انتشار نوآوری های صرفه جویی انرژی در صنعت و محیط های ساخت و ساز شده : مطالعات هلندی به عنوان ورودی برای یک چارچوب تحلیلی یکپارچه تر

The need to improve eco-efficiency is indisputable, and the way forward is through widespread application of environmental innovations. Yet research into the dissemination of such innovations in the Netherlands has been limited in scope. Most studies tend to focus on the feasibility of a particular technology. Few try to explain how technology spreads throughout society. The explanatory factors discerned in these studies are often not related to each other. In this contribution the authors try to integrate different partial explanations for the diffusion of energy-saving technologies in industry and the built environment into one conceptual framework. This integration is based on a secondary analysis of relatively well-elaborated studies dealing with the diffusion of heat pumps, combined heat and power and condensing boilers in industry and the built environment. Core of the framework is the decision-making process of the potentially adapting actor. Characteristics of the actor and the networks in which the actor participates (government, market, society) could have impact on this decision-making process. Technological and economic characteristics of the innovation and more general context factors are also relevant as factors that influence the considerations made in the decision-making process. This conceptual framework can be used both in more elaborate research projects and in brainstorming projects to improve policymaking.

The goal of a sustainable society implies that in the future consumption of energy and raw materials must not go beyond the earth's capacity to recover its ecological balance. The speed at which fossil resources are being depleted must not be any greater than the pace at which alternatives to the use of those resources become available. Moreover, the resources must be fairly distributed at the global scale. One consequence of pursuing this goal is the unavoidable transition to a less energy- and resource-intensive mode of production and consumption. This calls for considerable improvement in eco-efficiency. Weterings and Opschoor, among others, believe that eco-efficiency should be improved by a factor of 10–20 over the coming 50 years (Weterings and Opschoor, 1994; Jansen, 1997). Other voices have called for an improvement in efficiency by a factor of four, on average, over the coming 25 years (Von Weizsäcker et al., 1998; Raad voor het Milieubeheer, 1996; see also Reijnders, 1998). The Netherlands’ environmental policy (specifically, the Policy Document on the Environment and the Economy and the Third and Fourth National Environmental Policy Plans) takes improvement of eco-efficiency as its starting point. For years, in fact, this has been part and parcel of the European Union's environmental policy (Commissie van de Europese Gemeenschappen, 1992, p. 27). Changes along these lines cannot be made from one day to the next. The transition will depend not only on the presence of alternative technology but also on its diffusion, its dissemination and application in society at large. In other words, good technological options should not just lie on the shelf collecting dust. The diffusion of environmental and energy-saving innovations should be accelerated. One way to pave the way for policy aimed at stimulating and accelerating the diffusion of environmental innovations is by providing a coherent overview of the factors that influence the speed of diffusion. An approach, which starts with the demand side of innovations, can provide this insight. In this approach the central focus lies on the potential user or adopter of the innovation. As our review of the literature reveals, attention is paid to the demand side but the necessary insight is sparse and scattered. Moreover, little attention is devoted to efforts to integrate the body of knowledge on innovation and diffusion from the perspective of specific disciplines or specific fields of innovation. So the aim of this paper is the development of a coherent framework for the explanation of the (lack of) successes in the diffusion of energy-saving innovations. We have made an attempt to integrate diverse insights in the field of the diffusion of energy-saving technologies in industry and the built environment. The integration is based on a secondary analysis of existing Dutch studies. The analysis was guided by three central questions: which explanations for the diffusion of are found in the studies and which conclusions are drawn, how can the explanatory factors be clustered and how do these clusters relate to each other. In this paper, we first review the pertinent literature on diffusion. As the diffusion of heat pumps, combined heat and power and condensing boilers is relatively well studied we concentrate our search for explanations on studies concerning these three innovations. An inventory is made of the explanations found in these studies. The explanations found are clustered into six categories of variables. These partial explanations will be examined first. Finally, we combine these factors to form an integrative framework.

In order to chart the factors that influence the diffusion of environmental innovations, we have performed a secondary analysis of studies on the introduction of a few energy-saving innovations in industry and the built environment. As it turns out, the literature uses only a limited number of variables to explain the extent and speed of diffusion of innovations to conserve the environment and to save energy. The framework we synthesise at the end of this paper is presented as a means to expand the scope of future research. Although the framework is based on a secondary analysis on studies dealing with the diffusion of energy-saving innovations, the framework could also be used to understand the diffusion of other environmental innovations. An interesting option would be to start a more quantitative analysis of diffusion processes with a special focus on the relative weight of the explanatory variables discerned. Such research should on the one hand include the analysis of the indirect influences of clusters of explanations in the three boxes surrounding the central box in the model addressing the company's context, the characteristics of the technology and macro-developments. On the other hand, such research should concentrate on company's characteristics and the various steps in decision-making processes. In a questionnaire actors could be asked to give the relative weights of the various criteria in their decision-making. In the development of both environmental and energy policy, the framework can serve a heuristic function. It may prove useful for setting clear starting points for policy formulation with more attention on the demand side of diffusion processes. Through interactive brainstorming sessions with target groups policy makers can get an impression of their willingness to innovate and relevant strategies to remove barriers. Such brainstorming sessions might result in only a limited number of strategically relevant variables, like price developments in combined synergistic effects with energy conservation policies (regulation, standards, incentives, energy taxation) (see for instance Schipper and Meyers, 1995). Besides it can become clear what role the various actors have to play to realise the envisioned transition.