Abstract
This paper compares how analyses of energy use and efficiency have developed in households and industrial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I focus on earlier studies that use lifestyle categories in examining household energy use, comparing them with studies of mainly Swedish industrial SMEs using the barrier concept in understanding energy efficiency. The main question is how the use of lifestyle categories in household research can be adapted to industrial SMEs. The rationale for using doing this is to find a new way to approach industrial energy use that can give new insight or raise new questions. Lifestyle categories capture the energy culture of a company, including how energy is perceived and what habits and routines are like. Lifestyle categorisation complements barrier analysis, deepening our understanding of how and why companies improve energy efficiency. Using lifestyle categories in an analysis can help policy makers, who can then direct specific policies to particular segments of companies.
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Acknowledgements
The research for this paper forms part of the research programme ‘Energy choices in households—a platform for change’, funded by the Swedish Energy Agency. I also wish to thank my blind reviewers for their valuable comments on the first version of this paper.
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Palm, J. Placing barriers to industrial energy efficiency in a social context: a discussion of lifestyle categorisation. Energy Efficiency 2, 263–270 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-009-9042-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-009-9042-1