Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI

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  • Publication
    Discriminatory subsidies for energy-efficient technologies and the role of envy
    ( 2022)
    Fanghella, Valeria
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    Discriminatory subsidies, that is, subsidies for which only a subset of the population is eligible, are widespread. However, research on social preferences suggests that non-eligible households may negatively respond to these subsidies. We investigate both eligible and non-eligible households' response to discriminatory subsidies for smart thermostats using a discrete choice experiment with 3071 owner-occupiers from France and Romania. Households are randomly exposed to discriminatory subsidies through a between-subject design that manipulates two factors: type of discrimination (positive or negative) and eligibility criteria (based on geographical location or on household characteristics). A control condition (uniform subsidy) is also included. In addition, we elicit envy via an incentivized game in the sample from France. Our results show that eligible households are more likely to adopt a smart thermostat, regardless of whether the subsidy is uniform or discriminatory. By contrast, non-eligible households are less likely to adopt it, especially when eligibility criteria are based on household characteristics. We find no evidence for a moderating effect of envy.
  • Publication
    Energy Efficiency Vision 2050: How will new societal trends influence future energy demand in the European countries?
    ( 2021)
    Brugger, Heike orcid-logo
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    Eichhammer, Wolfgang orcid-logo
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    Mikova, Nadezhda
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    Dönitz, Ewa
    New societal trends are unfolding, such as digitalization, sharing economy and consumer awareness. They will highly influence future energy demand and, depending on their realization, enhance or counteract projected energy efficiency gains. Therefore, these trends have to be accompanied by policies with a strong focus on reducing energy demand (including Energy Efficiency First). This work analyzes quantitatively for all sectors how New Societal Trends interact with energy efficiency (policies). An extensive consultation with European experts identified 12 new societal trends that are likely to shape future energy demand. Based on these, four energy demand scenarios were developed for 2050. Using literature review and expert consultations, the impacts on all sectors were evaluated taking these trends explicitly into account. The results show that New Societal Trends can have a crucial impact on future energy demand beyond mere techno-economic potentials. In the best case scenario, ""New Trends Efficient"", they can reduce final energy demand by 67% compared to the EU ""Baseline"" scenario in 2050. While in the ""Worst Case"" scenario, they could increase final energy demand by 40%. This paper opens up the discussion on how New Societal Trends will shape future energy demand and emphasizes the crucial role of policy-making therein.
  • Publication
    How effective are EU minimum energy performance standards and energy labels for cold appliances?
    ( 2021)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Durand, Antoine orcid-logo
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    Brugger, Heike orcid-logo
    In most countries, minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and energy labels are the key policies to accelerate the diffusion of energy-efficient appliances and to help meet energy efficiency and climate policy targets. This paper estimates country-specific multivariate econometric models for eight EU countries over the period of 2007 to 2017 to evaluate the combined effects of changes in the MEPS and the energy labels entering into force in the EU in 2010 and 2011. The findings suggest that these policies increased the market share of cold appliances (refrigerators and fridge-freezer combinations) with an energy label of A+ and better between about 15 and 38 percentage points. For these appliances, autonomous developments (captured through a time trend) are estimated to range between 5 and 10 percentage points per year. Thus, failure to account for autonomous developments would have resulted in substantially overestimating the combined effects of MEPS and energy label policies in the EU. The findings further imply that policy evaluations should allow for policy effectiveness and autonomous developments to differ across countries.
  • Publication
    Bewertung von Energieeffizienztechnologien mit der Methodik EDUAR&D an zwei Beispielen
    ( 2021)
    Schäfer, Bernhard
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    Toro Chacón, Felipe A.
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    Brinkmann, Thorsten
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    Drews, Anja
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    Jochem, Eberhard
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    Sauer, Jörg
    Die Methodik EDUAR&D, kurz für Energiedaten und -analyse R&D, wird zur Bewertung von Energieeffizienztechniken genutzt. Es handelt sich um einen strukturierten Such- und Analyseprozess, der verschiedene methodische Ansätze zur Darstellung, Analyse und Bewertung der Techniken miteinander verbindet. Ziel ist es, Handlungsempfehlungen, z. B. bzgl. thematischer Schwerpunktsetzung, für die zukünftige Energieforschung im Rahmen der Forschungsförderung und für die Energiepolitik abzuleiten. Die Methodik wird hier am Beispiel der organophilen Nanofiltration und der Latentwärmespeicher vorgestellt.
  • Publication
    Effects of rescaling the EU energy label on household preferences for top-rated appliances
    ( 2021)
    Faure, Corinne
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
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    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
    The European Union has decided to replace its previously existing A+++ to D labelling scheme for cold appliances with a rescaled A to G labelling scheme in 2021. Employing a demographically representative discrete choice experiment on refrigerator adoption using an online survey among more than 1000 households in Germany, this paper explores the effects of the rescaled scheme compared to the previous scheme on the stated uptake of top-rated refrigerators, i.e. those classified A+++ under the previous scheme and B under the rescaled scheme. Since in practice both schemes may be shown for a transitory period, the paper also explores the effects of displaying both labels simultaneously. The findings from estimating a mixed logit model suggest that showing the rescaled label alone significantly increases valuation of top-rated refrigerators compared to showing the previous A+++ to D label alone. In comparison, when the previous A+++ to D and the rescaled A to G schemes are shown simultaneously, no benefits of introducing the rescaled label are found. Thus, policymakers should strive to enforce the application of the rescaled labelling scheme as quickly as possible and to shorten transitory periods where both labels are shown simultaneously.
  • Publication
    Would you prefer to rent rather than own your new heating system? Insights from a discrete choice experiment among owner-occupiers in the UK
    ( 2021)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Tu, Gengyang
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte
    By offering to rent energy technologies, energy suppliers and other companies may tap into new market segments, allowing them to preserve or increase market shares. Because such rental services can help overcome capital-related and other barriers to energy efficiency, they may also contribute to achieving ambitious energy and climate targets. Yet, empirical analyses of renting energy technologies are scarce. Employing a large-scale discrete choice experiment among owner-occupiers in the United Kingdom, this study explores households' willingness-to-pay for renting compared to owning their new heating system. The findings obtained from mixed logit models suggest that, on average, participants strongly dislike renting compared to owning their new heating system, in particular owner-occupiers who are older than 70 years. However, about a third of the sample is estimated to prefer renting. On average, participants also value heating cost savings associated with energy efficient heating systems and longer warranty periods. Finally, the paper discusses implications for policymakers and for providers of heating system rental services.
  • Publication
    Adoption of retrofit measures among homeowners in EU countries: The effects of access to capital and debt aversion
    ( 2021)
    Schleich, Joachim orcid-logo
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    Faure, Corinne
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    Meissner, Thomas
    Energy efficiency policies often involve low-interest loans for retrofit measures in private buildings; the main target of these loans are meant to be households with otherwise poor access to capital. However, such programs can only be successful if the targeted households also take up these loans. This paper studies the relation between access to capital and debt aversion and the adoption of retrofit measures in European Union countries, employing a demographically representative household survey including about 6600 homeowners in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The findings suggest that debt aversion negatively affects the adoption of retrofit measures by homeowners. In particular, debt-averse homeowners with poor access to capital are less likely to have adopted retrofit measures than non-debt-averse homeowners with poor access to capital. The findings further provide evidence that low-interest loan programs should be targeted at younger homeowners with lower income and less formal education.
  • Publication
    Increasing energy efficiency in the food and beverage industry: A human-centered design approach
    ( 2020)
    Millán, Gema
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    Llano, Erudino
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    Globisch, Joachim
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    Durand, Antoine orcid-logo
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    Hettesheimer, Tim
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    Alcalde, Eduardo
    Energy efficiency in companies is addressed by established tools or procedures, such as energy audits or the implementation of an energy management system in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Directive. Both options indistinctly provide sufficient information for companies to identify opportunities for improvement and savings in their energy costs. However, the influence of cultural and behavioral aspects on employees and the organizational and structural configuration of companies impacts the effectiveness of these tools. In this regard, within the framework of the INDUCE "Towards a sustainable agro-food Industry: Capacity building programmes in Energy Efficiency" project, which is an H2020 research project focused on the food and beverage industry, an innovative methodology based on the human-centered design approach has been designed to motivate and empower the key actors of companies by creating an energy culture that increases energy efficiency. This methodology, which internalizes the procedures and philosophy of continuous improvement of an energy management system, allows companies to adopt different models adapted to each situation in order to acquire an energy-efficiency culture that enables actions to be carried out in companies more effectively and with long-term impact. This paper describes the methodology and its implementation and validation within 11 pilot companies in France, Germany, Spain, and The Netherlands, providing some representative results.
  • Publication
    A comprehensive indicator set for measuring multiple benefits of energy efficiency
    ( 2020)
    Reuter, Matthias
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    Patel, Martin
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    Eichhammer, Wolfgang orcid-logo
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    Lapillonne, Bruno
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    Pollier, Karine
    In this paper, we develop a quantitative indicator approach including 20 indicators to measure the multiple benefits of energy efficiency (MB-EE). The MB-EEs are classified into three groups: environmental (e.g. energy savings, emissions), economic (e.g. GDP, employment), and social (health, energy poverty) aspects. We explain the methodological approach, the underlying data sources and limitations. The indicator set has been applied to 29 countries (EU28 plus Norway) for the period 2000 to 2015, proving that it allows to conduct in-depth comparisons of developments and differences across Europe. The indicator set also supports the design of well-suited energy policies by allowing to take into account, on an informed basis, more of the multiple impacts of energy efficiency. For example, our analysis of the effect of energy savings for the period 2000 to 2015 in Germany shows GHG savings of about 158 MtCO2eq., about 30,000 avoided deaths due to less air pollution, a reduction of Germany's import dependency by 5.8 percentage points and a growth of GDP by around 0.3% per year for the period 2010 to 2015) as a consequence of improved energy efficiency. To conclude, the presented approach allows to comprehensively and regularly assess policies in terms of their MB-EEs.
  • Publication
    Transposing the requirements of the Energy Efficiency Directive on mandatory energy audits for large companies: A policy-cycle-based review of the national implementation in the EU-28 member states
    ( 2019)
    Nabitz, Lisa
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    Hirzel, Simon orcid-logo
    Energy audits and energy management systems are recognized as important instruments to improve energy efficiency. By introducing Article 8 of its Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) the European Commission has made regular energy audits an obligation for large companies. Its transposition into national legislation by the EU-28 Member States (MS) results in different national implementations. The aim of this paper is to analyze differences and communalities in the national requirements and to derive good practice for policy makers from these. We structure the implementation process according to the theoretical concept of Policy Cycle Analysis and apply it as a heuristics from a multi-level governance perspective. The empirical analysis is based on a review of national implementation documents and 30 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the process of Article 8 EED. The transposition was delayed in more than half of the 28-EU MS. Our findings suggest that the interlinkages of the policy cycles are particularly important for a smooth policy process as MS partly interpreted the requirements differently. Further research on an updated, in-depth analysis of the correctness of the transposition as well as research on the impact of energy audits and energy management systems induced by the regulation is needed.