Although Sweden is a northern country with fairly low outdoor temperatures most of the year, its districtcooling (DC) systems are expected to expand. Some actors claim that there is potential for at least adoubling of DC in Sweden. One reason for this is that demand for cooling increases with the increaseduse of electronics such as computers, resulting in higher indoor temperatures from waste heat production.Although DC should have considerable growth potential based on its convenience and climatebenefits, its growth has been surprisingly slow.This article discusses the barriers to and enablers of DC expansion. We examine how energy companies,property owners, and tenants perceive the barriers to and enablers of installing and using DC.How do these actors view the present and future need for cooling? What would make DC more attractiveaccording to these actors? These questions were studied using surveys and in-depth interviews.The results indicate that lack of information is the most important current barrier to DC expansion, abarrier that could easily be addressed, making information an enabler of DC. Earlier grid-based energysystems in Sweden were established through publiceprivate collaboration, and such collaboration couldpromote the ongoing expansion of DC. For example, municipalities played an important role whendistrict heating was built, but this has not been the case for DC. Another possible enabler is the ecolabellingof DC, which has so far played a minor role in the Swedish system.

This study examines a Swedish municipality that has started addressing energy efficiency in local businesses by creating a network involving 60 companies showing that the network has too broad a problem definition, which does not help unify the involved actors.

Purpose

This paper studies a Swedish municipality that wants to go beyond its own operations, involving the local industry in saving energy to improve the environment. The paper aims to analyse the experiences and practical implications of using policy networks for implementing energy-efficiency measures in private industrial companies.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers closely followed a Swedish municipality and its work to engage the local industry in energy-efficiency activities. Participatory observations of meetings and workshops and semi-structured interviews with involved actors were conducted.

Findings

The study examines a Swedish municipality that has started addressing energy efficiency in local businesses by creating a network involving 60 companies. This network was tested in relation to four hypotheses on how policy networks develop. The study finds that the network has too broad a problem definition, which does not help unify the involved actors. The companies’ involvement is based on passive participation in which they are receivers of information. The network has been unable to use a social control mechanism because there have been few company-to-company meetings. In conclusion, for a network to be an efficient policy tool, its structure is as important as the ideas for action and clear goals.

Research limitations/implications

This case study of one Swedish municipality allows for analytical but not statistical generalization.

Originality/value

The paper uniquely calls for reflection on whether municipalities and local authorities have enough competence to drive industrial energy efficiency.

This article analyses the factors influencing stakeholder participation in municipal energy and climate planning, together with stakeholder experiences of participation in such processes. The article presents findings from a survey of 60 Swedish municipalities and detailed case studies of energy and climate planning in five Swedish municipalities to explore which stakeholders are involved, how and why they are involved, and the impacts of participation on both stakeholder experiences. The results of this study provide insight into the role of stakeholders in municipal energy and climate planning.The study proceeds as follows: the Introduction is followed by a discussion of theoretical perspectives on stakeholder participation and energy and climate planning. The Methods used to conduct the study are presented, followed by Results and Analysis. In the subsequent Discussion, the authors propose a conceptual approach that may assist municipalities in development of energy and climate strategies. The Analysis and Discussion inform Conclusions in which the authors advocate early and active stakeholder engagement in energy and climate strategy planning and emphasise the possible utility of their conceptual approach in supporting stakeholder participation.

This article focuses on the development of sustainable energy systems in the Swedish local context and, specifically, on the actors that have proved to be crucial for such transitions: municipally owned energy companies. With the theoretical lens inspired by LTSs (large technical systems), the concept of the system builder was analyzed for the purpose of further understanding what characterizes the system builder-a frequently used but seldom problematized concept. This paper originates from earlier studies based on interviews and official documents. In this article, the municipal energy company and its role throughout the processes is used to illustrate how system builders act and can influence the development of energy systems. Three examples are used to illustrate how system building has been enabled through controlling the objectives and visions of the local energy planning, through enrolling the city council, and finally through recognizing the opportunity to expand the market through the coordination of systems. In this case, the system builder was characterized by the ability to act as a collective, as one unit, despite the multitude of individuals representing the organization, by the use of skills and knowledge in different policy processes, and by the ability to recognize opportunities in combining different sociotechnical systems. The need for system builders to act on expanding as well as stagnating systems is also shown.

Improved industrial energy efficiency is a cornerstone in climate change mitigation. Research results suggest that there is still major untapped potential for improved industrial energy efficiency. The major model used to explain the discrepancy between optimal level of energy efficiency and the current level is the barrier model, e.g., different barriers to energy efficiency inhibit adoption of cost-effective measures. The measures outlined in research and policy action plans are almost exclusively technology-oriented, but great potential for energy efficiency improvements is also found in operational measures. Both technology and operational measures are combined in successful energy management practices. Most research in the field of energy management is grounded in engineering science, and theoretical models on how energy management in industry is carried out are scarce. One way to further develop and improve energy management, both theoretically as well as practically, is to explore how a socio-technical perspective can contribute to this understanding. In this article we will further elaborate this potential of cross-pollinating these fields. The aim of this paper is to relate energy management to two theoretical models, situated action and transaction analysis. We conclude that the current model for energy management systems, the input-output model, is insufficient for understanding in-house industrial energy management practices. By the incorporation of situated action and transaction analysis to the currently used input-output model, an enhanced understanding of the complexity of energy management is gained. It is not possible to find a single energy management solution suitable for any industrial company, but rather the idea is to find a reflexive model that can be adjusted from time to time. An idea for such a reflexive model would contain the structural elements from energy management models with consideration for decisions being situated and impossible to predict.

When it comes to improving energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, municipalities are important actors. The Swedish Energy Agency initiated a program called Sustainable Municipalities to support strategic energy activities at the local level. Participating municipalities were mandated to develop local energy and climate strategies. This study gives a general overview of how the 60 participants in the Sustainable Municipalities program developed and used energy strategies. The paper focuses on analyses of whether energy plans or strategies are present, and if present, how the municipalities address the issues, what actors are involved, and whether follow-up of the strategies is pursued. The empirical data were collected using structured telephone interviews and other studies. The paper elucidates local energy strategies from a management perspective, discuss whether and how the composition of actors influences suggested goals and measures, and explore whether there were plans for implementation and follow-ups. The theoretical ambitions are to integrate theories on how to manage efficient strategic energy planning with theories on how to achieve successful participation of stakeholders. These theories are used to discuss weaknesses and strengths in existing municipal energy planning practices and potential improvements.

The results from this paper show that only 75% of the municipalities adopted local energy strategies. In addition, it was revealed that the processes to develop the strategies generally included several municipal actors although other stakeholders were rarely represented. The strategies resulted in concrete measures; however, there were no clear correlations between included actors, suggested measures, and identified themes in the strategies. The rather limited participation in the process could affect the impact and legitimacy of the strategies.

The interest in self-consumption of PV electricity from grid-connected residential systems is increasing among PV system owners and in the scientific community. Self-consumption can be defined as the share of the total PV production directly consumed by the PV system owner. With decreased subsidies for PV electricity in several countries, increased self-consumption could raise the profit of PV systems and lower the stress on the electricity distribution grid. This review paper summarizes existing research on PV selfconsumption and options to improve it. Two options for increased self-consumption are included, namely energy storage and load management, also called demand side management (DSM). Most of the papers examine PV-battery systems, sometimes combined with DSM. The results show that it is possible to increase the relative self-consumption by 13–24% points with a battery storage capacity of 0.5–1 kW h per installed kW PV power and between 2% and 15% points with DSM, both compared to the original rate of self-consumption. The total number of papers is however rather limited and further research and more comparative studies are needed to give a comprehensive view of the technologies and their potential. Behavioral responses to PV self-consumption and the impact on the distribution grid also need to be further studied.

Projektet Stadsdelsresan genomfördes 2014 av Linköpings kommun. Syftet med Stadsdelsresan var att bidra till att utveckla hållbara resmönster i de tre utvalda områdena i Linköping och mer specifikt att få fler att arbetspendla med kollektivtrafiken eller cykel. Projektet var indelat i tre delmoment. Delmoment 1 bestod av att engagera testresenärer för elcykel alternativt kollektivtrafik, Delmoment 2 riktade sig till förskoleklasser i syfte att skapa hållbara transporter till och från skolan. Delmoment 3 riktade sig till idrottsklubbar i syfte att skapa hållbara transporter i samband med idrottsutövning.

I samband med genomförandet av stadsdelsresan har forskare vid Linköpings universitet följt arbetet med projektet Stadsdelsresan för att se vilka lärdomar som kan dras av projektet samt potentiella förbättringar som kan göras inför framtida satsningar.

Vad gäller arbetet mot förskoleklasser var en viktig lärdom att kommunen behöver vara ute i god tid när den ska arbeta med skolan. Genomförande av cykelsafarie och möjligheten att få tillgång till elcyklar för förskolorna var två åtgärder som var framgångsrika.

Arbetet med idrottsklubbarna hade en trög start och det är för tidigt att dra någon slutsats från det arbetet.

Delmoment 1 med testresenärer var det moment som var mest fokuserat och som det finns mest material kring. Det är flest kvinnor som har deltagit i projektet, flertalet är villaägare med hemmavarande barn. Åldersmässigt återfinns merparten i intervallet 35-54 år.

Motiven för elcyklisterna att delta i projektet var att Få bättre hälsa följt av Skona Miljön. För kollektivresenärerna var motiven Skona miljön, följt av Slippa leta parkeringsplats och Spara Pengar. Ytterligare viktiga motiv för elcyklisterna har varit att det var spännande att få testa ny teknik som gör det enklare och bekvämare att arbetspendla med cykel.

Det är svårt att bedöma hur många som ska ändra ett beteende för att ett projekt ska ses som lyckosamt, men i det här fallet har cirka hälften av de svaranden testresenärerna fortsatt cykla eller åkt kollektivt vilket måste ses som en stor framgång.

Även om bekvämligheten att ta bil är svår att konkurrera med så är det tydligt att när andra transportmedel får testas så får resenärerna överge många fördomar de har. Det var t.ex.flera cyklister som kunde konstatera att det fungerade bra att arbetspendla med cykel och att cykeln dessutom i vissa fall medförde kortare restid.

Att arbeta med utvalda stadsdelar är en framgångsväg som kan utnyttja många av de fördelar som tidigare studier pekar på med synliggörande och igenkänning. Förbättringspotential inför framtiden kan vara att utnyttja tävlingsmoment, direkt och personlig feedback och sociala medier vid liknande projekt.