Climate change, due to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, is driving policymakers to make decisions to promote more efficient energy use. Improved industrial energy efficiency is said to play a key role in the transition to more carbon-neutral energy systems. In most countries, industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent 95% or more of the total number of companies. Thus, SMEs, apart from using energy, are a major driver in the economy with regard to innovation, GDP growth, employment, investments, exports, etc. Despite this, research and policy activities related to SMEs have been scarce, calling for contributions in the field. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to critically assess how adequate energy efficiency policy programmes for industrial SMEs could be designed. Results show that scientific publications in the field differ in scope and origin, but a major emphasis of the scientific papers has been on barriers to and drivers for energy efficiency. Scientific contributions from studies of energy policy programmes primarily cover energy audit programmes and show that the major energy efficiency measures from industrial SMEs are found in support processes. The review further reveals an imbalance in geographic scope of the papers within the field, where a vast majority of the papers emanate from Europe, calling for scientific publications from other parts of the world. The study synthesizes the findings into a general method on how to design efficiency programs for the sector.

Improved energy efficiency is a key component towards sustainable and climate-neutral industrial energy systems. The potential for industrial energy efficiency varies between sectors and processes but is stated to be high. Implementation of energy efficiency measures and activities could also result in benefits in addition to energy cost savings, benefits that are more difficult to quantify in economic terms. Research shows that additional gains from investments are underestimated as non-energy benefits (NEBs) are often neglected when the financial attractiveness of energy efficiency investments are evaluated. In the literature, great attention has been given to realise industrial energy efficiency potential through industrial energy policies and programs, in order to promote investments and implementation of new, more efficient technologies and processes. The most internationally common industrial energy policies for industrial SMEs are energy audit programs, but energy efficiency networks have also received increased attention from policymakers. However, there is a scarcity of studies exploring NEBs in relation to industrial SME energy audits and energy efficiency network policy programs. The aim of this study was to identify and compare NEBs from two key energy efficiency policies: energy audit and energy efficiency network programs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with executives at two groups of industrial companies: companies that participated in the regional Swedish energy efficiency network policy program, and participants from the national energy audit program, Swedish Energy Audit Program (SEAP). The overall most commonly mentioned NEBs were related to production, such as increased lifetime of equipment and more reliable production. However, while participants from the energy audit program related these NEBs mainly to technical installations, network participants also saw these types of NEBs from energy management practices. If NEBs were to be included in energy audit programs the benefit of the audits could be increased, but will then particularly affect the technical installations. NEBs in terms of network participation were shown to lead to an increase in the general benefits of the networks, and for network companies NEBs are also linked to measures related to operation and maintenance, i.e., energy management practices. One difference between the two groups was that NEB improved the company’s environmental image. Two of the companies participating in the network policy program had presented their participation on their public webpage perceiving this as a very important benefit, while respondents from the energy audit program could not relate their company image to their energy audit. One additional NEB that was found, not previously mentioned in the scientific literature on NEBs, was that among the network participants, establishing contacts with other companies in the region was considered of great importance, and further contacts that would not have been established outside of the network. Results even found new customer relationships as a result of the network. This finding is of a general nature, thus apart from the other commonly known NEBs, an additional NEB that primarily relates to participation in energy efficiency networks that this study found is establishing new relationships with other companies in the region.

Improved energy efficiency is one of the key elements to decouple energy-related emissions from economic growth. Since the energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises are underdeveloped, most of the energy efficiency potential is left untapped. Studies show that several barriers pertaining to economic, technological, and organizational systems lead to poor implementation rates of energy efficiency measures. An energy efficiency network is considered effective in overcoming these barriers and promoting energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper explores the role of energy efficiency networks, and specifically the role of its functions in overcoming the identified barriers from literature. This study was carried out as a multiple case study including 13 industrial small and medium-sized enterprises using semi-structured interviews with participants from companies in a Swedish regional energy efficiency network program. Results show that energy efficiency networks are effective in overcoming some of the barriers to energy efficiency implementation and that the present functions are effective in addressing some barriers faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, e.g., energy efficiency implementation barriers such as lack of time and resources. However, some barriers still remain as constraints for energy efficiency implementation, even after energy efficiency network participation.

The energy efficiency gap is known as the difference between optimal level of energy efficiency and the actual level of achieved energy efficiency. Energy management has proven to further close the energy efficiency gap. Energy management may differ depending on whether it concerns a large, energy-intensive company or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are of high interest since they form a large share of the economy today. For SMEs, a lighter form of energy management, in the form of energy efficiency network participation, has proven to deliver sound energy efficiency impact, while for larger, energy-intensive firms, a certified energy management system may be more suitable. However, various barriers inhibit adoption of energy efficiency measures. While there is an array of research on barriers to and driving forces for energy efficiency in general, research on barriers to, and driving forces for, energy management is rare, one exception being a study of energy-intensive pulp and paper mills. This holds even more so for industrial SMEs. This paper aims to identify the barriers to, and drivers for, energy management in manufacturing SMEs. Results of this explorative study show that the top four barriers to energy management are lack of time/other priorities, non-energy-related working tasks are prioritized higher, slim organization, and lack of internal expert competences, i.e., mainly organizational barriers. The top four drivers for energy management are to reduce production waste, participation in energy efficiency networks, cost reduction from lower energy use, and commitment from top management. Furthermore, results show that energy management among the studied SMEs seems to not be as mature, even though the companies participated in an energy management capacity building program in the form of energy efficiency networks, which, in turn, shows a still largely untapped potential in the societal aim to reduce the energy efficiency and management gaps. The main contribution of this paper is a first novel attempt to explore barriers to, and drivers for, energy management among SMEs.

Improved energy efficiency is a key factor in the shift towards sustainable energy systems and net zero emissions, both locally, regionally and globally. The total energy efficiency potential in industrial SMEs is high, but despite this large potential for improved energy efficiency, the full potential is not realized due to several barriers to implementation of energy efficiency measures. The barriers vary based on e.g., geographic location, company size, sector, etc., but for industrial SMEs the main barriers are other priorities, lack of time and lack of information about energy efficiency measures. Energy efficiency networks help companies with the support needed to successfully work with energy efficiency on site, such as conducting an energy audit, making an energy and implementation plan, and monitoring the results. However, there is so far a scarcity of ex-post evaluations of energy efficiency network policy programmes. The aim of this paper is to provide an ex-post impact evaluation of a Swedish regional energy efficiency network programme and propose a general method on how to evaluate energy efficiency networks. Results show that the achieved energy efficiency for the evaluated network policy programme is higher than previously evaluated stand-alone energy audit programmes, and that the majority of deployed energy efficiency measures are found among the support processes, such as space heating, ventilation and lighting.