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Emergent smart energy distribution systems offer new approaches in the sustainable management of energy consumption, even at household level. The smart grid and smart house paradigms provide the necessary infrastructure to improve the efficiency of the distribution system and at the same time offer benefits for the consumers, too. In this paper the control of an intelligent household refrigerator is introduced, which can autonomously react to hourly energy tariffs by shifting its operating periods to less expensive time slots, thus it greedily minimizes the energy bill of the consumer. As a “side effect”, the energy consumption is decreased during peak periods, which is the primary purpose of the utility provider, and also decreases the CO 2 emission. The proposed controller adaptively learns the dynamic behavioral model of the appliance, and utilizes this model in a predictive control scheme. The proposed method is evaluated utilizing a realistic household refrigerator model and real pricing data. The operation is also validated by a real hardware implementation, which confirms that the control algorithm can be implemented using inexpensive embedded hardware devices. According to experiments using real pricing data, the proposed model predictive control can save 9% of the energy bill and can decrease the peak energy consumption by as much as 76%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyses the cost effectiveness of the implementation of some of the Best Available Technologies (BATs) and Innovative Technologies (ITs) in the European industry up to 2030. This is done using a bottom-up model that considers the main processes involved in each facility. The model described in the paper assumes the retrofitting/upgrade of each European facility with a BAT or IT as soon as the criterion for a capital budgeting decision is met. The paper details the effect on the savings in energy and CO2 emissions by European industry, assuming different levels of requirement in the payback period used as main capital-budgeting decision criterion. This approach reveals the full potential that some technologies under research (as the ones considered in the Ultra–Low CO2 Steelmaking project and Carbon Capture and Storage technologies, as well as other technologies that are not widely deployed (Direct Reduced Iron technologies), may have in the European industry. The starting point of the simulation is adjusted so that the CO2 emissions of each facility in the model have a counterpart in the emissions recorded for the benchmarking exercise of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. The results show that, by 2030, for a payback period of two years, the margin of improvement in CO2 emissions is around 20%. Whereas, by 2030, for a payback period of six years, the margin of improvement in CO2 emissions is in the range between 50% and 65%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS), water is continuously treated and recirculated as opposed to being discharged untreated into the environment as in other type of fish production systems; the design and production parameters will determine the overall energy consumption. This energy-intensive nature hampers their sustainability and cost-effectiveness. This paper proposes a combination of two methods (i.e. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with energy audits) to: improve environmental performance of RAS, identify energy consumption and thus, its environmental and monetary effects in order to seek cost reduction. The proposed methodology was proved with a case study focused in a pilot-scale RAS unit used in codfish ( Gadus morhua ) production, located in the Basque coastal area (northern Spain). Feed and juvenile production/transportation, oxygen transportation and energy consumed during the whole experiment were considered as inputs for the assessment. Energy consumption was measured both continuously by an energy meter embedded in the RAS unit as well as with a portable energy analyzer to measure each of the energy-consuming devices independently. Although the system required an average of 29.40 kWh/kg fish for successful system operation, the energy consumption varied by season presenting maximum and minimum periods of 40.57 and 18.43 kWh/kg fish, respectively. Main consumers included the heat pump, followed by the main and secondary pumps, respectively. Energy audit's results show the success in identifying the devices that consumed the largest amount of energy, and recorded data served to feed the Life Cycle Inventory and perform a more complete and precise LCA. Fossil fuel based on-farm electricity for the on-growing of fish was shown to be the most environmentally unfriendly input; it was the major impact producer in the assessed impact categories. It showed a temporal variability depending on the water temperature, which resulted to be the main factor linked to the energy use. This aided performing a precise assessment including system-specific scenarios. The combination of LCA and on-farm energy audit represents a useful tool to secure a more complete assessment with a periodic assessment to design a less energy intensive, profitable and sustainable system; likewise, it increases the speed and transparency of governance and decision-making, taking into account the time-based fluctuation of the energy consumption throughout the production cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy and water management has become a necessary part of industrial production for manufacturers to reduce their environmental impact and production cost because of increasingly serious resources crisis, strict environmental regulations and consumers’ demand for sustainable products. However, due to the complex operation processes and high investment cost, the existing energy, water and production management systems are not applicable and profitable for small and medium-sized manufacturers which are featured as poor capital flow and worker capability. In this paper, we develop a cost-effective energy and water management system, embedded in the production system. In addition to provide the production manager and workers in small and medium-sized manufacturers with an easy-to-operate way to conduct planning and supervision as well as complete production and information collection, the proposed system can find out the production process and team with low energy and water efficiencies by monitoring consumption in a low-cost way. The production manager can accordingly take technology improvement on specific process and enhance environmental training on specific workers to reduce consumption and increase profit. The monitoring results can also be used for financial accounting, cleaner production inspection and environmental products certification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Energy Efficiency Directive requests the application of high quality and cost effective energy audits across Europe. The potential of up to 20% of energy savings shall be realized to follow the strategy of smart, sustainable, and inclusive growth. A number of barriers must be tackled to implement the Directive, especially among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). A large number of cost effective energy efficiency measures remains unimplemented because of financial reasons, a lack of information, and limited in-house skills. Information measures, audits, capacity buildings are suggested as potentially effective measures to support implementation of energy efficiency measures. Within the work described in this paper, an auditing approach was developed, focusing on modelling the energy consumption of an SME. The model of the energy consumption is built using simple MS Excel tools, dividing the process into unit operations and attributing annual consumption to these units, from measurements or by calculation. Consumption is linked to drivers of consumption and corresponding losses, thus developing an understanding of the origin of energy consumption, priorities, and the potential for reduction. The approach simultaneously addresses the needs for the identification of measures, capacity building, information and awareness raising. The auditing approach was tested with 280 companies in Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. A wide range of energy efficiency measures was identified and implemented, partly consisting of no-cost options, but partly also innovative technical solutions. Over EUR 10 million investments with a simple payback time of less than three years were triggered. 6500 toe per year of primary energy savings were realized, as well as greenhouse gas emission reductions of 13,500 tonnes per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Warm-mix asphalt (WMA) has been gaining popularity in the asphalt industry primarily because of its ability to lower the energy required to blend asphalt mixes, which in turn results in less fuel consumption, slower aging of the asphalt binder and reduced emission of greenhouse gases. This paper evaluates the effects of different quantities of a WMA additive known as Sasobit® on the required heat energy and the amount of CO2 produced to increase the temperature of two aggregates from three sources and one binder from 25 °C to the point of mixing. The results showed that incorporating 1% Sasobit® can potentially reduce the required heat energy and amount of CO2 produced by 2.8% and 3.0%, respectively, for all aggregate types and sources investigated. The paper also presented design charts that enable energy policy makers and engineers to select the appropriate Sasobit® content to produce the most cost effective asphalt mixture with less environmental impact. The design charts show that 1.6% Sasobit® content is the most suitable proportion to be blended into the asphalt binder without compromising pavement resistance against fatigue failure. Two similar aggregates from different sources may exhibit similar specific gravities, but their specific heat capacities can vary widely. These differences have a significant effect on the required heat energy, asphalt production cost and the amount of emissions released into the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Industrial energy programs such as energy audit programs and long-term agreements (LTAs) are one of the most common means of promoting energy efficiency in industry. As a result of the European Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive from 2006, the Swedish Government Bill proposed a national energy program towards industrial small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using more than 500MWh energy annually. The aim of this paper is to present the structure and design of the program, adopted in 2010, the logics in brief behind the structure, as well as an ex-ante evaluation of the program’s cost-effectiveness. The paper is aimed towards the part of the program involving industry, i.e. not the part involving companies within service and sales etc. The proposed design primarily includes a subsidized energy audit with some minor LTA-elements, such as the need to report results from the energy audit, to present a plan over which measures to conduct, and after three years present which measures that were implemented. The ex-ante evaluation of the program shows a cost-effectiveness of 0.25–0.50Eurocents/kWh, yielding savings of about 700–1 400GWh annually. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Generally, industry includes various sectors like manufacturing, energy, materials & mining, and transportation. Industry consumes about one half of the world's total delivered energy, and manufacturing is one of the energy-intensive industrial sectors. With the rising energy price, the energy cost is becoming a controllable expenditure in manufacturing. In this paper, a generic method has been proposed to minimize the energy cost and improve the energy efficiency of manufacturing unit processes. Finite state machines have been used to build the transitional state-based energy model of a single machine. A mixed-integer linear programming mathematical model has been formulated for energy-cost-aware job order scheduling on a single machine. A generic algorithm has been implemented to search for an energy-cost-effective schedule at volatile energy prices with the constraint of due dates. As a result, plant managers can have an energy-cost-effective job order schedule which is associated with machine energy states along time, and can also get time-indexed energy simulation of the schedule. In comparison to most of the static scheduling approaches, stochasticity has been further handled through a cyclic interaction between the scheduler and the energy model, which facilitates to investigate how stochasticity on a shop floor affects the performance of energy-cost-aware scheduling. Empirical data have been used in the case study, including the power measured from a grinding machine, and the real-time pricing and time-of-use pricing tariffs. The proposed method has been demonstrated to be both energy-efficient and energy-cost-efficient even at the presence of stochasticity. As a joint effort of energy efficiency and demand response within demand side management, this method shows its effectiveness for contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions during peak periods, and for leading to energy-efficient, demand-responsive, and cost-effective manufacturing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The industrial sector is the biggest electricity consumer in Malaysia. Electric motors account for more than 45% of the electricity consumption in the industrial sector in the country. Therefore, it is very important to implement energy efficiency standards for electric motors to reduce energy consumption growth in this sector. This paper attempts to calculate the cost efficiency analysis and emission reduction by implementing energy efficiency standards for electric motor in Malaysia. The energy efficiency standards are proposed based on the efficiency of electric motors from survey data. The study examines the potential energy, economical and environmental impacts of the implementation of energy efficiency standards for electric motors in three scenarios i.e. 0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5% of standards efficiency improvement. Standards also enable consumers to reduce their electricity bill and contribute to a positive environmental impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]