Seeking the Pressure Points: Catalysing Low Carbon Changes from the Middle-Out in Offices and Schools

Non-domestic buildings are frequently characterised as resistant to top-down low-carbon and energy-efficiency policy. Complex relationships amongst building stakeholders are often blamed. “Middle actors”—professionals situated between policymakers and building users—can use their agency and capacity to facilitate energy and carbon decision-making from the “middle-out”. We use semi-structured interviews with expert middle actors working with schools and commercial offices, firstly, to explore their experience of energy and low-carbon decision-making in buildings and, secondly, to reflect on the evolution of middle actors’ role within it. Our exploratory findings suggest that a situated sensitivity to organisational “pressure points” can enhance middle actors’ agency and capacity to catalyse change. We find shifts in the ecology of the “middle”, as the UK’s Net Zero and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agendas pull in new middle actors (such as the financial community) and issues (such as wellbeing and social value) to non-domestic buildings. These issues may work in reinforcing ways with organisational pressure points. Policy should capitalise on this impetus by looking beyond the physicality of individual buildings and engage with middle actors at a systemic level. This could create greater synergies with organisational concerns and strategies of building stakeholders.

Unintended Effects of Energy Efficiency Policy: Lessons Learned in the Residential Sector

The European Union has set an ambitious goal to tackle climate change, and energy efficiency in the residential sector is among the measures required to close the gap between targeted and actual greenhouse gas emissions. While different policy tools have been applied, the diffusion rate of these measures remains low. A system dynamics simulation model of the residential sector was developed to assess the advantages and drawbacks of energy efficiency policy in the multi-family building sector based on experience accumulated over the last twelve years in Latvia. The model was validated in expert group model building sessions and with historical trends. Simulating the model, a hypothesis was tested that supported the idea that seemingly positive policy tools set the stage for a series of unintended adverse effects due to the complex interactions between different system components. The common assumption that information and financial support should result in significant energy efficiency diffusion proved to be wrong. It instead results in unintended long-term consequences that hamper national energy efficiency goals. The model carried out an analysis and brought insights for improving the effectiveness of government energy efficiency policy. It is concluded that models that broadly describe complex systems are needed to identify effective policies and foresee unintended side effects.

Assessment of Renewable Electricity Policy for Sustainable Electricity Generation in Nigeria

Nigeria commits to fast track the integration of renewables in electricity generation by enacting a 2015 National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP). Thus, this policy briefing assesses the effect of the policy, and other socioeconomic factors, on the deployment of renewable electricity generation. The preliminary findings show that renewable energy policy has little effect in facilitating renewable electricity integration in Nigeria due to lack of political will and its adverse effect evident in the non-implementation of incentives like feed-in-tariffs and a zero import duty waiver. Second, increased fossil fuel consumption impedes the deployment of renewable electricity due to the hydrocarbon endowment and its subsidization. The domestic financial market development in Nigeria does not also support the deployment of renewable electricity that requires long-term finance. It requires a political will to strengthen the legal and institutional framework for a sustainable electricity generation deployment. It is also pertinent to consider the total removal of fossil fuel subsidies for renewable electricity integration.

Assesmeent of casual relationships between determinants of energy efficiency of the country in the context of the implementation of the European Green Deal Policy

Introduction. The growing interest in energy efficiency and energy dependence of countries stimulates the scientific community to explore and analyze the main determinants that influence changes in relevant processes. In particular, the generally accepted Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 include seven goals focused on available energy resources and energy efficiency through the development of green energy and clean technologies. In addition, in 2019, the EU and Ukraine began implementing the «European Green Agreement», which aimed to transition to a carbon-neutral economy and increase energy efficiency.The aim of the study is to analyze the impact of key determinants on energy efficiency policy of the national economy in the context of integration of the European Green Agreement.Research methods. It is necessary to note the main tools that were involved in the bibliometric analysis: databases Scopus and Web of Science (to analyze the trends of publishing activities); VOSviewer (to visualize the results of meta-analysis). The study used the Granger causality test to verify hypothesis on the casual relationships between the selected indicators. Data from the following databases were used: Eurostat, Ukrstat and the European Environment Agency.Results. The obtained results confirmed the bidirectional causality between energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as the unidirectional causality between greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency.Perspectives. Requires further research on the developing of effective instruments for activating the green investment market.