currently discrete energy industries.
Journal Article
Enabling and hindering factors of diffusion of energy service companies in Finland—results of a Delphi study
Energy service companies (ESCOs) are often seen as a focal mechanism to improve energy efficiency. However, ESCOs have not met all the expectations which have been loaded on them and their diffusion has been slower than expected. This paper focuses on analysing the development of the ESCO sector in Finland and identifying the key factors—both drivers and barriers—that are influencing the diffusion of Finnish ESCO market. We will do this with the help of a qualitative Delphi study. The results indicate that ESCOs are still understood and known rather poorly among potential customers. Also, the current financial situation and high transaction costs in comparison to potential savings were seen as challenges among the panellists whereas active information sharing was seen as a factor that would foster the ESCO business. However, from the point of view of reaching the energy efficiency targets, the panellists did not emphasize the role of ESCOs over several other energy service providers.
Journal Article
Affordable innovation facilitating renewable energy deployment: Two ‘smart’ energy poverty alleviation case examples
This paper considers one aspect of UN SustainableDevelopment Goal SDG7 - the intention to leave no-onebehind in the transition to renewable energy. Thetarget beneficiaries have access to affordable electricity restricted insome way. Two examples of affordable innovation based on artificialintelligence-driven microgrid technology serving clients in developingand developed economies are presented. These initiatives provide directeconomic, environmental and social benefits, but also add to the quantumof renewable energy generated in their local areas. A multiplicity ofcommunity, enterprise and government actors cooperate in establishingand operating the particular programs described, and community benefitsextend beyond simple economic outcomes, e.g., building social capitaland trust in the technology. A model characterizing a broader view ofSDG 7 realization dynamics is presented. This includes theidentification of four kinds of learning space and the notion of tippingpoints, which may be topics for further research.
Journal Article