Brief notes

There are several short briefs that should be of interest.

• Jan Rosenow and Nicholas Howarth have published a new academic report on banning the incandescent lightbulb in Germany. Much academic attention has been directed at analysing energy efficiency investments through the lens of ‘behavioural failure’. These studies have challenged the neoclassical framing of regulation which emphasises the efficiency benefits of price based policy, underpinned by the notion of rational individual self-mastery. The increasing use of a regulatory ban on electric lamps in many countries is one of the most recent and high profile flash points in this dialectic of ‘freedom-versus-the-state’ in the public policy discourse. This paper interrogates this debate through a study of electric lamp diffusion in Germany. It is argued that neoclassical theory and equilibrium analysis is inadequate as a tool for policy analysis as it takes the formation of market institutions, such as existing regulations, for granted. Further still, it may be prone to encourage idealistic debates around such grand narratives which may in practice simply serve those who benefit most from the status quo. Instead we argue for an evolutionary approach which we suggest offers a more pragmatic framing tool which focuses on the formation of market institutions in light of shifting social norms and political goals—in our case, progress towards energy efficiency and environmental goals.

Jan is a frequent contributor to EiD and is from the School of Geography and Environment, Oxford University while Nicholas is from the same School together from the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The report is available (at a cost) on the ScienceDirect website.

• EnergyPages – Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes (EEIP), a not-for-profit industrial energy efficiency platform based in Brussels, recently launched its new business tool, EnergyPages, the first Directory 2.0 – a community based energy efficiency marketplace. EnergyPages is an electronic telephone book for the industrial energy efficiency community in most regions of the world.  It was designed to meet specific identified needs of that community:  finding specialists for industrial energy efficiency projects capable of delivering products and services in a certain country or locality; and expertise based search option.  Check out EnergyPages at the EEIP website.

• World Sustainable Energy Days, Wels, Austria, 26-28 February, 2014 – There are many elements.  The European Pellet Conference will be February 26th and 27th, the European Nearly Zero Energy Buildings Conference will be February 27th and 28th and WSED Next which is a platform for presenting the work of young researchers and for interaction with experts and decision makers from industry and institutions will be on February 26th and 27th.  And there is plenty more.  Please check out WSED at its website. WSED has become a “not to miss” event.

• eceee Industrial Summer Study, Papendal, Arnhem, the Netherlands, June 2-5, 2014 – The theme is “Retool for a Competitive and Sustainable Industry.” It covers all types of industry, from manufacturing and food processing to heavy process industry, and it covers large companies as well as SMEs.  There are six themes for the 2014 Summer Study:

– Programmes to promote industrial energy efficiency

– Sustainable production design and supply chain initiatives

– Matching policies and drivers: Policies and directives to drive industrial efficiency

– Undertaking high impact actions: The role of technology and systems optimisation

– The role of energy management systems, education, outreach and training

– Business models to improve industrial efficiency, global perspective.

There is early bird registration until February 14^th. More information is available on the eceee website.