Chapter 17
Energy Efficiency Within Sustainable
Development in Asia: A Boundary
Infrastructure and Knowledge Based
Frame of Reference
Harald E. Otto
Abstract Effective implementation of energy efficiency measures is becoming
increasingly relevant for rapidly industrializing nations, most prominently those
emerging in Asia. It is necessary to manage rapid growth of demand and develop
new energy infrastructures at the same time. Despite the positive impact of energy
efficiency measures in industrial and commercial sectors, there still remain considerable hurdles in practice, preventing them from achieving their full potential. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for problems to be approached from a Western perspective,
discounting the differences in the Asian context. In this paper, an alternative reference frame is presented, with a knowledge-based approach taking into account those
differences. This is discussed as a first step in regard to energy auditing and one of
its immediate explicit outcomes, the energy audit report. This approach is aimed at
providing grounds for building an alternative and more adequate perspective on the
issue.
Keywords Energy auditing · Energy service concept · Knowledge transfer and
exchange · Socio-cultural epistemology
17.1 Introduction
Due to increasing globalization of markets and outsourcing of various services
and processes, energy related issues are different in scale and scope for developed
nations and developing nations. Statistics on energy consumption and net import
of energy, and on energy intensity, show, for example, that nations with emerging
and developing economies in Asia, such as China and India, are among the largest
energy consumers in the world, but produce only a small fraction of the total global
gross domestic product, at a still worryingly high level of energy intensity (cf. (Lo
et al. 2015; IEEJ 2018; Enerdata 2019)). Due to its large energy consumption and
H. E. Otto (B)
Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Polytechnic
University of Marche, Ancona, Italy
e-mail: h.e.otto@univpm.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_17
255
Energy Efficiency Within Sustainable
Development in Asia: A Boundary
Infrastructure and Knowledge Based
Frame of Reference
Harald E. Otto
Abstract Effective implementation of energy efficiency measures is becoming
increasingly relevant for rapidly industrializing nations, most prominently those
emerging in Asia. It is necessary to manage rapid growth of demand and develop
new energy infrastructures at the same time. Despite the positive impact of energy
efficiency measures in industrial and commercial sectors, there still remain considerable hurdles in practice, preventing them from achieving their full potential. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for problems to be approached from a Western perspective,
discounting the differences in the Asian context. In this paper, an alternative reference frame is presented, with a knowledge-based approach taking into account those
differences. This is discussed as a first step in regard to energy auditing and one of
its immediate explicit outcomes, the energy audit report. This approach is aimed at
providing grounds for building an alternative and more adequate perspective on the
issue.
Keywords Energy auditing · Energy service concept · Knowledge transfer and
exchange · Socio-cultural epistemology
17.1 Introduction
Due to increasing globalization of markets and outsourcing of various services
and processes, energy related issues are different in scale and scope for developed
nations and developing nations. Statistics on energy consumption and net import
of energy, and on energy intensity, show, for example, that nations with emerging
and developing economies in Asia, such as China and India, are among the largest
energy consumers in the world, but produce only a small fraction of the total global
gross domestic product, at a still worryingly high level of energy intensity (cf. (Lo
et al. 2015; IEEJ 2018; Enerdata 2019)). Due to its large energy consumption and
H. E. Otto (B)
Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Polytechnic
University of Marche, Ancona, Italy
e-mail: h.e.otto@univpm.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability II, Sustainable Production, Life
Cycle Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6775-9_17
255