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The aim of this paper is to present an improved way of collection and compilation of data about solid biomass consumption in households in order to improve accuracy of official energy statistics data. The accurate, timely and reliable energy data significantly contribute to the consistency in national energy statistics, energy balance, as well as for many other obligatory reporting procedures which are requested and prescribed by national and international standards. When compiling energy statistics, statistics on renewables, particularly biomass consumption, it is often the most questionable as little or no available official data exists in the country. According to the international standards and definitions, solid biomass covers organic, non-fossil material of biological origin which may be used as fuel for heat production or electricity generation. In households, the most commonly used biomass are fuelwood and wood residues. In the process of compiling national energy statistics, national institutions responsible for official energy statistics usually estimate biomass consumption based on the reports on fuelwood cuts in state forests and official biomass production, although it is known that consumption is much higher. Over the past two decades, Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar worked intensively on the energy consumption data collection and particularly on the development of the tailored-made surveying methods for different final energy consumption sectors, particularly for the household sector. The similar methods were recommended to national statistics institutes in the countries in the region when providing technical assistance in developing energy statistics. This paper describes the survey results and methods applied for the determination of energy consumption in households and particularly biomass consumption in three selected countries: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, and recommendations for the further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refrigeration systems are crucial in retail food stores to ensure appropriate merchandising of food products. This paper compares four different CO 2 refrigeration system configurations in terms of cooling performance, environmental impact, power consumption and annual running costs. The systems studied were the conventional booster refrigeration system with gas bypass (reference system), the all CO 2 cascade system with gas bypass, a booster system with a gas bypass compressor, and integrated cascade all CO 2 system with gas bypass compressor. The weather conditions of London, UK, and Athens, Greece, were used for the modelling of energy consumption and environmental impacts to represent moderate and warm climatic conditions respectively. The control strategies for the refrigeration systems were derived from experimental tests in the laboratory on a conventional booster refrigeration system. The results from the analysis showed that the CO 2 booster system with gas bypass compressor can provide best performance with 5.0% energy savings for the warm climate and 3.65% for the moderate climate, followed by the integrated cascade all CO 2 system with gas bypass compressor, with 3.6% and 2.1% savings over the reference system for the warm and moderate climates respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initially pushed by the European Union (EU) through the Europe 2020 strategy, the development of renewable energies is a strategic action aiming to limit climate changes and cut greenhouse gas emissions. National subsidies favored the diffusion of this new kind of energy sources, even if there are interesting economic opportunities also in non-subsidized markets. Renewable energy (RE) is a sustainable choice, but its management requires a proper analysis, both from political and operational levels. The aim of this paper is the assessment of European renewable energy source (RES) trajectory towards 2020, starting from historical values and through common scientific methods. In addition, a new reference framework is proposed, in order to evaluate RESs performances in Europe. The framework is based on three indicators: (i) share of energy from RESs in gross final energy consumption, (ii) REs primary production per capita and (iii) gross final consumption of REs per capita. Results could have practical implications for the decision makers involved in the management of energy sources throughout Europe and could be used for the comparison on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced dissemination of information regarding energy saving and climate change targeted toward property owners is considered to be an important strategy in order to reach the Swedish national target of energy efficiency in the building sector by 2050. Here the municipality energy advisors and the national register for energy performance certificates can facilitate the mitigation of energy use in the building stock. So far few studies have focused on the practical road map to the national target of energy use on the city/district level and to the communication aspects with stakeholders in the creation of energy city models. In this paper a city energy model is developed based on the requests and need for visualization from a group of energy advisors. Six different scenarios are studied in order to analyze the possibility of reaching the energy targets specified by the government in the town of Kiruna. The results show that: (1) it is possible to automatically create city energy models using extract, transform and load tools based on spatial and non-spatial data from national registers and databases; (2) city energy models improve the understanding of energy use in buildings and can therefore be a valuable tool for energy advisors, real estate companies and urban planners. The case study of Kiruna showed that the proposed energy saving measures in the energy performance certificates need to be implemented and new buildings in the urban transformation must be of high energy standard in order to reach the national target in Kiruna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of publicly disclosing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by companies and organizations is gaining momentum and a variety of so called 'GHG Registries' have been developed in countries around the globe, while specific requirements are being adjusted to local circumstances and needs. Different GHG Registries are currently operating worldwide, either as mandatory or as voluntary programs. Israel launched a voluntary initiative in 2010 known as the Israel GHG Reporting and Registering System. The Israel GHG Reporting Protocol was prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Energy and Environment cluster at the Samuel Neaman Institute, in cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders, including other governmental ministries, industry and local government representatives as well as non-governmental organizations. The Israel GHG Protocol is largely based on the World Resources Institute/World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WRI/WBCSD) corporate accounting standard and ISO 14064. While the decision to join the GHG registry in Israel is currently voluntary, once an organization has joined the registry it commits to calculate and report GHG emissions according to the registry's protocol and methodology guidance to allow for consistency in the reported data and for accurate comparison of the results. The Israeli program is intended to help develop capacities and tools for organizations, industry and various other private sector entities to manage their GHG emissions by annually calculating and submitting their emission inventories which will also help them to estimate the potential for emissions reduction. This paper focuses on the analysis of the GHG emission reports submitted for 2010, 2011 and 2012 by participating companies and organizations and on how these data enable the reporting organizations to develop their databases, improve their risk management capabilities and identify opportunities for energy and process efficiency improvements that could lead to GHG emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A great fraction of worldwide energy carriers and material products come from fossil fuel refinery. Because of the on-going price increase of fossil resources, their uncertain availability, and their environmental concerns, the feasibility of oil exploitation is predicted to decrease in the near future. Therefore, alternative solutions able to mitigate climate change and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels should be promoted. The replacement of oil with biomass as raw material for fuel and chemical production is an interesting option and is the driving force for the development of biorefinery complexes. In biorefinery, almost all the types of biomass feedstocks can be converted to different classes of biofuels and biochemicals through jointly applied conversion technologies. This paper provides a description of the emerging biorefinery concept, in comparison with the current oil refinery. The focus is on the state of the art in biofuel and biochemical production, as well as discussion of the most important biomass feedstocks, conversion technologies and final products. Through the integration of green chemistry into biorefineries, and the use of low environmental impact technologies, future sustainable production chains of biofuels and high value chemicals from biomass can be established. The aim of this bio-industry is to be competitive in the market and lead to the progressive replacement of oil refinery products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]