scholarly journals Key Factors for Successful Implementation of Energy Efficiency Policy Instruments: A Theoretical Study and the Case of Latvia

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinis Aboltins ◽  
Dagnija Blumberga
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policy ◽  
Correct Sequence ◽  
Barriers To Energy Efficiency

Abstract The success of energy efficiency policy depends on a number of factors, however, simultaneous application of more than just one policy instrument, coordination of multiple different policy instruments and a correct sequence of application of policy instruments are identified in research as three key factors related directly to policy making. Energy efficiency policy instruments are about the most appropriate ways of overcoming barriers to energy efficiency. The study adopts a policy analysis approach from social sciences to illustrate the relevance of a correct policy-making process in making energy efficiency policy effective. Analysis of interaction between the modules of decision-making matrix looks at the genesis of the faulty choice of energy efficiency policies. Studies of energy efficiency policy instruments indicate that implementation of a single separate policy instrument will most likely fail to achieve the expected results of overcoming barriers to energy efficiency and simultaneous implementation or combination of several policy instruments is preferable. If more than just one separate policy instrument aiming at improving energy efficiency is employed, then coordination in between two or more policy instruments as well as correct sequence of implementation of policy instruments is essential for achieving success. Lack of or insufficient attention to a full cycle of policy analysis leads to absence of one or more of the three key factors. Decision-making about energy efficiency policy instruments becomes faulty and is based on or influenced by ad hoc decisions and random circumstances, like, for example, availability or unavailability of EU financing. Such an approach contributes to maintaining or amplifying existing or creating new barriers to energy efficiency and leads to a new cycle of faulty decisions unless a proper process of policy analysis is applied in preparing and making decisions.

Decision-making in the Swiss Energy Policy Elite

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanspeter Kriesi ◽  
Maya Jegen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Core Beliefs ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Policy Elite ◽  
Choice Approach

This paper analyzes choices concerning the increase of energy efficiency made by the Swiss energy policy elite; it is based on interviews with 240 of its members. It starts from the assumption that choices depend on characteristics of the actors involved (their membership in policy coalitions, their core beliefs etc.), the characteristics of the instruments (in particular their familiarity and the extent to which they impose constraints upon the coalitions involved) and of the policy context (policy equilibrium vs. rapid change). Depending on these characteristics, actors are expected to make choices which are to a greater or lesser degree value-rational or instrumentally rational. The results of the present analysis indicate that, rather than being exclusive alternatives, the two types of rationality often complement each other in choices among policy instruments. We hope that they provide a promising opening in the often rather sterile debate between advocates of the rational choice approach and practitioners of more classical approaches of policy analysis.

Nonincremental Policy Making: Notes Toward an Alternative Paradigm

1975 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1354-1370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Schulman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Manned Space ◽  
Divisible Goods

Much of the literature of policy analysis and public administration is dominated by incremental and “divisible goods” paradigms. Policy is assumed to be a process of marginal and adjustive decision making in which benefits are dispensed piecemeal—proportionate to prevailing distributions of power or publicized need. This essay asserts the existence of a class of nonincremental, indivisible policy pursuits for which the analytical weaponry of political science is largely inappropriate. Such policies display a distinctive set of political and administrative characteristics. These characteristics are explained and examined in connection with manned space exploration policy. An assessment is offered of the challenges posed by nonincremental policy to contemporary outlooks in political science.

scholarly journals Latvia’s Energy Efficiency Policy for the Manufacturing Industry in the Green Deal Transition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kristaps Ločmelis
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Intensity ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policy ◽  
Climate Targets ◽  
Audit Data ◽  
Industrial Energy ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
Climate Neutrality ◽  
The Impact

By 2030, the European Union (EU) must ensure a 32.5 % reduction in energy consumption compared to the 2007 baseline scenario projection. In Latvia in the period from 2021 to 2030 the cumulative energy efficiency savings of at least 73.7 PJ or 20.5 TWh are expected to be achieved, with the largest share of energy savings coming from the manufacturing sector. On December 11, 2019 the European Commission (EC) set out even more ambitious EU climate targets by publishing the European Green Deal, aiming at EU climate neutrality by 2050, which is not possible without the immediate and significant involvement of industry, while recognizing potential competitiveness risks with global players from countries and regions, where the level of ambition of climate targets lags behind the EU. Significantly, the European Green Deal does not offer to address the risks of industrial competitiveness through subsidies or tax rebates, but emphasizes the importance of energy efficiency policies in energy-intensive industries as one, if not the only, sustainable solution for maintaining global competitiveness. The aim of the study is to analyse Latvia’s energy efficiency and energy policy in relation to manufacturing industries, assessing the impact of existing policies on energy efficiency and reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the transition to climate neutrality defined in the European Green Deal, and provide recommendations for future policy instruments. The analysis includes a comparison of Latvia’s industrial energy intensity with other EU countries, as well as an assessment of the technical potential of energy efficiency in key Latvian manufacturing industries using industrial energy audit data and statistical data processing methods and benchmarking them with results of similar policy studies, assessing the potential for undiscovered energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction potential in leading industries in Latvia. The dissertation is designed as a set of publications, which combines parts of scientific publications written during doctoral studies. The introduction reflects the aims and objectives of the study, as well as a brief description of its scientific and practical significance. The first chapter examines the existing energy efficiency policy, its goals and literature review of similar policies. The second chapter provides an analysis of Latvia’s industrial sectors, their energy intensity and CO2 emission intensity. The third chapter examines the impact of support policy for energy-intensive industrial enterprises on energy efficiency measures using system dynamics modelling, as well as quantifies these support measures. In the fourth chapter, a comparative analysis of industrial energy audit data in leading industries and an assessment of the undiscovered potential of energy efficiency is performed. In the fifth chapter, the analysis of Latvia’s energy efficiency targets for industry is performed, taking into account the historical and target data of industrial energy intensity and interpreting the necessary trajectory in the context of the European Green Deal. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for future policy instruments are provided.

scholarly journals Energy Efficiency as a Wicked Problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrik Thollander ◽  
Jenny Palm ◽  
Johan Hedbrant
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Barriers To Energy Efficiency ◽  
Critical Model ◽  
Energy Efficiency Potential

Together with increased shares of renewable energy supply, improved energy efficiency is the foremost means of mitigating climate change. However, the energy efficiency potential is far from being realized, which is commonly explained by the existence of various barriers to energy efficiency. Initially mentioned by Churchman, the term “wicked problems” became established in the 1970s, meaning a kind of problem that has a resistance to resolution because of incomplete, contradictory, or changing requirements. In the academic literature, wicked problems have later served as a critical model in the understanding of various challenges related to society, such as for example climate change mitigation. This aim of this paper is to analyze how the perspective of wicked problems can contribute to an enhanced understanding of improved energy efficiency. The paper draws examples from the manufacturing sector. Results indicate that standalone technology improvements as well as energy management and energy policy programs giving emphasis to standalone technology improvements may not represent a stronger form of a wicked problem as such. Rather, it seems to be the actual decision-making process involving values among the decision makers as well as the level of needed knowledge involved in decision-making that give rise to the “wickedness”. The analysis shows that wicked problems arise in socio-technical settings involving several components such as technology, systems, institutions, and people, which make post-normal science a needed approach.

scholarly journals Integrating Pathways

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna M. Mertens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Transformative Research

Transformative research is rooted in the axiological assumption that priority be given to the furtherance of human rights and the pursuit of social justice (Mertens, 2009; 2010; Mertens, Holmes, & Harris, 2009). This belief provides a basis for subsequent decision making about methodology. Planning for utilization of findings to influence health and social policy is essential during the initial stages of research design, as well as throughout the course of the study in order to improve the probability that data are gathered and disseminated in a way that they can be used to achieve the goals of social change and social justice. Transformative researchers can use policy analysis and advocacy as avenues to social change. This paper focuses on the value of putting research side-by-side with policy making to integrate their pathways in the pursuit of social justice.

scholarly journals Serbian energy efficiency problems

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 683-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dusan Gvozdenac ◽  
Miroslav Kljajic ◽  
Branka Gvozdenac-Urosevic
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Policy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Increase Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Efficiency Policy ◽  
Energy Efficiency Improvement ◽  
The Eu ◽  
Made In

The aim of this paper is to analyze and explore the most suitable energy policy instruments for energy efficiency improvement in Serbia. The analysis has been carried out with a focus on energy indicators for Serbia and EU27. It encompasses a period of twenty-two years and is directed towards the consideration of amendments that need to be made in the National Energy Efficiency Policy. Despite constant attempts to improve and increase energy efficiency and to expand utilization of renewable energy sources, it seems that accomplished results are still very modest. The comparative analysis of the situation in the area of energy efficiency in Serbia and in the EU takes into consideration deficiencies in the energy policy in Serbia and proposed measures for overcoming them. The Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis method is used for analyzing the extent of key influences on success in the implementation of energy efficiency policy in Serbia and also for the interpretation of results. The analysis shows that identified energy policy instruments are such that the success in their implementation will depend on a reformed institutional approach. This method can be applied in any other country.

Policy Analysis in Turkey

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Analysis ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Complex Decision Making ◽  
Complex Decision

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the state of policy analysis in Turkey. Policy analysis in Turkey, both as an academic inquiry and as a systematic practice in public and other policy-oriented organizations had been quite limited up until the 1990s. The book first examines the evolution of policy analysis in Turkish academia and public organizations followed by an in-depth review of the dominant modes of policy analysis performed by governmental and non-governmental actors. Throughout the chapters a special emphasis is given to structural constraints inhibiting the adoption of policy analytic approaches as well as the facilitating actors and forces such as international organizations. Overall, we challenge the caricatured image of policy making in Turkey as a uniform, strictly top-down hierarchical process that is solely shaped by politics and reveal the more complex decision-making mechanisms that vary significantly among policy-making actors.

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