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Energy efficiency standards for household appliances have been adopted in many countries to mitigate negative externalities, reduce emissions, and save energy. Using Chinese provincial-level panel data from 2008 to 2018, this paper builds a difference-in-difference model to examine the mechanism by which energy-efficiency upgrades in China's air conditioners affect urban household electricity usage. The results show that the upgrades have brought about an obvious reverse effect, with urban household electricity usage increasing rather than decreasing. Reducing the unit costs of energy service has enhanced residents' sensitivity to cooling demand. Driven by the substitution and income effects, urban residents may increase the intensity and frequency of their AC use. Additionally, this reverse effect is heterogeneously dependent on the family size and urban residents' age structure rather than their educational level. When families are larger and have more children, the reverse effect is more pronounced. This paper's findings provide useful recommendations for policy-makers to formulate policies that are synergistic with energy efficiency standards for household appliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy crisis and global warming have become more and more serious with the social development. Since buildings account for a significant proportion of the total energy consumption and carbon emissions, it is very necessary and urgent to decrease building energy consumption. Minimizing the need for energy use in buildings through energy-efficient measures and adopting renewable energy are the basic strategies. Zero energy buildings, which only consume solar energy and other renewable energies, have been considered as one solution and have drawn more and more attention in recent years. Solar thermoelectric cooling technologies can be powered directly by a photovoltaic (PV) and cause no harm to the environment, which fully fulfill the demand of ZEBs. This paper reviews solar thermoelectric cooling technologies and proposes a technical route of solar thermoelectric cooling technologies for use in zero energy buildings. It can be seen that solar thermoelectric cooling systems can minimize the energy demands, increase energy effectiveness and reduce fossil energy consumption in buildings. With the thermoelectric and PV industry's development along with the advent of new materials, the solar thermoelectric cooling technologies for use in zero energy buildings are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes experimental investigation of copper-clad aluminum (CCA) tubing as a replacement for copper tubing to connect the indoor and outdoor units of split air conditioners. Experiments conducted on three specifications of CCA tubes ( φ 6.35 × 0.6 mm 2 , φ 9.52 × 0.7 mm 2 , and φ 12.7 × 0.8 mm 2 ) indicate good performance in terms of mechanical properties, processing properties, corrosion resistance, and pressure resistance; this means CCA tubes meet the installation and operation safety requirements for connecting tubes of air conditioners. Additionally, experimental results under two specifications – air conditioners in cooling and heating conditions – reveal no obvious difference in cooling or heating performance when CCA tubes, instead of copper tubes, connect the indoor and outdoor units of air conditioners. Furthermore, compared to copper tubes, CCA tubes can reduce the weight by 36.5%–46.3% and the material cost by 23.0%–34.8%. There is great potential for weight and cost reduction in the widespread application of CCA tubing as the connecting tubes in air conditioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]