Search

Pulp and paper production, an energy-intensive process, is among the main light industries contributing to energy saving and pollution emission reduction in China. The improvement of energy efficiency is essential for energy consumption and sustainable development. This study analyzes the negative factors in the pulp and paper sector by calculating energy efficiency from the lengthways time and investigating the gap between China and foreign countries through a horizontal comparison. Accordingly, energy efficiency has increased in the Chinese pulp and paper industry with years of efforts, but its transformation remains unclear. Furthermore, the energy-saving potential, energy cost saving, and carbon dioxide emission reduction in the pulp and paper industry are evaluated according to the Twelfth Five-year Plan (2011–2015). The results show that the pulp and paper industry has further capabilities for energy-saving and carbon dioxide emission reduction by improving energy efficiency in China, resulting in great economic benefit. In brief, new technology and energy structure adjustment are long-term strategies for energy conversation, with changes in the scale of mills expected to provide huge opportunities to improve energy efficiency in China within a short period.

The pulp and paper industry is a significant consumer of fossil energy in the Taiwanese manufacturing sector. The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) from manufacturing factory activities and vehicle emissions has increased remarkably. Notable energy savings can be achieved in the pulp and paper industry through energy flow analysis. The aim of this paper is to analyze the energy flow for three major energy consuming mills of the pulp and paper industry in Taiwan to make energy savings. In addition, potential technology options are examined for the capture of some of the energy that is currently lost in the processes and to identify the areas of energy saving potential that could have a large impact across more than one industry. The results of this study can serve as a benchmark for developing a quantified list in terms of energy savings potential and opportunities for improving the efficiency of the pulp and paper industry.

This paper examines various routes to achieving a 60% carbon emission reduction from the UK housing stock by 2050 compared to 1996, using a new object-oriented housing stock and carbon model, DECarb. As housing is at present responsible for 26% of all UK emissions, housing carbon reduction is likely to be a key component for the overall 60% emission reduction target set by the UK Government's Energy White Paper in 2003. This paper compares 3 independently published sets of scenarios detailing possible routes and suggests that highly disaggregated approaches produce more credible data. The results also show that whilst there are many different routes to achieving the target from a technological standpoint, all of them will require significant shifts in current practice. We investigate other routes to achieving this target, while also meeting nearer term reductions of 50% by 2030. DECarb shows that significant challenges exist in meeting these requirements, though they are technically feasible. On this basis it also becomes clear that the domestic sector will not be able to offset smaller reductions from any other sector of the economy.

Pulp mills use significant amounts of biofuels, both internal and purchased. Biofuels could contribute to reach greenhouse gas emission targets at competitive costs. Implementing process integration measures at a pulp mill in order to achieve pulp production with less use of energy (biofuels) has not only on-site consequences but also off-site consequences, such as substitution of fossil fuels elsewhere by the saved pulp mill biofuels, and less on-site electric power generation. In this paper a method, a linking model, is suggested to analyse pulp mill biofuel saving measures when carbon dioxide (CO2) external costs are internalised. The linking model is based on equilibrium economics and links information from CO2 constrained energy market future scenarios with process integration measures. Pulp mill economics and marginal energy market CO2 response are identified. In an applied study, four process integration measures at a Swedish pulp mill were analysed using five energy market future scenarios emanating from a Nordic energy model. The investigated investment alternatives for biofuel savings all result in positive net annual savings, irrespectively of the scenario used. However, CO2 emissions may increase or decrease depending on the future development of the Nordic energy market.

The UK Government is committed by their 2003 Energy White Paper to developing a sustainable energy economy in the 21st Century, and to taking a lead in reducing CO 2 emissions amongst the industrialised (OECD) countries. A target of reducing these emissions to 60% of their existing figure by 2050 has been adopted. The only way in which this fall could be achieved is by significantly reducing primary energy consumption to between 45% and 75% of the present demand; depending on the energy technology mix. This requires the widespread adoption of energy-saving measures across the economy. It is in this area that thermodynamic analysis can make a major contribution to identifying where the improvement potential lies. Energy options are inevitably constrained by thermodynamic limits on individual plant and the sector as a whole. Nevertheless, energy policy advice to Governments, particularly that in the UK, tends to be dominated by views from the humanities and social sciences. Thermodynamic ideas, by contrast, often appear rather esoteric to the non-specialist; this dichotomy is arguably a manifestation of C.P. Snow's ‘two cultures’ (the apparent divide between the arts and social sciences on the one hand, and engineering and the natural sciences on the other). Other methods for generating policy advice, including that from the discipline of economics, will not provide substitute insights to those of energy and exergy analysis. However, thermodynamic techniques such as these should not be used alone, but as part of a broader interdisciplinary ‘toolkit’ of sustainability assessment methods. They cannot determine, for example, the economic consequences or the environmental (ecotoxicological) impact of different energy technologies.

China's manufacturing industry consumes more energy than the total amounts of Germany, Britain, France, Spain and Japan combined, and has a substantial impact on energy conservation and emissions reduction. This paper investigates the influence mechanism of economic infrastructure on the energy consumption and energy intensity of the sector. Using the China's provincial data during the period 2003–2016, the profit function is applied to incorporate infrastructure into the input-output system, and to avoid the endogenous problems caused by the reverse causal relationship between energy consumption and infrastructure construction. The empirical results indicate that economic infrastructure construction will increase energy consumption and reduce the energy intensity in the long term. Although the energy consumption effect of infrastructure in the central and western regions is less than that in the eastern region, the energy intensity of the western region declines the most due to the infrastructure construction. Based on the results of this paper, some policy implications are discussed. This paper also offers some targeted policy recommendations to improve policy design of the government.

Although China's food industry is not energy-intensive, its rapid development has brought enormous challenges to the realization of the energy-saving goal due to its huge scale. So the industry must reduce its energy intensity as much as possible. This paper uses a comprehensive decomposition analysis to study the energy intensity changes in China's food industry between 2000 and 2013, and draws the following conclusions: (1) technological progress have the most significant impact on reducing energy intensity, reducing it by 70.2%; (2) technical efficiency change hinders the energy intensity decline, which in turn increases it by 18.4%; (3) the substitution of capital for energy is conducive to the decline of energy intensity; (4) the government's industrial policy has played a role in energy conservation, but there is room for improvement. Therefore, this paper suggests that: Firstly, the R&D investment in production and management technology should continue to increase, and more importance should be attached to technology diffusion and transfer between regions. Secondly, more effective incentives and stricter constraints should be implemented for the food industry. Thirdly, the planning of the industry layout should be adapted to regional advantages, and targeted policies should be carried out in different regions.

Energy efficiency standards have crucial roles in reducing the energy consumption of room air conditioners (RACs) in many countries around the world. In this paper, a review of the policy rules of energy efficiency standards is presented. The characteristics and rationality for the evaluation metrics in various countries are analyzed. The difference between the energy efficiency standards for RACs in China and those for other countries are discussed. The development trends for the energy efficiency standards of Chinese RACs are provided in this paper. The division of temperature zones, various operation modes and the long-term performance of RACs should be considered when establishing the energy efficiency standards of RACs. Note that the improvement in the energy efficiency standards of RACs is a vital measure for energy conservation and environmental protection. Therefore, the environmental impact of the energy efficiency standards for RACs with refrigerants will become a major direction in the enhancement of future standards of RACs. Finally, two methods based on a logarithmic function and a linear function are proposed in this paper, which combine global warming potential (GWP) and energy efficiency evaluation metrics. This paper will significantly contribute to the formulation and revision of the energy efficiency standards of RACs and provide guidance to manufacturers of air conditioners.

This conceptual paper deals ultimately with the intricate relationships existing between quantity and quality in the field of energy conservation policies. It discusses how current policy approaches to energy conservation have energy efficiency and individuals’ behavioural change as principle target. It then argues that their limited impacts derive largely from how they are principally informed by quantitative estimates of reductions in energy inputs and neglect how qualitative changes generated in the energy outputs can either offset these reductions (e.g. more energy efficient motors can enable the production of larger cars consuming more energy) or cause higher savings (e.g. smaller cars can consume less energy even with less efficient motors). The paper also explains these limited impacts in terms of overly simplistic cause-effect relationships assumed to exist between given exogenous factors (e.g. provision of information, price signals, etc.) and individuals’ behaviours. It then shows how radically alternative policies for energy conservation can target qualitative changes and re-organisations in energy outputs. In doing so, it takes social practice theories as theoretical background. Finally, it discusses the potentially very high impacts and the alternative character of policies informed by these theories and shows how and where they indicate to intervene.

This paper uses the carbon emissions trading pilot study of 2013 as a quasi-natural experiment, combined with panel data of 30 provinces and cities in China during 2000–2017, and applies the difference-in-difference (DID) model to investigate the specific impact and mechanism of the carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) on energy efficiency. The results, which and passed a series of robustness tests, showed that the carbon ETS can significantly improve single-factor energy efficiency and total-factor energy efficiency. The effect mechanism test showed that the carbon ETS can improve energy efficiency by promoting technological innovation of enterprises, and that the marketization level enhanced the carbon ETS's promotion of energy efficiency. Furthermore, this study measures the energy rebound effect at the macro level in China. The results showed that the average energy rebound effect in China is 79.94%. Once the carbon emission trading pilot work was officially launched, the energy rebound effect of the pilot provinces was significantly higher than that of the non-pilot provinces, and the energy conservation effect of the carbon ETS did not function as expected. The research conclusions of this paper provide empirical evidence and policy inspiration for China to improve energy efficiency and accelerate the process of energy conservation.

The Carbon Emission Trading Scheme is generally considered an important market-oriented environmental policy tool aiming at carbon abatement. Therefore, the government and policymakers should focus on the positive role it plays. In September 2020, China proposed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Based on the background of carbon neutrality, this paper, therefore, examines the policy effectiveness of carbon trading in two stages by taking the natural experiment of China's pilot as a case. The first stage constructs two indicators to represent the performance of energy utilization and carbon emissions by employing the global DEA, namely the total-factor carbon performance index and the energy-carbon performance index. The second stage discusses the policy effect of carbon trading by using the synthetic control method to construct unobservable counterfactual paths. The paper found that carbon trading can significantly improve carbon/energy-carbon performance. This empirical work identifies the role of the carbon trading scheme in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction, which is regarded as an effective policy tool to promote carbon neutrality. The placebo test also confirmed that the results are robust and significant. Finally, some policy suggestions are provided for achieving carbon neutrality worldwide based on these findings.

China is the largest country in energy consumption and carbon emissions. At the same time, with the continuous rise of China's manufacturing value chain, the impact of the manufacturing value chain on energy conservation and emission reduction is a very necessary and key research. This paper theoretically analyzes the impact of value chain climbing in manufacturing industry on energy conservation and emission reduction, and empirically tests the relationship between the two. This paper further explores the transmission mechanism between the two, and analyzes the hierarchical heterogeneity of the manufacturing industry. It is found that the ascent of manufacturing value chain has a significant promoting effect on energy conservation and emission reduction. In this conduction path, the innovation-driven effect and the structural upgrading effect play a positive role in promoting. Among them, the innovation-driven effect is more powerful and effective in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction. Further analysis shows that in this path, different industries have asymmetric effects on energy saving and emission reduction. Energy-intensive industries have huge potential for energy conservation and emission reduction. In the process of upgrading, technology-intensive industries have a more significant effect of energy conservation and emission reduction, which enables energy conservation, emission reduction, quality and efficiency improvement. In this paper, the policy system of energy saving and emission reduction should be carried out simultaneously. More importantly, it should be detailed by manufacturing industry category. This can greatly improve the efficiency of policy implementation. Finally, “precise energy saving” and “precise emission reduction” will be realized.

This paper aims to provide new evidence on the relationship between green investment and firm performance through micro-level data. Data of energy listed firms in China from 2008 to 2017 are used here to explore this relationship. The research results show that green investment has a significant and positive correlation with financial performance, that is, increasing green investment helps improve financial performance. In the third year after investment in energy conservation and emission reduction, financial performance has been significantly improved. Additionally, environmental tax, government subsidies, and technological innovation have different positive moderating effects on green investment in promoting financial performance, and this result is more obvious in the long-term performance. Lastly, this paper finds that green investment helps reduce environmental violations and promote environmental performance, and environmental performance can strengthen the impact of green investment in improving the long-term performance of firms. This conclusion implies that firms should take environmental investment as its long-term strategy.

State-of-the-art research suggests that energy systems are best evaluated using exergy analysis, as exergy represents the real value of an energy source, demonstrating it to be the only rational basis for evaluation. After discovering the lack of thermodynamic integration into stock modelling, this paper presents the development of an exergy-based building stock model. The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, to investigate the impact of large-scale future energy retrofit scenarios in the English and Welsh (E&W) non-domestic sector, and secondly, to determine the potential of exergy analysis in improving sectoral efficiency and its potential implications on exergy-oriented policy making. The research explores seven different large-scale future retrofit scenarios that encompass typical, low-carbon, and low-exergy approaches. Modelling results show that by 2050, current regulations have the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 49.0±2.9% and increasing sector thermodynamic efficiency from 10.7% to 13.7%. On the other hand, a low-exergy oriented scenario based on renewable electricity and heat pumps is able to reduce carbon emissions by 88.2±2.4%, achieving a sectoral exergy efficiency of 19.8%. This modelling framework can provide energy policy makers with new insights on policy options based on exergy indicators and the assessment of their potential impact.

China is undergoing rapid industrialization and urbanization, with consequent dramatic increase in energy demand. Given energy scarcity, environmental pollution, energy security and energy cost constraints, energy conservation will be the major strategy in China's transition to a low-carbon economy. Since the metallurgy industry is a main sector of energy consumption, the efficiency of energy conservation in this industry will affect the future prospects of energy savings. This paper analyzes the energy conservation potential of China's metallurgy industry. First, seemingly unrelated regression method is applied to investigate the relationship between energy relative price, R&D input, enterprise ownership structure, enterprise scale and energy intensity of the metallurgy industry. Then, based on the SUR results, we use the scenario analysis method to predict energy consumption and savings potential in the industry in different scenarios. This paper provides references for China's government and metallurgy industry in formulating relevant energy conservation policies.

The residential sector is a major energy consumer and requires measures for improvements in energy efficiency. However, the gains in energy efficiency do not always result in energy conservation due to the rebound effect. Therefore, there is a need for the development of methodologies to analyze energy consumption and the rebound effect in the household sector. This paper proposes an econometric approach toward the estimation of the rebound effect based on the ODEX index. The proposed approach does not require assumptions about the underlying distributions of energy inefficiency. The case of the European Union member states is considered in the paper. Specifically, we estimate the rebound effect at the aggregate, sub-period, and country levels over the period of 2000–2015. The results indicate a decline in the rebound effect over the covered period, but with substantial spatial variations. The proposed approach can be applied as a reference along with the other available approaches to ensure the robustness of the analysis. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain faced the most serious rebound effects, even leading to backfire.

As a cost-effective solution to energy conservation, behavior based method focuses on changing people's behavior through normative feedback for energy efficiency. While the application of behavior-based method is promising, the challenge exists to achieve efficiently sustainable behavioral change. Based on multi-period observation of energy behavior at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, this paper presents a model-based approach aimed to improve the nationally popular and deep-seated benchmark setting strategy for normative feedback used in home energy reports. The improved approach has its merits of countering the undesirable boomerang effect and enhancing the effectiveness of normative feedback targeting different personalities. By introducing a modified opinion dynamics model, this paper simulates the process of energy behavior change and therefore identifies the driver and elementary rules of behavioral change. In particular, the paper defines various behavioral zones in accordance with people's personality and proposes a new customized energy reporting mechanism that maps normative benchmark to personality trait. The new energy reporting policy has strong industrial implication for promoting behavior-based method towards a sustained energy conservation movement.

Fossil fuel consumption in China’s chemical industry accounted for 19.7% of the total industrial fossil fuel consumption, and the industry has become the second highest energy intensive sector in the country. Therefore, it is extremely urgent and important to study the problems related to fossil fuel consumption in the industry. This paper adopts the factor decomposition and the EG co-integration methods to investigate the influencing factors of fossil energy consumption and measure the saving potential of fossil fuel. The paper concludes that the influencing factors can be divided into positive driving factors (labor productivity effect and sector scale effect) and negative driving factors (energy intensity effect and energy structure effect). Among them, labor productivity and energy intensity are the main factors affecting fossil fuel demand. The largest saving potentials of fossil fuels are predicted to be 23.3 Mtce in 2015 and 70.6 Mtce in 2020 under the middle scenario and 46.8 Mtce in 2015 and 100.5 Mtce in 2020 under the ideal scenario, respectively. Finally, this paper provides some policy implications on fossil fuel conservation.

To alleviate the problem of the insufficient reserves of natural gas in China, coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) is considered to be a promising option as a source of clean energy, especially for urban use. However, recent study showed that SNG will not accomplish the task of simultaneous energy conservation and CO2 reduction. In this paper, life cycle costing is made for SNG use in three main applications in residential sector: heating, household use, and public transport. Comparisons are conducted between SNG and coal, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), diesel, and methanol. The results show that SNG is a competitive option only for household use. The use of SNG for heating boilers or city buses is not as cost-effective as expected. The biggest shortcoming of SNG is the large amount of pollutants generated in the production stage. At the moment, the use of SNG is promoted by the government. However, as shown in this paper, one can expect a transfer of pollution from the urban areas to the regions where SNG is produced. Therefore, it is suggested that well-balanced set of environmental damage-compensating policies should be introduced to compensate the environmental losses in the SNG-producing regions.

Over the past three decades, people׳s living standard in China has been greatly improved, accompanied by the rapid increasing building energy consumption. Rural building energy consumption has become one of the most important parts of the total energy consumption in China, which deserves to be paid much attention. It is of vital importance to promote building energy efficiency for the New Socialist Countryside and energy conservation and emission reduction. This paper provides an overview of building energy consumption in the countryside, which figures out the situation and challenges in energy-saving work. The government has worked for years on rural building code system aimed at narrowing the energy gap between urban areas, but it is in the beginning phase. This paper has analyzed the only special issues about rural building energy efficiency and the mandatory standards for urban buildings, which can facilitate the development of rural building energy efficiency. Based on the above analysis, some recommendations regarding the improvement of rural building energy efficiency are given.

During the 2006–2008 period, there were 386 demonstration projects for renewable energy application buildings (REAB) organised by Chinese government, with a total area of approximately 40,420,000 m 2 . By the end of 2011, the vast majority of these projects had been completed and had passed the final acceptance. This paper analyses the measures taken by the Chinese government, including economic incentive mechanisms, organising agencies, application and evaluation systems, online monitoring platforms, acceptance inspections, assessment systems, standard criteria and so forth. This paper then evaluates the policy effects. The paper shows that there has been a satisfactory effect in the development of the REAB market, mobilising the enthusiasm of the government, equipment manufacturers and scientific research institutions, and promoting energy conservation. In addition, this paper analyses the suitability of different technological types in different climatic zones, which provides further guidance for the development of the REAB. Finally, based on the analyses of the problems met in the implementation of the demonstration projects, this paper proposes some policy suggestions concerning standard criteria, technological development, project management, incentive mechanisms and so on, to promote the development of the REAB more effectively in the future in China.

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between total energy consumption and real gross domestic product (GDP) covering the period between 1992 and 2010 in Croatia. The methodology employed in this paper is based on the bivariate vector autoregression (VAR) and Granger causality tests. Moreover, the impulse response function and variance decomposition analysis are employed to trace the dynamic response paths of shocks to the system. The empirical analysis shows that, when it is allowed for any deterministic component in the data, total energy consumption and real GDP are not co-integrated in the period observed. Furthermore, there is a unidirectional causality running from total energy consumption to GDP, and an impulse response to GDP caused by energy consumption, being mainly embodied in the first years. The results indicate that total energy consumption is an important component determining economic growth in Croatia and that energy conservation policy should be formulated and implemented wisely. This paper also tests the causality between real GDP and consumption of the five energy variables by using the bivariate VAR. The main implication of these tests is that individual energy forms matter when it comes to energy policy formulation.

The Chinese government has outlined plans for developing new energy vehicles (NEVs) to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. This paper used a logistic-curve to predict the market share of NEVs in the next decade, and then calculated the potential environment benefits of each and every car or the total according to the report of IPCC (2006). The results indicated that NEVs were of benefit in achieving above goals, particularly electric vehicles (EVs). However, they will have a limited impact in the short term. Finally, considering the empirical results and the Chinese reality, this paper proposed corresponding recommendations.

This paper analyzes the energy conservation situation in China's higher education institutions (HEIs). A case study was conducted in Changchun, Jilin, where eight HEIs of various types were examined. An analysis of government policies was also performed. The findings indicate that the HEIs have implemented comprehensive non-technical initiatives to conserve electricity, including electricity restrictions and extensions of winter breaks, as well as certain technical initiatives. The HEIs are less enthusiastic in conserving thermal energy due to a lack of financial incentives and resources. Differences between the HEIs are also noted. This paper discusses the role of key players, including administrators, government agencies, networks, students and non-government organizations (NGOs). Challenges to energy conservation are also identified, such as the lack of investment by schools, lack of government funding, quality problems in energy conservation products, inadequate heat metering reform, underperformance of energy service companies (ESCOs), and conflicts between energy conservation and student welfare. Policy recommendations are offered based on the analysis results.

In 2009, Jiangsu province of China supplied 99.6 percent of its total energy consumption with fossil fuels, of which 82 percent was imported from other provinces and countries. With rising energy demand, frequent energy shortages, and increasing pollution, it is essential for Jiangsu to put more emphasis on improving its energy efficiency and utilizing its renewable resources in the future. This paper presents the integrated energy pathway for Jiangsu during its social and economic transformation until 2050. EnergyPLAN is the chosen energy system analysis tool, since it accounts for all sectors of the energy system that needs to be considered when integrating large-scale renewable energy. A current policy scenario (CPS) based on current energy policies and an ambitious policy scenario (APS) based on large-scale integration of renewable energy and ambitious measures of energy efficiency improvement are proposed. The two energy pathways are modeled and compared in terms of technology combination, non-fossil fuel shares of primary energy supply, socioeconomic costs, and CO2 emissions. The insights from these pathways can provide valuable input for Jiangsu's future energy policies. In 2009, Jiangsu province of China supplied 99.6 percent of its total energy consumption with fossil fuels, of which 82 percent was imported from other provinces and countries. With rising energy demand, frequent energy shortages, and increasing pollution, it is essential for Jiangsu to put more emphasis on improving its energy efficiency and utilizing its renewable resources in the future. This paper presents the integrated energy pathway for Jiangsu during its social and economic transformation until 2050. EnergyPLAN is the chosen energy system analysis tool, since it accounts for all sectors of the energy system that needs to be considered when integrating large-scale renewable energy. A Current Policy Scenario (CPS) based on current energy policies and an Ambitious Policy Scenario (APS) based on large-scale integration of renewable energy and ambitious measures of energy efficiency improvement are proposed. The two energy pathways are modeled and compared in terms of technology combination, non-fossil fuel shares of primary energy supply, socioeconomic costs, and CO2 emissions. The insights from these pathways can provide valuable input for Jiangsu’s future energy policies.

The establishment of building energy consumption quota as a comprehensive indicator used to evaluate the actual energy consumption level is an important measure for promoting the development of building energy efficiency. This paper focused on the determination method of the quota, and firstly introduced the procedure of establishing energy consumption quota of public buildings including four important parts: collecting data, classifying and calculating EUIs, standardizing EUIs, determining the measure method of central tendency. The paper also illustrated the standardization process of EUI by actual calculation based on the samples of 10 commercial buildings and 19 hotel buildings. According to the analysis of the frequency distribution of standardized EUIs of sample buildings and combining the characteristics of each measure method of central tendency, comprehensive application of mode and percentage rank is selected to be the best method for determining the energy consumption quota of public buildings. Finally the paper gave some policy proposals on energy consumption quota to help achieve the goal of further energy conservation.

The aim of this paper is to re-examine the relationship between coal consumption and real GDP of China with the use of panel data. This paper applies modern panel data techniques to help shed light on the importance of the heterogeneity among different regions within China. Empirical analyses are conducted for the full panel as well as three subgroups of the panel. The empirical results show that coal consumption and GDP are both I(1) and cointegrated in all regional groupings. Heterogeneity is found in the GDP equation of the full panel. The regional causality tests reveal that the coal consumption–GDP relationship is bidirectional in the Coastal and Central regions whereas causality is unidirectional from GDP to coal consumption in the Western region. Thus, energy conservation measures will not adversely affect the economic growth of the Western region but such measures will likely encumber the economy of the Coastal and Central regions, where most of the coal intensive industries are concentrated.

The present paper aims to identify and describe different types of energy consumers in a more comprehensive way than previous segmentation studies using cluster analysis. Energy consumers were segmented based on their energy-related behavioral characteristics. In addition to purchase- and curtailment-related energy-saving behavior, consumer classification was also based on acceptance of policy measures and energy-related psychosocial factors, so the used behavioral segmentation base was more comprehensive compared to other studies. Furthermore, differentiation between the energy-saving purchase of daily products, such as food, and of energy efficient appliances allowed a more differentiated characterization of the energy consumer segments. The cluster analysis revealed six energy consumer segments: the idealistic, the selfless inconsequent, the thrifty, the materialistic, the convenience-oriented indifferent, and the problem-aware well-being-oriented energy consumer. Findings emphasize that using a broader and more distinct behavioral base is crucial for an adequate and differentiated description of energy consumer types. The paper concludes by highlighting the most promising energy consumer segments and discussing possible segment-specific marketing and policy strategies.

This short paper presents results from an energy forecast model for the Republic of Cyprus. The model was used during years 2010–2011 to assist national authorities in their preparation of the National Renewable Energy Action Plan and the Energy Efficiency Action Plan of Cyprus in line with the requirements of European Union Directives. Major macroeconomic and price assumptions of the model are presented, and results from model application under different assumptions with regard to the evolution of energy efficiency are outlined and discussed. On the basis of these scenarios the paper discusses policy implications for Cyprus regarding the country's compliance with EU energy and climate legislation.

This paper is focused on a new methodology for the global assessment of wind power potential. Most of the previous works on the global assessment of the technological potential of wind power have used bottom-up methodologies (e.g. Archer and Jacobson, 2005 , Capps and Zender, 2010 , Lu et al., 2009 ). Economic, ecological and other assessments have been developed, based on these technological capacities. However, this paper tries to show that the reported regional and global technological potential are flawed because they do not conserve the energetic balance on Earth, violating the first principle of energy conservation ( Gans et al., 2010 ). We propose a top–down approach, such as that in Miller et al. (2010) , to evaluate the physical–geographical potential and, for the first time, to evaluate the global technological wind power potential, while acknowledging energy conservation. The results give roughly 1 TW for the top limit of the future electrical potential of wind energy. This value is much lower than previous estimates and even lower than economic and realizable potentials published for the mid-century (e.g. DeVries et al., 2007 , EEA, 2009 , Zerta et al., 2008 ).

China has implemented a series of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) for over 30 appliances, voluntary energy efficiency label for 40 products, and a mandatory energy information label that covers 19 products to date. However, the impact of these programs and their savings potential has not been evaluated on a consistent basis. This paper uses modeling to estimate the energy saving and CO2 emission reduction potential of the appliances standard and labeling program for products for which standards are currently in place, under development or those proposed for development in 2010 under three scenarios that differ in the pace and stringency of MEPS development. In addition to a baseline “frozen efficiency” scenario at 2009 MEPS level, the “Continued Improvement Scenario” (CIS) reflects the likely pace of post-2009 MEPS revisions, and the likely improvement at each revision step. The “Best Practice Scenario” (BPS) examined the potential of an achievement of international best-practice efficiency in broad commercial use today in 2014. This paper concludes that under “CIS”, cumulative electricity consumption could be reduced by 9503 TWh, and annual CO2 emissions of energy used for all 37 products would be 16% lower than in the frozen efficiency scenario. Under a “BPS” scenario for a subset of products, cumulative electricity savings would be 5450 TWh and annual CO2 emissions reduction of energy used for 11 appliances would be 35% lower.

In the last years, several policies have been proposed by governments and global institutions in order to improve the efficient use of energy in industries worldwide. However, projects in industrial motor systems require new approach, mainly in decision making area, considering the organizational barriers for energy efficiency. Despite the wide application, multicriteria methods remain unexplored in industrial motor systems until now. This paper proposes a multicriteria model using the PROMETHEE II method, with the aim of ranking alternatives for induction motors replacement. A comparative analysis of the model, applied to a Brazilian industry, has shown that multicriteria analysis presents better performance on energy saving as well as return on investments than single criterion. The paper strongly recommends the dissemination of multicriteria decision aiding as a policy to support the decision makers in industries and to improve energy efficiency in electric motor systems.

The increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, energy security issues and competition for land use are putting pressure on governments and policymakers. However, these three subjects are not usually treated in integrated form. This paper shows that the implementation of energy efficiency policies combined with policies to encourage use of biofuels can help reduce greenhouse gases emissions while easing land use competition from sugarcane ethanol in Brazil. By adapting the ADVISOR (Advanced Vehicle Simulator) software to evaluate vehicle efficiency, and by estimating the Brazilian light-duty vehicle market share based on historical data, this paper estimates the possible levels of GHG emissions and area planted with sugarcane in 2030 in the country. The findings indicate that reductions from 8% to 20% in greenhouse gas emissions and 0.9–1.8 million ha in sugarcane planted area are possible with no significant technological breakthroughs over the horizon to 2030 in comparison with a baseline scenario.

The small or middle coal mines with illegal operations in developing countries or regions can cause bad energy waste and environmental disruption. The project of coal-resource integration in Shanxi Province of China gives a new idea or an approach to energy saving and emission reduction. It is a social- and economic-ecological project. The paper shows the targets of energy saving and emission reduction in Shanxi Province, and analyses the aims, significance, design process and implementation of the integration project. Based on that, the paper discusses the challenges and opportunities the project brings. The analysis shows that the project of coal-resource integration in developing countries or regions can effectively improve mining technologies, collect capital and impel international cooperation and exchange. Finally, the paper analyses the concerns about the future, including the possible problems of implementation period, industrial updating, environmental impact and re-employment. However, the successful integration of coal resources can mitigate energy crisis and climate crisis and promote cleaner production effectively.

Because of China's increasingly limited energy supplies and serious environmental pollution, much attention has been paid to conserving energy and reducing emissions to help the country's economy achieve sustainable development. As the electric power industry is the largest consumer of coal resources in China and also emits high levels of air pollutants each year, the Chinese government has enacted many technical and economic policies for energy conservation and emission reduction in the last few years. These policies are summarized in this paper, along with relevant laws and medium- and long-term plans, all of which address ideas such as adjusting the power generation mix, promoting demand-side management, introducing energy-efficient scheduling, and installing desulfurization units. The paper also assesses the results of these policies by analyzing several key indicators of energy consumption and emissions. The analysis shows that although some progress has been made in conserving energy and reducing emissions, substantial work is still required for China to catch up with developed countries. Some suggestions for future work are provided.

Global butter, concentrated milk, and milk powder products use approximately 15% of annual raw milk production. Similar to cheese and fluid milk, dairy processing of these products can be energy intensive. In this paper, we analyzed production and energy data compiled through extensive literature reviews on butter, concentrated milk, milk and whey powder processing across various countries and plants. Magnitudes of national final and primary specific energy consumption (SEC) exhibited large variations across dairy products; in addition, the final SEC of individual plants and products exhibited significant variations within a country and between countries. Furthermore, we quantified national energy intensity indicators (Ells) accounting for dairy product mixes and technological advancement. The significant variations of SEC and Ell values indicate a high degree of likelihood that there is significant potential for energy savings in the global dairy processing industry. Based upon the study samples, we estimate potential energy savings for dairy processing industry in selected countries, and estimates annual reduction of 9-14 million metric-ton carbon-equivalent(1) could be achieved if measures are implemented to lower SEC values by 50-80% in half of global dairy plants. The paper calls for publication of more energy data from the dairy processing industry. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The imperative to pursue energy efficiency improvements is clearly on the political agenda at all levels of governments. This paper explores the lessons from past attempts at galvanising international efforts to expand energy efficiency activities through the use of international-level recommendations. Drawing on these lessons, the paper outlines the IEA response to the call for policy advice on energy efficiency through the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. Specifically, the paper outlines a ‘necessary conditions’ framework that was used to develop a set of energy efficiency policy priorities and describes the subsequent recommendations presented to the G8 in Hokkaido–Toyako Summit in 2008. The recommendations cover 25 fields of action in seven priority areas: buildings, appliances, lighting, transport, industry, energy utilities and cross-sectoral issues. Together, the suite of recommendations sets out an ambitious road map for global energy efficiency improvement. If implemented globally without delay, they could save around 8.2 GtCO 2 /yr or 96 EJ/yr by 2030. This is equivalent to roughly twice the current total EU energy-related CO 2 emissions.

All the growth-oriented sectors in a developing economy consume enormous energy in their production processes. Steel, aluminium and cement are the key manufacturing industries in India which provide inputs to various other sectors such as construction, transportation, power transmission, etc. As a result, their demand is consistently rising. These industries are heavily energy-intensive and use raw materials such as iron ore, coal, electricity, steam, and fuel oil, whose supply can act as severe production constraints over a period of time and can hinder sustainable development. Hence it becomes imperative for these industries to continuously innovate more energy efficient techniques. This paper makes a foray into the energy demand for these industries and explores the potential of any future reduction in their energy consumption. The paper offers a projection scenario for 2001–2031 (based on the MARKAL Modeling exercise for India) for possible catching up in reduction in energy consumptions in these sectors under alternative situations. The analysis suggests the existence of some plausible energy efficiency enhancing techniques in these industries. Exploring these options will definitely ensure cost effectiveness and competitiveness of these three key sectors in the global market.

Although energy efficiency implementation is increasingly being recognized by policymakers worldwide as one of the most effective means to mitigating rising energy prices, tackling potential environmental risks, and enhancing energy security, mainstreaming its financing in developing country markets continues to be a challenge. Experience shows that converting cost-effective energy savings potential, particularly the demand-side improvement opportunities across sectors, into investments face many barriers and unforeseen transaction costs. This paper draws upon selected experiences with financing energy efficiency in developing countries to explore the key factors of various programmatic approaches and financing instruments that have been applied successfully for delivering energy efficiency solutions. Through case studies, a diverse range of institutional issues are examined related to the identification, packaging, designing, and monitoring approaches that have been used to catalyze traditional and innovative financing of energy efficiency projects. With adequate liquidity in major developing country markets and availability of modern energy savings technologies, it is often the institutional issues that become a key challenge to address in order to finance and implement robust programs. As further operational experience is gained, increased knowledge sharing can lead to scaling-up of such energy efficiency investments. The paper concludes with some ideas for accelerating implementation.

CO2 emissions reduction, renewable energy deployment and energy efficiency are three main energy/environmental goals, particularly in Europe. Their relevance has led to the implementation of support schemes in these realms. Their coexistence may lead to overlaps, synergies and conflicts between them. The aim of this paper is to analyse the interactions between energy efficiency measures and renewable energy promotion, whereas previous analyses have focused on the interactions between emissions trading schemes (ETS) and energy efficiency measures and ETS and renewable energy promotion schemes. Furthermore, the analysis in this paper transcends the “certificate” debate (i.e., tradable green and white certificates) and considers other instruments, particularly feed-in tariffs for renewable electricity. The goal is to identify positive and negative interactions between energy efficiency and renewable electricity promotion and to assess whether the choice of specific instruments and design elements within those instruments affects the results of the interactions.

This paper uses a random utility model to estimate consumers’ valuation of energy efficient insulation and ventilation systems in rental apartments. Given consumers’ limited experience in residential buildings and the perceived uncertainty about their comfort benefits and resulting energy savings, these relatively new technologies might be undervalued by risk-averse consumers. Using the concept of certainty-equivalence, this paper proposes a model to assess the consumers’ risk-aversion for adopting energy-efficient systems. These systems are treated as risky assets while conventional commodities are assumed to be risk-free. The curvature of the utility function is interpreted as a measure of aversion to perceived risks as opposed to explicit risks measured by observed variances. The proposed formulation is applicable in stated preference data with qualitative variables. The model is applied to data from a choice experiment conducted among 264 apartment tenants in Switzerland. The estimated curvatures reject the risk-neutrality hypothesis. The range of the estimated risk premiums suggests that risk considerations remain a central issue in dealing with energy efficiency in residential buildings. The analysis also indicates that assuming same risk attitudes toward new and conventional systems could bias the estimates of the willingness to pay, especially when the system is comprised of several components.

In this paper, the useful concept of energy and exergy utilization is analyzed, and applied to the boiler system. Energy and exergy flows in a boiler have been shown in this paper. The energy and exergy efficiencies have been determined as well. In a boiler, the energy and exergy efficiencies are found to be 72.46% and 24.89%, respectively. A boiler energy and exergy efficiencies are compared with others work as well. It has been found that the combustion chamber is the major contributor for exergy destruction followed by heat exchanger of a boiler system. Furthermore, several energy saving measures such as use of variable speed drive in boiler's fan energy savings and heat recovery from flue gas are applied in reducing a boiler energy use. It has been found that the payback period is about 1 yr for heat recovery from a boiler flue gas. The payback period for using VSD with 19 kW motor found to be economically viable for energy savings in a boiler fan.

This paper focuses on energy system development of the three largest Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries: Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. The energy infrastructures in these counties are in the process of rapid development and, therefore, technology choices are critical. Applying the energy system model MARKAL and scenario analysis, this paper examines and quantifies the role of clean and advanced energy technologies for efficient local resource exploitation and improving energy security and environmental conditions. The main focus is on the power sector and the paper also addresses the potential ASEAN markets for European energy technologies. The paper concludes that there is a large potential market for clean and advanced energy technologies in the studied countries. If adopted, these technologies will bring several benefits like reduction in primary energy requirement, reduced investments requirement in the power sector and other parts of the energy infrastructure, reduced import of primary energy, reduced CO2 emissions and local pollution, reduced energy system costs and marginal cost of electricity supply. Finally, barriers for transfer and diffusion of advanced energy technologies are discussed.

This paper explores the possibilities for reducing future energy use for eating to a sustainable level. A backcasting approach is used to generate an image of the future where energy use for eating is 60% lower in 2050 than in 2000. The currently known potential to reduce energy use in the food supply system for producing, transporting, storing, cooking and eating food is explored and described in terms of a number of distinct changes that are numbered consecutively and presented in both a quantitative and qualitative way. Sweden is used as the case and all data regarding energy use apply for Swedish conditions. An exercise like this illustrates the possible outcome of taking sustainability seriously. If sustainability is to be achieved, some images of the future are needed so that potential targets can be identified. This paper does not present forecasts, but illustrates the kind of changes needed in order to achieve sustainable energy use in the food system.

The fluid-milk processing industry around the world processes approximately 60% of total raw milk production to create diverse fresh fluid-milk products. This paper reviews energy usage in existing global fluid-milk markets to identify baseline information that allows comparisons of energy performance of individual plants and systems. In this paper, we analyzed energy data compiled through extensive literature reviews on fluid-milk processing across a number of countries and regions. The study has found that the average final energy intensity of individual plants exhibited significant large variations, ranging from 0.2 to 12.6 MJ per kg fluid-milk product across various plants in different countries and regions. In addition, it is observed that while the majority of larger plants tended to exhibit higher energy efficiency, some exceptions existed for smaller plants with higher efficiency. These significant differences have indicated large potential energy-savings opportunities in the sector across many countries. Furthermore, this paper illustrates a positive correlation between implementing energy-monitoring programs and curbing the increasing trend in energy demand per equivalent fluid-milk product over time in the fluid-milk sector, and suggests that developing an energy-benchmarking framework, along with promulgating new policy options should be pursued for improving energy efficiency in global fluid-milk processing industry.

Momentum has been building for an EU-wide approach to energy policy in which energy end-use efficiency is regarded as one of the main planks. Member States are already obliged to plan for the achievement of energy savings targets in respect of the period 2008–2016 and they now face additional economy-wide targets for 2020. Efficiency investments are widely regarded as capable of improving industrial competitiveness, security of energy supply and the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, the design of policy packages may involve trade-offs between these objectives. The challenge for energy modellers is to quantify future energy savings associated with combinations of efficiency measures. This paper draws on the international experience in energy modelling and tracks recent progress that has been made towards a harmonised European framework for verification of savings. It points to the significant development work that remains to be done, particularly to enable an increased reliance on bottom-up evaluation methods. One significant gap in our knowledge relates to the required adjustment of technical savings due to behavioural factors such as rebound effects. The paper uses one country (Ireland) as a case study to demonstrate how a framework is being developed to respond to these new requirements.

New Zealand houses are large, often poorly constructed and heated, by OECD standards, and consequently are colder and damper indoors than recommended by the World Health Organisation. This affects both the energy consumption and the health of households. The traditional New Zealand household pattern of only heating one room of the house has been unchanged for decades, although there has been substantial market penetration of unflued gas heaters and more recently heat pumps. This paper describes the residential sector and the results of two community-based trials of housing and heating interventions that have been designed to measure the impact of (1) retrofitting insulation and (2) replacing unflued gas heaters and electric resistance heaters with heat pumps, wood pellet burners and flued gas heaters. The paper describes findings on the rebound effect or ‘take-back’—the extent to which households take the gains from insulation and heating improvements as comfort (higher temperatures) rather than energy savings, and compares energy-saving patterns with those suggested by an earlier study. Findings on these aspects of household space heating are discussed in the context of the New Zealand government's policy drive for a more sustainable energy system, and the implications for climate change policy.

Shifting domestic load to off-peak time periods could potentially reduce electrical distribution losses and associated carbon emissions. This paper provides the first quantitative estimate of the possible reduction in losses, for a situation where domestic energy demand is shifted in time but not reduced. At a likely 0.02% of energy distributed by the network, the reduction is small relative to overall losses and to their variability, giving little rationale for distribution network operators in Great Britain to encourage such load-shifting for that reason. The paper also considers the limited regulatory incentives for the reduction, and the fragmentation of costs and benefits across different parties. The societal value is considerably higher than the current regulatory incentive, but nonetheless may still not warrant the cost of action. Reducing rather than shifting load is likely to give greater environmental benefits.

The aim of this paper is to develop an approach and tools for cross-sectoral regional industrial GHG and energy policies. These policies can be conducted at different levels of society. To achieve real results in energy efficiency improvements and in GHG reductions, the policies must be focused on the correct levels in society. In Finland, the province level seems to be a reasonable level for a policy targeted at industry. This paper proposes a category for the ways industry uses energy: building energy users, major users of electricity for process/production, major users of heat for process/production and direct combustion users. This approach gives opportunities for developing regional cooperation among different industries. The approach is also important between industries and society, so that there are integrated solutions which e.g. utilise district heating and biofuel potentials. The individual technologies like electric motors, pumps, fans, heat recovery equipment and boilers do not seem to have any significant potentials for improvements in energy efficiency by the EU target year 2020. However, there are opportunities but they are at system levels: how effectively the individual technologies are applied as a part of industrial systems. This fact supports the idea of energy use categorising.

White Certificate schemes are currently being implemented or proposed in a growing number of jurisdictions as a means to drive greater energy efficiency uptake. After briefly discussing some of the strengths and weaknesses of such schemes, this paper outlines a proposed alternative approach—the use of Energy Sales Targets. This approach essentially involves the imposition of a cap on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with annual energy sales and, in its simplest version, requires no tradeable certificates or permits. The proposed approach creates a clear measurable link between how compliance is enforced (the retailers’ targets) and the desired outcomes of the scheme (measurable reductions in GHG emissions). This drives physical additionality of the scheme, including negation of any rebound effect within the covered sectors. It also avoids the need to define the activities eligible to create certificates, and likewise, no deeming, auditing, monitoring or verification would be required by government beyond ensuring retailer compliance—significantly reducing administration costs. There does not appear to be a clear precedent for this type of scheme anywhere in the world, and so this paper should be seen as a preliminary scoping of options that are deserving of more in-depth assessment.