About the project
The focus of this project is to develop knowledge for understanding energy use to assist policy makers in forming effective policies for energy savings.
Policies for energy savings are one of the main elements of the Europe 2020 flagship initiative for a resource-efficient Europe (European Commission, 2011). It is described as the most cost-effective and fastest way to increase security of supply, and as an effective way to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions (IEA 2010).
However, experience and research show that it is difficult to realise the potential for energy savings. This project seeks to answer how energy savings could be realised in practice. We employ a multi-level analysis and study the links between EU policies to the national regulations to the various actors involved in the energy and building sector in Norway such as electricity suppliers, network companies, private suppliers of energy saving devices as well as end users. By bringing in perspectives from different disciplines and also sectors with practical knowledge, we hope to be able to broaden the understanding of energy use. As case studies, we will focus on some of the most promising instruments for releasing energy saving potentials; Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) and smart meters (AMS) with displays.
Duration: 2012-2014
Objectives
Main research question:
How may the political, social, economic and technical dimensions of energy use be understood, and how may an integrated framework of these dimensions be used for forming efficient policies for energy savings?
Additional research questions:
- what is a suited interdisciplinary framework for understanding the political, social, economic and technical dimensions of energy use and the way such dimensions are interlinked?
- how are EPC and AMS/diplays being implemented in Norway and what are the effects in terms of barriers and opportunities for the realisation of energy savings?
- how might these instruments be designed to obtain the largest effects on energy savings?
- which factors shape the development of Norwegian EPC and AMS/display policies?
- what policy implications for energy savings can be drawn from the project in particular for the development of the regulatory framework and implementation of EPC and AMS/displays?
Financing
The Norwegian Research Council
Cooperation
A research project at CICERO / SUM / The Fridtjof Nansen Institute / Durham University.