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H. E. Otto
high energy intensity, which are strongly related to its recent unprecedented rapid
economic growth, developing Asia is also facing severe environmental pollution,
adding another burden to sustainable development efforts.
To effectively address issues of energy conservation and energy efficiency, socalled energy service companies (ESCOs) and energy performance contracting
(EPC) have become the focus of national energy policies in developing Asia.
However, despite the market potential of energy service companies and energy performance contracting, and favorable national policies in developing Asian nations, many
energy efficiency measures and energy conservation projects in the commercial and
industrial sector are simply not implemented. Most literature in the sustainability and
energy research area refers to this situation as the efficiency gap or energy paradox
(Jaffe and Stavins 1994; Howarth and Andersson 1993), citing as an explanation
barriers such as a postulated mechanism that inhibits investment in energy-efficient
and cost-effective technology. Although those barriers can be categorized to some
extent, most theories and viewpoints are derived from mainstream economics and
economics-related organizational and behavioral studies. Hence, suggested solutions
are limited, mostly due to domain and discipline specific viewpoints and problem
evaluations, but also because of a disregard for the technological, economic, and
socio-cultural differences of the Asian context.
To provide a more interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of conceptual and
structural barriers to energy efficiency and energy conservation measures in the
context and scope outlined above, an approach is presented in this paper which
takes into account the business culture and sociology of the work place, while also
considering elements of social and cultural epistemology. The objective of these
efforts is to encourage problem identification and the development of solutions that
are based on a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, taking advantage of
concepts and a framework that relate to networks of boundary objects and boundary
organizations.
17.2 Energy Efficiency and the Asian Context
17.2.1 Energy Efficiency and Related Concepts
Efficiency is a context-dependent notion. In the technical or engineering sense, efficiency is defined as the ratio of output to input, thus quantifying yield achieved
compared to resources used. This is different from the concept of effectiveness, which
relates to the capability of producing a desired result or outcome (cf. (Mitcham 1994;
Feenberg 2002)). Effectiveness describes the degree to which outcomes of programs
or strategies match previously set objectives. Of particular interest to program and
strategy assessment is the concept of cost-effectiveness, which relates the input of
a program or strategy to outcomes achieved. Hence, effectiveness is focused on the
H. E. Otto
high energy intensity, which are strongly related to its recent unprecedented rapid
economic growth, developing Asia is also facing severe environmental pollution,
adding another burden to sustainable development efforts.
To effectively address issues of energy conservation and energy efficiency, socalled energy service companies (ESCOs) and energy performance contracting
(EPC) have become the focus of national energy policies in developing Asia.
However, despite the market potential of energy service companies and energy performance contracting, and favorable national policies in developing Asian nations, many
energy efficiency measures and energy conservation projects in the commercial and
industrial sector are simply not implemented. Most literature in the sustainability and
energy research area refers to this situation as the efficiency gap or energy paradox
(Jaffe and Stavins 1994; Howarth and Andersson 1993), citing as an explanation
barriers such as a postulated mechanism that inhibits investment in energy-efficient
and cost-effective technology. Although those barriers can be categorized to some
extent, most theories and viewpoints are derived from mainstream economics and
economics-related organizational and behavioral studies. Hence, suggested solutions
are limited, mostly due to domain and discipline specific viewpoints and problem
evaluations, but also because of a disregard for the technological, economic, and
socio-cultural differences of the Asian context.
To provide a more interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of conceptual and
structural barriers to energy efficiency and energy conservation measures in the
context and scope outlined above, an approach is presented in this paper which
takes into account the business culture and sociology of the work place, while also
considering elements of social and cultural epistemology. The objective of these
efforts is to encourage problem identification and the development of solutions that
are based on a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, taking advantage of
concepts and a framework that relate to networks of boundary objects and boundary
organizations.
17.2 Energy Efficiency and the Asian Context
17.2.1 Energy Efficiency and Related Concepts
Efficiency is a context-dependent notion. In the technical or engineering sense, efficiency is defined as the ratio of output to input, thus quantifying yield achieved
compared to resources used. This is different from the concept of effectiveness, which
relates to the capability of producing a desired result or outcome (cf. (Mitcham 1994;
Feenberg 2002)). Effectiveness describes the degree to which outcomes of programs
or strategies match previously set objectives. Of particular interest to program and
strategy assessment is the concept of cost-effectiveness, which relates the input of
a program or strategy to outcomes achieved. Hence, effectiveness is focused on the