Barriers of Energy Conservation by Industrial Subscribers: Case of Semnan Regional Electricity Company

This paper aims at identification, classification and measurement of conservation barriers of electrical energy in the industries of Semnan Province using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. In the first step a thematic analysis is used as the most common form of qualitative analysis for pinpointing, examining, and recording "themes" of energy conservation barriers based on a sample of 25 experts selected by targeted sampling method. Using Nvivo Software, the barriers are classified into six categories of managerial expertise, awareness and knowledge, financial resources, political and legal environment, socio-cultural incentives, and technological factors. In the second step a quantitative analysis has been done using path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. According to the results, managerial factor has the highest rank (0.503), followed by awareness and knowledge (0.581), financial resources (0.476), political and legal environment (0.616), socio-cultural incentives (0.402), and technical and technological factors (0.416).