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This paper aims to investigate the interactions between CO2 emissions, economic growth and energy consumption in India for 1970– 2017 within the time–frequency domain using wavelet techniques. The results show that the interaction between energy consumption and CO2 emissions is strong and varies significantly across time– frequency bands, indicating that the energy consumption leads to environmental degradation. The negative effect of economic growth on CO2 emissions is only statistically significant in the short run. In addition, the findings reveal a positive association between economic growth and energy consumption across time– frequency bands, demonstrating energy consumption increases economic growth, which in turn heightens the CO2 emissions. There should be improved energy use and reduced CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficiency policies can help to reduce energy use and mitigate the effects of climate change. This paper examines the U.S. and Chinese economies by applying HEM to both. Key sectors absorbing more energy from other sectors by purchasing intermediate products from them and, simultaneously, transferring more energy by selling products to the rest of the sectors are identified. This provides insights for decision-making on appropriate energy efficiency policies. It appears that the U.S. economy should focus on the service sector, and the Chinese should focus on the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an examination by means of the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) to describe the decoupling indicators of CO2 emissions into key factors of Indonesia's manufacturing industry, namely, economic activity, industrial structure, energy intensity and energy structure in the period 2010–2014. The findings show that the impact of energy efficiency development on decoupling CO2 emissions in industrial sub-sector, the intensity of technology, and firm size are varied. Energy structures and industrial structures have little impact on decoupling CO2 emissions. Comparative analysis of industrial sub-sectors and other characteristics reveals that the growth of industrial economic activity determines the decoupling status of CO2 emissions from industrial growth in Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has been widely considered and studied for ozone generation, only a few studies have examined the influence of the alternating voltage waveform on the ozone rate production. This paper analyses the influence of the voltage shape on the ozone concentration and the energy efficiency of a DBD cylindrical ozone generator. Three voltage signals were studied using a high-voltage amplifier: sinusoidal, triangular and rectangular signals with voltage values up to 8 kV and frequencies up to 1.1 kHz. The obtained results showed that the efficiency of the ozone generator depends strongly on the type of the voltage waveform. The maximum values of the energy efficiency and the ozone concentration were obtained with the triangular voltage signal. This wave shape configuration has been successfully used for discolouration of water contaminated by textile dye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volume dielectric barrier discharge (VDBD) is considered to be the most effective method for ozone generation. This paper reports a comparison between a simple 'classic' VDBD cylindrical ozone generator and a 'metallic-mesh-filled-air-gap cylindrical dielectric barrier discharge' model. The obtained results show that although the majority of ozone generators are of the volume discharge type, the novel volume discharge model has provided better results in terms of ozone generation and energy efficiency. A skid was built by using eight proposed generators and was successfully used for wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the feasibility of using solar energy coupled to reverse osmosis (RO) units for the desalination of brackish water in the Jordan Valley, the food basket for the West Bank, Palestine. Pilot-scale RO units are appropriate because of the low energy requirement, market availability, size and area and convenience of installation in the Jordan Valley’s harsh conditions. The study concerned the Marj Naajeh desalination unit. The economic feasibility was compared to other alternative energy sources (diesel generators and network electricity). The environmental costs were considered as well as the economic costs. The results obtained suggest upgrading 162 agricultural wells of different water capacities and quality. Further studies on design capacity and efficiency of future desalination facilities would be beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart Grid presages an advanced power grid that revolutionizes the century-old traditional power grid and the way mankind uses energy. In China, the pressure on the current grid exerted by growing demand, environmental issues and the unbalanced energy use structure makes the transition to a ‘smarter’ and ‘cleaner’ grid inevitable. This paper firstly contrasts the concepts and research priorities of Smart Grid of China and other developed countries; then turns to the situation of Chinese energy and power use. China has the largest generating capacity, 79% of which is coal-fired plants. And China is also the largest carbon emitter in the world. Despite the challenges, China is also the most promising market for Smart Grid. The components of Smart Grid, especially the development of renewable energy, electric vehicles and smart substation are reinforced in the Chinese 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). The paper examines also efforts by government, power utilities and research institutes. The paper concludes that developing Smart Grid will be beneficial both to China and the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a full life cycle resource consumption model for automotive seats has been proposed based on the vehicle material-energy-pollution assessment model, and an assessment on energy consumption and abiotic depletion potential (ADP) impact is conducted to evaluate the power seat environmental performances of a representative passenger car from the standpoint of life cycle. The results show that the energy consumption of the selected automotive seats mainly occurs in the use phase. Among all types of energy consumption, the non-renewable energy consumption is much larger than the renewable energy consumption. According to the ADP impact assessment, the consumption of copper and crude oil makes the largest contribution to resource depletion, and the ADP index may increase significantly due to the additional electrical part of car seats. Therefore, the enhancement of environmental performances of car seats can be achieved through measures including design with lightweight metal, fuel-electric conversion efficiency improvement, reduction in energy consumption caused by seat motor running and a more sustainable material with low ADP coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the most obvious measure to combat greenhouse gas emissions is to remove the vast subsidies that promote higher energy consumption in more than half of the countries in the world, and that this measure should take precedence over many others. The article discusses also why removing energy subsidies is so difficult, and which type of state may succeed. This question is examined with reference to China, India and Russia, all major contributors to global warming. Non-democratic governments and energy importers might be expected to be more likely to halt subsidies. In fact, energy trade imbalances do not seem to significantly affect the capacity to reduce subsidies. The risk of social unrest is a political restraint in all three countries. Perhaps surprisingly, democratic states may be better positioned to remove subsidies than non-democratic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India aims to reach per capita electricity consumption at least equal to the present world average (2200 kWh/a) by 2030 from the current value of 660 kWh/a. This calls for the electricity generation capacity of about 550 GWe by 2030 assuming the population stabilizes at 1.5 billion. India will explore all possible sources of energy in the near future, and considering the environmental issues, nuclear, solar and other renewable and non-conventional energy sources will play a significant role. The main sustainable energy resource available to India, and indeed to the world, is nuclear energy. India has limited reserves of uranium but a vast resource of thorium. This paper discusses the role of fast reactors in the years to come and the long-term perspective of nuclear energy, including environmental and safety aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idling the engine of heavy-duty truck is the only way a driver can control the temperature in the cab/sleeper and have power for auxiliary devices when the truck is parked. It is an inefficient and noisy process that wastes thousands of litres of fuel per year while standing stationary in a parking lot. Almost all heavy-duty trucks idle about 20-40% of the time when the engine is running, depending on season, geographic location and trucking operation. This extensive engine idling has many disadvantages, including pollutant emissions, noise pollution, unnecessary fuel and maintenance costs, and driver discomfort. This paper discusses the problems related to truck idling and proposes an auxiliary power generation unit that can significantly reduce the fuel consumption, cut the costs, enhance engine life and reduce pollution. A control methodology is presented to regulate the output voltage of the auxiliary power unit under variable load conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the development of a carbon dioxide emissions matrix for the Oeiras municipality, one of the largest Portuguese municipalities, located in the metropolitan area of Lisbon. This matrix takes into account greenhouse gas emissions, caused by an increase of electricity demand in buildings as well as solid and liquid wastes treatment, from the domestic and services sectors. Using emission factors that were calculated from the relationship between the produced energy and amount of treated wastes, greenhouse gas emissions in the Oeiras municipality, were estimated for a time series of six years (1998 to 2003). The results obtained showed that the electricity sector accounts for about 75% of the municipal emissions in 2003. This study constitutes a tool to define sectors for appropriate action, including energy planning and also public information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation is responsible for a large fraction of all of the energy consumed in the world today, and most of this energy is derived from fossil fuels. The combustion of fossil fuels in motor vehicle engines is therefore a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and smog production. Improved engine designs, which would provide higher efficiency and lower emissions, would therefore be very beneficial for the global environment. This paper describes two different techniques aimed at increasing the thermal efficiency, and reducing the exhaust emissions from lean‐burn spark‐ignited internal combustion engines by extending the lean‐limit of operation. The first technique relies on a unique architecture for the ‘bowl‐in‐piston’ combustion chamber design to enhance turbulence generation, while the second technique introduces a small quantity of fuel through the spark plug to provide a relatively rich mixture near the spark electrodes during the ignition process. Both techniques were found to increase the burning rate of very lean air‐fuel mixtures, thereby providing greater specific power output with a corresponding reduction in brake specific fuel consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]