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The European industry sector is responsible for about one-third of the EU's total energy consumption and process-related Greenhouse Gas emissions, which makes it a central factor in the EU's climate and energy strategies. Energy cooperation, i.e., the mutualised generation, use and/or acquisition of energy by at least two companies, has the potential of significantly supporting the successful achievement of these strategies. This paper presents a concept for moving from a single-company sustainable energy intervention approach to cooperative sustainable energy solutions within the framework of industrial parks. Technical, economic, regulatory, organizational, and social barriers for energy-efficient park design and operation on all levels and instruments to overcome them have been systematically analysed, taking correlation of solutions, and park-specific requirements into account, thus providing a holistic workflow. First results show that technical and economic attractiveness, and an enabling legal and policy context, are not always enough. For promising energy cooperation solutions to flourish, cultural, organizational, social, and behavioural factors also play a significant role. Furthermore, findings show that external facilitators are helpful to pool efforts to achieve greater engagement. • Systematic assessment of barriers to energy cooperation and instruments to overcome them. • Highlighting the role of park managers as key facilitators of energy cooperation. • Assessment of feasibility studies based on key performance indicators. • Proposes a replicable strategy to identify energy cooperation opportunities at the industrial park level. • Integration of the findings in an easy-to-use decision-making tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved energy efficiency is one of the key elements to decouple energy-related emissions from economic growth. Since the energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises are underdeveloped, most of the energy efficiency potential is left untapped. Studies show that several barriers pertaining to economic, technological, and organizational systems lead to poor implementation rates of energy efficiency measures. An energy efficiency network is considered effective in overcoming these barriers and promoting energy management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises. This paper explores the role of energy efficiency networks, and specifically the role of its functions in overcoming the identified barriers from literature. This study was carried out as a multiple case study including 13 industrial small and medium-sized enterprises using semi-structured interviews with participants from companies in a Swedish regional energy efficiency network program. Results show that energy efficiency networks are effective in overcoming some of the barriers to energy efficiency implementation and that the present functions are effective in addressing some barriers faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, e.g., energy efficiency implementation barriers such as lack of time and resources. However, some barriers still remain as constraints for energy efficiency implementation, even after energy efficiency network participation. • Presentation of a novel methodology by using theory of barriers for network evaluation. • Energy efficiency networks reduce some of the barriers to energy efficiency. • The energy audit was the most favorable network function to network participants. • The energy audit and the lectures on efficiency were the network functions that reduced most barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]