Abstract

An exploratory study was carried out to construct an energy-saving model for industrial firms. The desire to gain more insight into industrial energy savings and the influence of policy instruments formed the background to this study into existing energy-saving computer models, determinants of energy use and the search for empirical data. The comparison of the three computer models, NEMO, SAVE and MEI, led to ideas on the desired structure of the model. The determinants of energy use have been divided into four categories: 1) technical energy-saving measures (e.g. complexity, investment costs); 2) industrial sector (e.g. innovation efforts, willingness to invest); 3) social surroundings (e.g. social pressure, activity of environmental interest groups) and 4) policy instruments and policy surroundings (e.g. levies, subsidies, voluntary agreements, enforcement). The search for empirical data was intended, on the one hand, to create awareness of the significance of the determinant intercomparison and, on the other, to discover what data on implementation of measures are really known. Unfortunately, the search for known data yielded very little. However, this study did provide an incentive for structuring a new model that would focus on the 'actors' and their role, energy-saving measures, social surroundings and policy instruments. The intention is to construct a computer model in STELLA software which will be capable of analysing policy instruments according to use (e.g. analysis of non-monetary instruments on their non-monetary merit), and which will incorporate policy implementation and maintenance. The model will also carry out 'bottom up' calculations (i.e. on the basis of measures) and do justice to the decision-making processes in firms. In the coming months, a research model - starting with a prototype- is to be built to meet the functional demands.