1,721,008 research outputs found
The supporting role of business models in the promotion of sustainable innovations in the energy sector: an explorative study in the Italian SMEs
No full textPurpose of the paper: This paper aims to analyze how small-medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute to the development of a sustainable innovations in the energy sector such as geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) by implementing effective sustainable business models.
Methodology: The study carried out an exploratory multiple case study with 8 SMEs operating in the Italian GHP market on the role of sustainable business models in supporting the development of sustainable innovations.
Results: The analysis shows that sustainable business models exert a supporting function between sustainable innovation and sustainable value creation thanks to their ability to overcome the existing barriers to adopt sustainable innovations (i.e. GHP systems). This supporting role thus results from the firms’ capabilities and knowledge to assess and promote the peculiarities of selected sustainable innovation. Moreover, the analyzed business models foresee an ongoing support of customers before and after the adoption of sustainable innovation by communicating potential environmental benefits and providing additional services.
Research limits: The main limitation is that the findings derive from a national case study with specific market conditions for GHPs which might influence the development of sustainable business models.
Practical implications: The study supports firms aiming to develop and implement business models for boosting sustainable innovations through an effective assessment of selected sustainable innovation and dialogue with policy makers.
Originality of the paper: The study opens the black box of unexplored relationships between sustainability innovations and business models by analyzing their main components (value proposition, supply chain and public institutions, customer interface and financial model)
Energy efficiency in public buildings: evidence from Italian municipalities
No full textEuropean legislation pays a particular attention to municipalities, because of their role in stimulating the implementation of energy efficiency measures in buildings for the achievement of nearly zero-energy. In fact, local authorities are expected to provide good examples in implementing energy efficiency measures. The study aims at investigating factors that influence the development of energy efficiency improvements in municipal buildings. Based on a dataset of 322 municipalities in Northern Italy, the analysis concerns the fulfilment of energy audits and the consequent implementation of energy efficiency measures in buildings. The results show that municipalities have to improve the quality and quantity of these measures in order to avoid the “plucking of low hanging fruit”. The relevance of the untapped potential of improvements suggests the need to carry out an effective knowledge management in municipalities and the removal of current budget constraints for energy efficiency measures by national government
The Role of Sustainable Entrepreneurs within Sustainable Energy Action Plans
No full textSustainable entrepreneurs are assumed to have a catalytic role in sustainable development, new ventures in the early stages and incumbent firms in the following stages. However, some studies argue that such radical shifts are unlikely to succeed without parallel political actions. This is particularly suiting in the case of energy sector and the transition to a low- carbon economy through renewable energy. Therefore, another stream of literature suggests to study sustainable entrepreneurship in a wider context with encompasses socio-ecological system. Then, there can be rooms for policy influencing new sustainable ventures with the aim of developing sustainable corporate cultures from the outset. Our study on the role of sustainable entrepreneurs within Sustainable Energy Action Plans show that incumbents firms are engaged in sustainable development in early stages as well as new ventures and that there is a mutual interplay between sustainable entrepreneurs and public institutions towards sustainable development. In other words either firms have an active role in triggering transition to sustainable development (i.e. institutional push) or are beneficiaries of public policies aimed at reshaping the local context towards sustainable development (institutional pull)
Consumer’s perception of company’s CSR activities: an empirical comparison between different domains of responsibility
No full textTowards nearly zero-energy buildings: The state-of-art of national regulations in Europe
No full textEnergy efficiency in buildings is an important objective of energy policy and strategy in Europe. A survey questionnaire was conducted among the 27 European Union Member States. This study aims to provide an overview of the current national regulatory framework focusing on three aspects: 1) integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy requirements, 2) translation of investments in energy saving into economic value, 3) commitment towards “nearly zero-energy” target. The study shows that European countries have adopted different approaches in the design of their national regulatory framework. This heterogeneity consists of four main factors: different authorities involved in energy regulations, traditional building regulations and enforcement models, different contextual characteristics, and maturity of the country in the implementation of energy efficiency measures. These differences are important to take into account country's profile in order to improve the sharing of best-practices and energy efficiency governance among European Union Member States
The Contribution of Green Public Procurement to Energy Efficiency Governance in Buildings
No full textIn the next years the building and construction sector will tackle the great challenge of improving its energy performance. Therefore, public authorities will play a crucial role fostering demand for energy efficient buildings through Green Public Procurement (GPP) and contributing to energy efficiency governance at local level. Using an econometric analysis, this study investigates which factors influence the development of GPP practices in the building and construction sector as supporting instrument for energy efficiency governance by the municipalities in Tuscany (Italy). The results highlight that GPP practices in the building and construction sector can contribute to the energy efficiency governance at local level if municipality undertakes a path which integrates increasing energy and environmental awareness and technical know-how and expertise
The effect of companies’ short and longterm promotion strategies on pro-environmental behaviours in the energy sector
No full textDrawbacks and opportunities of green public procurement: an effective tool for sustainable production
No full textAs “green public procurement” (GPP) is playing an increasingly important role in stimulating the demand for environmentally friendly products and services, there is a strongly emerging need to analyze which factors drive the inclusion of environmental criteria in public tenders. Working on data from Italian municipalities, our statistical analysis confirmed that intensifying information and raising awareness on GPP techniques can strongly support the development of public green tenders. Moreover, our work reveals that good GPP performance cannot be achieved through the mere adoption of a certified Environmental Management System (EMS) by a public authority alone, but rather through the level of maturity of the certified EMS that provides a growing “value added” to GPP practices. Finally, findings of this study demonstrate that the relevant limitations linked to the small size of public authorities can be overcome by the progress in GPP brought by several European, national and local supporting initiatives
Consumer’s perception of company’s CSR activities: an empirical comparison between different domains of responsibility
No full text- …
