The prospect of enabling more sustainable industries through energy efficiency innovations has received increased attention in policy and research. In Norway, previous studies have identified a techno-economic potential of 12 TWh reduction in direct energy use and an additional 10 TWh utilization of surplus heat, in industries. However, the novelty and complexity of energy efficient technologies can make their adoption, and hence utilizing this potential, difficult. This paper explores the development and implementation of two high-temperature heat pumps and one heat recovery concept in three R&D projects in the Norwegian manufacturing industry. Our qualitative research finds and explores three implementation paradoxes: 1) While the novelty of innovations partly explains why they are difficult to implement, novelty is also a motivator for firms' technology development strategies. 2) Both innovations close to core production technologies, as well as seemingly incremental innovations, can have system-wide consequences in the organizations, making them difficult to implement. 3) While implementation windows (changes to organizations and technical systems) positively affect firms’ motivation, ability, and opportunity to develop and adopt innovations, these situations introduce time constraints, putting pressure on less mature technical solutions and R&D processes. Through unpacking these seemingly opposing dynamics, we find that the same factors can both promote and inhibit adoption of technologies during different stages of innovation processes. We discuss the managerial implications on how firms can align R&D collaborations with implementation opportunities, to enhance adoption of radical energy efficiency innovations. In conclusion, we discuss how these contributions can translate into future quantitative research.

通过能效创新促进更可持续产业的前景在政策和研究中受到越来越多的关注。在挪威，先前的研究已经确定了在工业中直接能源使用减少 12 TWh 和剩余热量额外利用 10 TWh 的技术经济潜力。然而，节能技术的新颖性和复杂性会使它们的采用和利用这种潜力变得困难。本文探讨了挪威制造业三个研发项目中两台高温热泵和一个热回收概念的开发和实施。我们的定性研究发现并探讨了三个实施悖论: 1) 虽然创新的新颖性在一定程度上解释了为什么它们难以实施，但新颖性也是公司技术发展战略的动力。2) 接近核心生产技术的创新，以及看似渐进式的创新，都可能对组织产生全系统的影响，使其难以实施。3) 虽然实施窗口（组织和技术系统的变化）积极影响公司开发和采用创新的动力、能力和机会，但这些情况会引入时间限制，给不太成熟的技术解决方案和研发流程带来压力。通过分析这些看似相反的动态，我们发现在创新过程的不同阶段，相同的因素可以促进和抑制技术的采用。我们讨论了公司如何将研发合作与实施机会结合起来以促进采用激进的能效创新的管理意义。总之，我们讨论了这些贡献如何转化为未来的定量研究。