Companies and third-level institutions in Ireland are failing to take energy saving initiatives, which could significantly reduce their overheads and lower emissions of harmful gases, researchers have found.
A study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found that firms which are quite heavy consumers of energy, such as those in the brewing sector, are the most likely to explore energy saving technologies.
Third-level institutions, where red tape may be more problematic than in industry, show the lowest uptake of energy saving methods.
The widespread failure to adopt energy efficient technologies is partially attributable to the high rate of return companies demand from such investments, according to the ESRI.
Staff costs and time constraints is another impediment identified in the study. Managers often lack the time to identify and implement energy efficiency projects. This is particularly true of small and medium enterprises.
Others barriers include: inadequate information on energy efficiency opportunities, inadequate incentives to improve energy efficiency, low status of energy management, and unhelpful organisation and cultural values.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)