The Development of a Transdisciplinary Framework to Overcome Energy Efficiency Barriers in Shipbuilding: A Case Study for an Iranian Shipyard

Abstract

Through a systematic literature review and a holistic perspective, the study proposes a conceptual transdisciplinary framework to overcome energy efficiency barriers during the shipbuilding phase. The process of the proposed transdisciplinary framework consists of five steps of “goal formation”, “system analyzing”, “scenario construction”, “multi-criteria decision making assessment” and “strategy building” to identify and rank the energy efficiency barriers during ship construction based on decision makers’ priorities. The framework categorizes the barriers into five disciplines—operations, policies and regulations, technology and innovation, the human elements, and economics—and the framework is applied to an Iranian shipyard. The results show that the economic barriers have the greatest impact, while the human barriers have the least impact on the shipyard’s energy performance. Due to the generalized structure of the framework, it categorizes not only energy efficiency barriers according to the importance and priorities of stakeholders in the shipbuilding industry, but can also be applied to other phases of the ship life cycle and even to other industries. By applying the framework, decision-makers can make rational and optimal decisions to be able to invest in energy efficiency measures based on their priorities.