MBENEFITS KNOWLEDGE BASE

23 pilot assessments with 20 pilot companies in EU, Switzerland and USA.
Integrating the non-energy benefits of energy efficiency into business
decision-making: results of 23 pilot assessments in European companies

Cooremans, Catherine, HEC Faculty of Business and Economics,
Department of Strategy, Globalization and Society (SGS), Université de
Lausanne
Bonardi, Jean-Philippe, HEC Faculty of Business and Economics,
Department of Strategy, Globalization and Society (SGS), Université de
Lausanne
Killip, Gavin, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford
Lung, Robert Bruce, Senior Technical Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy

ABSTRACT

Energy efficiency investments have a wide range of non-energy benefits
(NEBs) that far outweigh their energy benefits. Unfortunately NEBs are not
included in investment evaluations, due to a general lack of data, m
methodology and skills. Meanwhile an under-investment in energy efficiency
is observable across all countries and business activities. In this context, the
aim of this paper is to present the findings of a recent EU research which
focused on the evaluation of investment projects at the level of industrial or
service companies. The objectives of the research were threefold: 1) to
contribute to the knowledge of the non-energy benefits associated with
energy efficiency investments 2) to test a new approach to increase the uptake
of energy efficiency investment 3) to build up a solid knowledge base to
describe and compare NEBs. In line with the double theoretical framework
applied, this research sought to evaluate NEBs in financial terms but also in
strategic terms, ex-ante, i.e. before investment implementation, a first in the
field. This paper first synthesizes the literature on non-energy benefits that was
extensively reviewed at the outset of the project, and describes the dual
theoretical framework for investment decisions that can be used to study NEB.
It then briefly describes the methodology for and the results of 23 pilot
evaluations in the EU, Switzerland and the US. It is concluded that the new
method proposed increases the attractiveness of energy-efficiency
investments and opens a concrete way to reduce the energy-efficiency gap.

Keywords: Investment decision-making; corporate strategy; energy-efficiency investment;
multiple benefits of energy efficiency; non-energy benefits

https://www.aceee.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/ssi23/3-91-Cooremans.pdf