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The pulp and paper industry accounts for approximately 5% of total industrial energy consumption and contributes 2% of direct carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from industries. World paper and paperboard demand and production are increasing significantly, leading to an increase in this sector's energy use and CO 2 emissions. Although current studies identify a wide range of energy-efficiency technologies that have already been commercialized for the pulp and paper industry, information is limited or scattered regarding new energy-efficiency technologies that are not yet fully commercialized. Development of emerging or advanced energy-efficiency technologies and their deployment in the market will be crucial for this industry's mid- and long-term energy saving and climate change mitigation strategies. This paper compiles available information on energy savings, environmental and other benefits, costs, and commercialization status for 25 emerging technologies to reduce the energy use and CO 2 emissions. The purpose is to provide a well-structured comprehensive review on these emerging energy-efficiency technologies for engineers, researchers, investors, policy makers, pulp and/or paper companies, and other interested parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan is facing chronic energy crises since many years. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current status of energy efficiency and conservation practices at organizational level in Pakistan. The first phase of this study evaluates the trends in electricity consumption in selected buildings over the last six years (2017-2022). Subsequently, a survey was conducted in selected buildings to assess employee morale and knowledge of energy efficiency and conservation. Results show an insignificant change in electricity consumption in selected buildings during the past six year's period indicating a poor culture of energy savings in the selected organization. Despite a constant electricity consumption from 2017 to 2022, a significant fluctuation in average billing amounts was observed. This is possibly due to electricity tariff that has continuously been fluctuating since last few years in Pakistan including Karachi. Study reveals that more than 50% of the employees in selected organization were aware about the importance of energy efficiency and conservation however, they rarely practice the energy saving measures during their routine activities. This is perhaps due to the lack of sense of national stewardship among the employees. It was also found that most of the employees of the selected organization are aware and motivated towards the environmental and climate change concerns related to energy production and its efficient use. However, again a small number of employees were found practicing the energy conservation and efficiency measures. According to this study, companies should encourage staff members to save energy by offering frequent trainings and educational opportunities. Additionally, the organizations ought to think about switching to renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the drivers for adopting energy efficiency practices within an emerging market context. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the shared value theoretical perspective, this study investigates the corporate strategy approaches toward energy efficiency in firms. This paper draws from a sample of 852 Kenyan firms from 14 sectors. This study's analysis is based on an ordered probit model. Findings: The findings indicate that companies that conduct energy audits, have environmental performance-based compensation for senior management, provide staff training on energy efficiency and have a written energy policy are more effective in energy efficiency and conservation efforts. Based on the findings, this study recommends that companies and policymakers incentivize corporate actions and strategies to promote energy efficiency. While this study's findings offer critical insights, the authors recommend future research to make sectorial comparisons. Originality/value: Studies focusing on drivers of energy efficiency are limited, and those that exist are often either qualitative or focused on large, listed firms. By investigating 852 companies in 14 sectors in Kenya, this study adds to the literature on firms' energy efficiency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using energy efficiently has become top priority concern which requires an adequate policy reaction bearing in mind both energy conservation and efforts to combat adverse climate changes. The paper explored the total-factor energy efficiency and change trends in technical efficiency in the Croatian counties during the period 2001-2013. Employing data envelopment analysis, the overall technical, pure technical and scale efficiency are assessed. Considering the empirical results, we have concluded the following. Technical inefficiency is generated almost equally by the pure technical effect and an incorrect production scale. The overall geographical distribution of the technical efficiency scores points to the presence of spatial concentration, i.e., a dualistic pattern (centre vs. periphery) in the production process. The differences between the best practice and the worst technical efficiency scores indicate the presence of significant disparities among Croatian counties. The years with deteriorating electricity efficiency seem to coincide with the important economic/energy changes that happened in Croatia. Finally, subnational governments may play an important role in energy efficiency policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planet Earth is facing challenge of Environment degradation which could be checked by usage of Green technology in order to achieve Energy Conservation. Usage of Renewable energy resources would meet energy demand without compromising the need of future generation and would replace conventional fuels. Adoption of decentralized approach such as solar thermal technology based products like Solar Water Heating System (SWHS). MNRE had introduced SWHS scheme under National Solar Mission as the economic benefits of the utilization of SWHS in both domestic and industrial sectors can lead to savings in fuel costs for water heating and by reducing environmental issues. The main objective of paper is to explore the development of SWHS in Punjab state installed under subsidy provided by State Nodal Agency of Punjab i.e. Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA). This paper had examined the assessment of role played by PEDA in process and functioning of installation and release of subsidies for SWHS and also analyzed the perspective of beneficiaries towards use of SWHS from three districts of Punjab. The analytical study showed that the installation of SWHS has saved energy in providing hot water supply in domestic and commercial areas. The results of study highlighted that there is lack of maintenance provision by private companies. There is need to monitor Private companies, initiate feedback mechanism, provide more government rebates and benefits which will help the small scale manufacturers to flourish more by maintaining quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have some kind of energy-system transformation either planned or ongoing for various reasons, such as to curb carbon emissions or to compensate for the phasing out of nuclear energy. One important component of these transformations is the overall reduction in energy demand. It is generally acknowledged that the domestic sector represents a large share of total energy consumption in many countries. Increased energy efficiency is one factor that reduces energy demand, but behavioral approaches (known as “sufficiency”) and their respective interventions also play important roles. In this paper, we address citizens’ heterogeneity regarding both their current behaviors and their willingness to realize their sufficiency potentials—that is, to reduce their energy consumption through behavioral change. We collaborated with three Swiss cities for this study. A survey conducted in the three cities yielded thematic sets of energy-consumption behavior that various groups of participants rated differently. Using this data, we identified four groups of participants with different patterns of both current behaviors and sufficiency potentials. The paper discusses intervention types and addresses citizens’ heterogeneity and behaviors from a city-based perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reduction in the CO2 emission intensity (ton per gross domestic product) from a base year to a target year with different rates of reduction in each individual year can yield different cumulative CO2 emissions over time, which could have different effects on the climate. In this paper, an indicator is proposed to measure the extent to which the cumulative CO2 emissions are generated by a specific reduction trajectory of CO2 emission intensity, especially for emerging economies with a relatively higher economic growth rate. The proposed indicator is important for less-developed countries and regions in which economic growth is heavily reliant on energy and in which significant potential exists for improvement of energy efficiency. The indicator is applied to evaluate the CO2 emission reduction performance in China's 12th Five-Year Plan period, and the result is not encouraging, especially when the likely gap between the energy conservation goals and temperature goals is further examined. Mitigation goals should be set by considering not only the performance in the final year, but also the reduction in cumulative emissions over the evaluation period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dairy industry requires substantial energy resources at all stages of production and supply to meet consumer needs in terms of quantity, quality and food safety. The expected future climate change effects will cause serious uncertainty to the dairy industry. Adapting to these upcoming conditions is a challenge and one that is compounded by the continuous increase in food demand, as a result of global population growth. Predictably, under current conditions, this situation might lead to a significant increase in the energy requirements of the dairy industry. Therefore, there is a clear need to mitigate energy use through enhanced energy conservation, waste reduction and waste management. This review paper presents and discusses alternative dairy operations and mitigation strategies that have the potential to lead the dairy industry towards net-zero carbon emissions. Further, the focus of this work turns to supply chain energy modelling (SCEM) as means to mitigate energy use, while relevant work in the literature is reviewed. Supply chain energy models can provide a complete overview of the energy demand and the energy mix of a dairy supply chain. Additionally, they can highlight the most energy consuming processes and allow the evaluation of alternative energy-saving operations that can lead towards the net-zero carbon target. Overall, the development or use of computational tools for simulating the energy demand in the industry has strong potential for improving sustainability across the dairy supply chain. • Insight on climate change effects on the dairy supply chain and impact on energy demand. • Understanding the relevance and importance of the "net-zero" carbon emissions target in the dairy supply chain. • Identification of novel energy mitigation strategies across the dairy supply chain. • Importance of developing supply chain energy models (SCEM) to address energy mitigation in the dairy sector. • Evaluation of modelling techniques to develop or deliver supply chain energy models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent global developments towards climate change have ignited a lot of interest in field of energy efficiency and conservation in India. The government is also developing and implementing many innovative programmes as a policy measure to promote energy efficiency and energy conservation in different sectors of Indian economy. In this study, we provide the brief review the energy saving potential in India. We focus our thought to analyze the energy policy of India using SAP-LAP analysis and identify the barriers and drivers in the field of energy efficiency and conservation promotion. We further review the different energy efficiency and conservation programmes and briefly highlight the performance of each programme. We also emphasize the limitations, challenges and issues in promoting and implementing those programmes. This paper aims to ignite interest among policymakers, researchers, energy service companies, appliance manufacturers and other pertinent stakeholders. The learnings gained from this study may be used by the policymakers in designing and implementing effective energy policy measure to remove the obstacles in the way of investment in energy efficient technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the thermal comfort of the occupants within the buildings in summer and winter climates, the current study thoroughly examines several designs using the Trombe wall. This aids green building designers in making the best decision in light of the environment's present state and constantly changing climatic circumstances. In addition to using locally accessible resources to reduce the expense of importing substitute materials to create these structures. With a global view on energy conservation, there is a focused effort and research endeavor toward decreasing energy usage in light of the worldwide energy crisis and growing prices. Alternative solar energy must be maximized to provide thermal comfort for cooling and warming situations with the least amount of energy. A Trombe wall is a cost-effective and ecologically friendly approach to harness solar power to provide summertime natural ventilation that lowers inside temperatures. On the other hand, it causes overheating in the winter as the massive wall stores heat and transfers it to the interior of the building. The present study reviews previously published papers on all the various improvements made to the Trombe solar wall for optimization that deals with improving the performance of heating/cooling conditions through various experimental and numerical approaches. The current research shows that there are research gaps in many different improvement systems, which were clarified at the end of the research paper. Integrating the Trombe solar wall and PCM achieves a maximum energy saving of 36% in the summer and up to 55% in the winter. • A shortage of Trombe wall evaluation in the Middle East conditions was observed. • Employing the Trombe wall to buildings led to a reduction in energy demand. • TW system provided the proper internal thermal comfort during the summer/winter. • Investing in renewable energy results in energy source diversification and cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road lighting is a fundamental public service for the safety of pedestrians and drivers. Due to the global energy crisis and climate change, energy conservation has become a priority in any country. Road lighting should provide the required quality and quantity of illumination in the most efficient manner possible. In this work, a study of lighting conditions was carried out in an Argentinian city, and energy efficiency was evaluated based on three methods. The results and conclusions of the work provide an objective critique of the advantages and disadvantages of applying each method to measure the efficiency of an installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The present paper concerns the impact of climate on building heating energy consumption for different types of energy in Tianjin, a large city in northern China. The results show that heating energy consumption is dominantly related to dry bulb temperature ( DBT), but the impacts vary with energy types and time scales (day, month or year). DBT can explain 97.7% of the coal consumption at different time scales and 83.0-89.7% of the natural gas consumption. DBT can also account for 25% of the daily and monthly heating electricity consumption and 89% of the annual heating electricity consumption. These results suggest that different measures for building energy conservation should be taken because of the differing climate impacts for different energy types. Especially, likely increase in temperature in the future should be considered to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. In addition, different models should be used to predict building energy consumption at different time scales. This would be helpful for energy policy makers and energy providers for adjusting energy use strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines spatial energy consumption patterns under the Green Islands Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Portugal Program. The project consisted of the elaboration of a Global Scenario: the assembly of all different land use scenarios established among different Spatial Plans, to understand the future demand for energy in the Azores. To achieve this, all Spatial Plans were assessed and the pattern of land use/energy consumption presented. Based on foreseen land use, future demand for energy was determined. Measures to minimize the effects of production and consumption were also assessed and presented. This study demonstrates that demand for energy in the Azores will increase in the future, with the urban and agricultural sectors being mostly responsible for that growth. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) mechanisms and tools associated with effective forest management seem to be a possible solution to decrease the negative effects of demand for energy growth. The development of a new research area based on Strategic Spatial Planning for Energy Consumption Reduction and REDD strategies is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building energy efficiency technology is hoped to play an important role in climate change. Taking the building energy-saving industry as the research sample, this paper aims to investigate the patent competition situation with an intelligence analysis of EPTV model. This study explored the patent competition situation among the major applicants according to the high-value patent layouts. The results of intelligence analysis indicate that the EPTV model provides a panoramic overview of patent value for the building energy-saving industry, which also provides a new perspective for patent competition situation investigation and some implication suggestions for the industry development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Security of energy supply and the threat of climate change are the key challenges that define the further development of EU energy systems. The security of supply problem follows other problems such as energy and material scarcity, import dependency and waste generation. These problems can be alleviated via development of a low-carbon, sustainable, competitive and resource-efficient economy. One of the pillars of this approach is a circular economy and "closing the loop" approach. Integrated waste management system can close the loop, not only material-wise, through material recovery, but also energy-wise, by using energy from waste to drive whole waste management and recovery chain. Such approach is utilized in this paper through tracking of each energy vector and calculating coverage of energy needs inside the analysed systems. Energy analysis is accepted approach for sustainability assessment of the various products and systems, where primary energy consumption approach is mostly used. By combining these two approaches, the impact of closing the loop material- and energy-wise on the sustainability of the recycled materials is assessed by analysing to which degree can the embodied energy of recycled materials be reduced. The results of the analysed city case study show that energy recovery can satisfy up to 60/50% (in 2020/2030) of the total energy needs of the analysed system; in 2030 38% of waste routed to energy recovery (from which 25% to anaerobic digestion and the rest to the incinerator) satisfies around 50% of energy needs. This internal (partial) coverage of systems energy needs can additionally reduce embodied energy of recycled materials, and increase their sustainability (primarily lowered by material recovery) by 11–67% at the same time. From these results it can be concluded that energy recovery of waste could help to "close the loop" in the whole waste recovery mindset. Highlights • Evaluation method of the energy recovery role in the circular economy is elaborated. • Energy recovery influence on the embodied energy of recycled material is analysed. • Sequential, time-dependent, city-based, energy analysis is conducted. • Influence of legislation and time changes on waste management system are analysed. • Impacts of closing the loop on the energy side of the recovery chain are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Taiwanese building energy conservation index (ENVLOAD) was converted to OTTV. • New models for energy efficient envelope were proposed as an adaption to the changing climate. • Coefficients of the OTTV model should be changed to reflect climate change. • Thermal insulation is gaining more concern while climate change proceeds. • Altering method of OTTV and setting new criteria in response to future climate was proposed. Abstract Changes in the climate system affect a building's energy consumption. Many countries have implemented building energy consumption indices to regulate the newly built buildings from excessive energy use. However, those indices were developed based on previous climate datasets and were incapable of responding to the changing climate. To stabilize the energy uses of future buildings as those under today's climate, regular updates of the evaluation index are mandatory to take climatic variations into consideration. This study firstly discussed the limitations in responding to future climate of current practicing building envelope energy conservation index in Taiwan. Secondly, we proposed a new index, the overall thermal transfer value (OTTV), based on the simulation results and tried to convert existing baseline criteria for the new OTTV. An approach on how to alter the OTTV index in response to the climate change was proposed. We found that because of the warming climate, the coefficient of the OTTV equation has to be changed over times to accurately respond to the changing climate. The approach presented in this paper provides a method on how to formulate a climate responsive index in pursuit of a better energy efficient building in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media can be an effective tool for encouraging prosocial behavior, such as energy conservation, making it a key avenue to address the challenges associated with climate change. We examine how social media can be best leveraged to encourage energy-saving behavior. We theorize that two characteristics of social media messages are of particular importance in the context of nudging prosocial behavior: the recipient's affiliation with the message sender and whether the content of the message contains a social proof appeal. We use a multimethod approach to test the importance of these characteristics, including a large-scale energy efficiency campaign and a controlled experiment. We find that social mediamessages sent by a groupwithwhich the recipient is affiliated are substantiallymore effective, particularly when providing evidence of social proof. We discuss the practical impact on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that global energy use today is still dominated by fossil fuels, there is an urgent need to rapidly reduce its use in order to avert serious climate change. However, the alternatives to fossil fuels—renewable and nuclear energy—are more expensive, and have so far done little to displace fossil fuels. Accordingly, reducing energy use must play an important part in both averting climate change and avoiding the depletion of high energy return easily recoverable fossil fuel reserves. This paper examined both the potential and barriers to the adoption of energy reduction measures, with particular attention to domestic energy and passenger transport. The main finding was that energy efficiency approaches alone are unlikely to deliver anywhere near the energy reductions needed in the limited time available. Instead, most energy reductions will have to come from energy conservation, involving less use of energy-using devices, including private vehicles. Achieving such reductions will require changes in lifestyles, especially for residents of OECD nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

The Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program is China’s keystone energy conservation and climate change program. The program has effectively created a class of energy-intensive enterprises that are regulated by the government for energy conservation purposes. Through an empirical study conducted in Changchun, this paper shows that the adoption of energy efficiency technologies and practices has been highly uneven in this class of enterprises because of two reasons. First, a de facto two-tier regulatory system has emerged within the framework of the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program. Central state-owned enterprises are closely regulated by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) which is a central government apparatus, whereas local state-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises are regulated by the local government, which has fewer resources and incentives to implement the program rigorously. Second, the Ten-Thousand Enterprises Program bundles together different types of enterprises. This approach places smaller enterprises at a disadvantage and limits their ability to conserve energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Energy consumption of the residential sector in Oman was examined and forecasted. • A validated simulated model of a typical Omani house was compared to an energy-efficient one. • This was done in three climatic zones in Oman using four GCC energy codes. • Saving ranged between 13.2%–48.2%. UAE Estidama and Saudi Building Code achieved better saving depend on the climatic zone. • Economic analysis show that these building codes are not always leading to economical solutions in some climates. Abstract This paper examines the potential of energy saving in electrical consumption if the concept of energy-efficient house is implemented in Oman. Energy consumption in the residential sector in Oman was critically analysed and forecasted based on its growth rate and its historical consumption. Then, a base-case validated simulation model for a typical residential dwelling in different cities was generated using a dynamic building simulation software, covering a wide variation of climate conditions in Oman. A variety of modified design cases that met the minimum requirements for code compliance in residential buildings for four Gulf Cooperation Council countries were developed and subsequently simulated. Then, an economic analysis was performed. The results showed that due to the high annual growth rate of the residential sector (28.5%), a considerable amount of energy (13.2% in warm tropical climate to 48% in hot dry climate) could be saved if proper building codes are put in place. Thus, this paper calls for immediate action to start a large scale programme to promote and subsequently, to enforce the use of the principles of energy-efficient house in Oman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil fuels production peaks, declines and depletions depend on their proved reserves, exploration and consumption rates. Worldwide proven oil, gas and coal reserves are 1688 billion barrels (Bb), 6558 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and 891 billion tons (Bt) being consumed at rates of 0.092 Bb, 0.329 TCF and 7.89 BT per day, respectively. The oil, gas and coal reserves are increasing at the rate of 600 million barrels (Mb), 400 billion cubic feet (BCF) and 19.2 Giga tons of oil equivalents (GTOE) per year. While the rate of annual increase in consumption of oil, gas and coal is 1.4 Mb, 4.5 BCF and 3.1 million tons (Mt). Global annual energy demand of over 12 billion tons of oil equivalent (BTOE) results in the emission of 39.5 Giga tons of carbon dioxide (Gt-CO 2 ), and the annual CO 2 emission would increase up to 75 Gt-CO 2 when future energy demand will rise to 24–25 BTOE. Oil, gas and coal may continue to exist for next several decades, yet the energy transition to low carbon intensity fuels is necessary to cope with rampant climate change. Renewable and alternative energy sources hold key to the solution of twin problems, energy and climate change, with a high initial investment. Transition from fossil fuels to sustainable and renewable energy resources of 150 Petawatt hours (PWh) requires major investment and innovatory technologies. Perhaps CO 2 and H 2 O based fuel systems would facilitate climate change and grand energy transition. An energy mix consisting of fossil fuels, hydrogen, bio-fuels, and renewable energy sources seems to be a good initiative. This paper reviews evidence of hydrocarbons decline scenarios and timelines of future energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy security has been an actively studied area in recent years. Various facets have been covered in the literature. Based on a survey of 104 studies from 2001 to June 2014, this paper reports the findings on the following: energy security definitions, changes in the themes of these definitions, energy security indexes, specific focused areas and methodological issues in the construction of these indexes, and energy security in the wider context of national energy policy. It is found that the definition of energy security is contextual and dynamic in nature. The scope of energy security has also expanded, with a growing emphasis on dimensions such as environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. Significant differences among studies are observed in the way in which energy security indexes are framed and constructed. These variations introduce challenges in comparing the findings among studies. Based on these findings, recommendations on studying energy security and the construction of energy security indexes are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates Japan's energy transitions in 2005–2015, which involved massive economic disruptions due to the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and the Great Recession. A hybrid input-output (IO) table that conforms to the energy conservation condition was newly compiled by integrating the Japanese energy-balance and linked-IO tables. This was employed to conduct a structural decomposition analysis (SDA), which attributes changes in energy consumption and CO2 emissions to the effects of intensity, structure, domestic final demand, and export. These effects were successfully segregated into a profile of energy sources. The results revealed that the structural effect became the dominant driver for decisively reducing energy consumption and emissions of manufacturing and service sectors in the latter period 2011–2015. This suggested that it took time to materialize energy-saving innovations in response to the sudden economic disruptions. Over the entire period, the structural effect was the largest driver contributing to the overall reductions, in part because the other effects tended to cancel out either between energy sources or periods. Therefore, a sensible way to transform Japan to a less energy-intensive, carbon-free society in the future is to improve the non-energy input structures of the manufacturing and service sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The governance of energy consumption in China is of environmental significance from the standpoints of preventing local air pollution and global climate change. At the heart of China's energy governance system is the energy conservation target responsibility system (ECTRS). This article examines this important governance instrument from three key aspects. First, it explains the role of the ECTRS in China's authoritarian yet decentralized governance system. Second, it traces the development of the ECTRS over the last decade, with a specific focus on the reforms introduced in the 13th 5-Year Plan (2016–2020), particularly the energy caps. Third, it analyzes the limitations of the ECTRS and provides a policy outlook in the context of growing domestic and international interests in energy conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to assess the use of mixed-mode ventilation for a typical office building in Lebanon and consequently reduce Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) energy consumption in the observed current and under the future projected climatic conditions. Mixed-mode cooling is considered a compromise between the insufficient natural ventilation and the expensive year round-operated HVAC. A control algorithm is set for windows and HVAC system to ensure mixed-mode operation. Dynamic simulations are performed on a typical office building in Beirut City under the mixed-mode operation in the present and the future using commercial IES-VE software. The results of the software were validated against measured HVAC and total energy consumption of the typical office base case with conventional mechanical system. The results of the simulations are evaluated in terms of potential reduction in energy consumption under the present and the future weather data. Finally, a lifecycle cost analysis is performed for the proposed system, and its payback period is computed. Under present construction practices and weather data, 31% annual energy savings were achieved using mixed-mode system. Under future 2050s projected weather data, annual energy savings of 21% was attained with a payback period of 3.8 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy forms and their extensive scale are remarkably significant for the ways that societies are organized. This article shows the importance of how societies are ‘energized’ and especially the global growth of ‘fossil fuel societies’. Much social thought remains oblivious to the energy revolution realized over the past two to three centuries which set the ‘West’ onto a distinct trajectory. Energy is troubling for social thought because different energy systems with their ‘lock-ins’ are not subject to simple human intervention and control. Analyses are provided here of different fossil fuel societies, of coal and oil, with the latter enabling the liquid, mobilized 20th century. Consideration is paid to the possibilities of reducing fossil fuel dependence but it is shown how unlikely such a ‘powering down’ will be. The author demonstrates how energy is a massive problem for social theory and for 21st-century societies. Developing post-carbon theory and especially practice is far away but is especially urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The electricity sector in the 21st century should be associated with renewable energy sources (RES), which the majority of society currently equates with solar photovoltaics, wind power, and hydroelectricity, with this energy being used mainly in households. Households consume only 20% of energy, with the remainder used in various sectors of the national economy. In these sectors, the possibilities of using renewable energy sources should be sought. Many experts express the opinion that myths about renewable energy sources exist only "in our minds and opinions, that we formed years ago", mainly under pressure from the decreasing number of supporters of conventional energy sources. Currently, we observe much greater possibilities of using renewable energy sources globally, and all forecasts suggest that—by 2050—the economy, transport, and industry may become almost emission-free and rely on RES. Of course, we cannot present renewable energy sources only in terms of superlatives, because they also involve many unknowns and myths which we will present in the article. Considering the complexity of factors influencing the involvement of young people in shaping the socio-economic reality, a group of people aged between 18 and 40 was selected for the study. The aim of this study was to identify the attitudes of young inhabitants of south-eastern Poland regarding the issues of climate change and renewable energy, and to identify the level of acceptance for changes in Poland's energy mix. The conducted research shows that the studied group of people appreciated the importance of climate change and considered the anthropogenic impact on this phenomenon to be of key importance. The perception of renewable energy was positive, and respondents saw the solution to the problems of the energy deficit in increasing the use of renewable energy sources. Respondents also showed significant support for nuclear energy and expected government support programs for activities related to energy conservation. The survey shall be repeated on a random sample at the time when the energy price changes caused by the transformation of the energy mix occur—i.e., around 2025. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the knowledge of energy consumption in buildings of new and existing dwellings is essential to control and propose energy conservation measures. Most of the predictions of energy consumption in buildings are based on fixed values related to the internal thermal ambient and pre-established operation hypotheses, which do not reflect the dynamic use of buildings and users' requirements. Spain is a clear example of such a situation. This study suggests the use of an adaptive thermal comfort model as a predictive method of energy consumption in the internal thermal ambient, as well as several operation hypotheses, and both conditions are combined in a simulation model: the Adaptive Comfort Control Implemented Model (ACCIM). The behavior of ACCIM is studied in a representative case of the residential building stock, which is located in three climate zones with different characteristics (warm, cold, and mild climates). The analyses were conducted both in current and future scenarios with the aim of knowing the advantages and limitations in each climate zone. The results show that the average consumption of the current, 2050, and 2080 scenarios decreased between 23% and 46% in warm climates, between 19% and 25% in mild climates, and between 10% and 29% in cold climates by using such a predictive method. It is also shown that this method is more resilient to climate change than the current standard. This research can be a starting point to understand users' climate adaptation to predict energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]