O apoio à decisão na eficiência energética na perspetiva do gestor empresarial

  • Hélder Filipe da Costa Marques (Student)

Student thesis: Master's Thesis

Abstract

Energy efficiency is nowadays a priority on the political agenda and, consequently in expected priorities actions. However, the adoption energy efficiency projects by companies are still far short of the necessary and desirable. This dissertation intended to make a contribution in this area by investigating the nature of the barriers that are affecting the decisions of energy efficiency projects implementation in Portuguese companies. The work involved the collection of primary information with managers of companies of and is intended to inform the appropriate strategies to mitigate those barriers. In order to answer the research questions, this work was structured in several phases: literature review, research design and definition of the methodological approach, developing the data collection instrument (survey); delimitation of the universe of analysis and sample of the study selection; application of the survey; collection and data review; statistical analysis and results report. This project followed a quantitative methodology through application of an original survey. All companies participating in this study are located in continental Portugal and belong to the industrial sector. The basis of segmentation was performed according to functional company characteristics, that is why the approach was conducted in different sectors of the Portuguese industrial sector having in common the fact that they are intensive consumers of energy. The results description has been developed in 3 phases. The first phase consisted in the descriptive analysis of the results with the production of tables and frequency graphs. Then, continued a statistical correlation analysis of average differences between different variables using the Chi square test with a significance level of 95%. In a third phase were made pairings of answers using a cluster analysis. Two results stand out with significance and find validation in the literature. At first, it was found that over the companies that accept return on investment over 3 years, 78.6% are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs ´ s). In the second case, the companies whose energy costs that represent more than 15% of the overall costs of the company, 76.9% made investments in the current year equal to or greater than 20% compared with the previous year. Through cluster analysis checks for both groups generated: • the existence of barriers at the level of projects costs and lack of time and understanding the energy efficiency project may require. The medium-sized companies point over this difficulty. • the analysis of the sector/branch of companies represented in each cluster, shows a greater dispersion of sector companies in cluster 2. • the results indicate that the cluster has 2 larger companies, where the weight of energy costs is smaller in total, and that have a lower sensitivity to external determinants to increase energy investments. They are also companies that provide less in the future changes in investments in energy efficiency in companies • in the cluster 1, the variable time is more crucial • in Cluster 1companies, cost variables and not core business were more crucial to avoid energy efficiency projects Must be followed strategies that can help increase literacy in energy efficiency and lower costs of projects such as: Standardization initiatives and credibility of energy efficiency; establish internal training programmes in enterprises; developing databases on energy efficiency solutions that may be available for all companies; run energy efficiency pilot projects and use the success to convince others to take measures; increase the level of energy monitoring installations and integrate into all actions of energy service companies. The limitations of the work can open opportunities for continuity that are useful for the community to have relevant information on possible decisions to be taken. It will be interesting to increase the number of respondents by company and evaluate if the results suffer relevant changes. It will also be interesting to evaluate industries sectors, in particular those that present a more energy intensive consumer profile.
Date of Award18 Jul 2017
Original languagePortuguese
Awarding Institution
  • Universidade Católica Portuguesa
SupervisorMarlene Paula Castro Amorim (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Energy efficiency in industry
  • Barriers to energy efficiency

Designation

  • Mestrado em Gestão

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