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Climate change is progressing faster than previously envisioned. Efforts to mitigate the challenges of greenhouse gas emissions by countries through the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has resulted in continuous environmental improvements in the energy efficiency and carbon emission signatures of products. In this paper, an energy–carbon emissions nexus causal model was applied using the Leontief Input–Output mathematical model for low-carbon products in future transport-manufacturing industries., The relationship between energy savings, energy efficiency, and the carbon intensity of products for the carbon emissions signature of the future transport manufacturing in South Africa was established. The interrelationship between the variables resulted in a 29% improvement in the total energy intensity of the vehicle body part products, 7.22% in the cumulative energy savings, and 16.25% in the energy efficiency. The scope that has been examined in this paper will be interesting to agencies of government, researchers, policymakers, business owners, and practicing engineers in future transport manufacturing and could serve as a fundamental guideline for future studies in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household energy consumption has been one of the most critical factors to climate change. We conducted bibliometric research on household energy consumption by using CiteSpace and HistCite. The Web of Science was used to identify and visualize the evolution of paper citation diagram, the collaboration network, the cocitation network and emerging trends by mapping the knowledge domain of 2984 academic publications between 2011 and 2018 related to household energy consumption. The results showed that the number of academic articles published in the field of household energy consumption and carbon emissions was on the rise, but the number of highly cited articles decreased. The most productive authors and institutions in this subject are in Australia, the USA, China, Britain and Germany. Much of the research has focused on electricity consumption and heat supply, while there have been few studies on other subdomains in the area of energy consumption. The impact of greenhouse gases produced by energy consumption on the environment was the focus of this study. Here, we present an in-depth analysis of household energy consumption and carbon emission research to better understand global trends and hot topics in this field which have emerged over the last few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing attention on the role of rapidly growing developing countries in mitigating climate change, especially in curbing the emissions of greenhouse gases. Estimates show that in the year 2011, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from developing countries constituted about 63% of the world's total, compared with only 37% for developed countries. Thus, developing countries must be an integral part of global actions toward combating climate change. In Saudi Arabia, the energy use per capita of 6937.23 kg of oil equivalent in 2014 was 3.6 times the global average and the per capita CO2 emission of 19.53 metric tons was the seventh highest. With sensitive ecosystems, limited freshwater resources and substantial coastal developments, the country is vulnerable to climate change. As such, the country has recently initiated some sustainable urban planning strategies in its major urban centers as part of its climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. However, few studies have assessed the extent of the implementation of the strategies. Based on secondary data analysis, this article found that the implementation of the strategies is at infancy with urban greening, public transportation, and green building projects gradually gaining prominence. The paper recommends more focus on rising building and population density, mandating mixed land uses, as well as public enlightenment and engagement about climate change impacts and energy choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are millions of older buildings in the colder climate regions of the world where envelope upgrades are needed to improve the indoor quality of buildings, reduce energy costs, and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study assessed the global warming potential (GWP) with and without accounting for CO2 uptake in trees (biogenic carbon) for 20- and 100-year timespans of an exterior insulation panel. The panels consisted of six different materials with three-ply cross-laminated timber (CLT) as its main component. The net GWP100-Uptake impact when explicitly accounting for biogenic CO2 uptake over a 100-year time period was 7.2 kgCO2-eq/m2 which was 92.7% lower than if it was not included (GWP100-Fossil of 98.7 kgCO2-eq/m2). Using a 20-year GWP increased the impact of the GWP fossil by 21.7% and the CO2 uptake scenario by 298%. The major contributor was the energy used for manufacturing panel's materials (53%), with embodied carbon in bio-products primarily responsible for offsetting emissions. The findings will be helpful for policymakers in setting net-zero carbon emission goals for embodied and operational impacts of building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming, climate change, and resource depletion have forced us to reconsider energy usage and efficiencies over the last few decades. Residential and commercial buildings are both large energy consumers, so improving energy and material usage efficiency in this sector is a common research topic. According to a recent study, the Building Sector (BS) accounts for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions. The primary objective of this paper is to examine and assess the potential of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) and their combinations for enhancing energy efficiency in the BS. Specifically, the focus will be on converting low energy-efficient buildings into highly efficient ones. The potential of the RES and their combinations for the BS is evaluated based on payback durations, energy generation, and reduction of CO 2 emissions. The optimization flow charts for the RES, feasibility studies, commercialization road maps of energy storage systems and the necessity of control mechanisms for enhancing RES efficiency were discussed. Additionally, the technology drawbacks are discussed, along with various innovative techniques recommended to direct future study in this area. Finally, this article assists the audience clear idea in the selection of the right combination of potential RES based on different conditions to achieve deep decarbonization in BSs. • Buildings sector (BS) responsible for 40% of GHG emissions. • Study assesses potential of Renewable Energy System (RES) in BS. • RES evaluated on payback, energy generation, and CO 2 reduction. • Optimization, feasibility and commercialization studies were discussed. • Article recommends right RES combinations for deep decarbonization in BS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study estimates the amount of emissions resulting from linear sources. There were calculations for a model rural municipality, composed of national, provincial, country, and municipal roads that run through the area. In this study, the following categories of vehicles were assumed to travel along this route: motorcycles, passenger cars, light trucks (vans), heavy trucks without trailers, trucks with trailers, and buses. The analysis used data on the average volume of traffic (SDR) on selected roads on the territory of the sample municipality, based on the frequency of participation in traffic by each mode of transportation on selected road sections. To estimate the emission rates of each pollutant, for each vehicle category separately, the calculations were made based on the emission factor rates for each type of fuel. According to the adopted methodology and based on the adopted assumptions scenarios, pollutants' emissions were estimated. The implementation of the scenarios offered for reducing CO2 emissions has been proposed, and it is estimated that, depending on the variant adopted, the reductions will be between 13 and 21% in variant I, between 3 and 8% in variant II, and between 18 and 34% in combining these variants. The variant with a reduction in private car transportation in favor of bicycle transportation in combination with public transportation showed the most favorable effects on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ghana Nuclear Power Agenda is a program laid out by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in collaboration with the government of Ghana to guide and facilitate the installation of Ghana's first ever nuclear power plant. The nuclear power plant is expected to generate between 1000 and 12,800 MW of electricity from its inception to the final installations in a span of 20 years. Ghana's Third National Communication (TNC) Report to the UNFCCC indicates 59 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2e) emission in 2011. Between 1991 and 2011, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions grew by 20% as energy intensity of the economy rose alongside with a growing demand in industry, transport and households. If nothing is done to curtail GHG emissions from its major sources such as transport and fossil-source energy in Ghana, the looming catastrophe of the changing climate will occur faster than we imagine. Nuclear power has been cited as environmentally friendly (zero-to-low carbon emission), efficient and sustainable source of energy that works down on CO2 emission. It offers current and future energy needs without burdening future generations with a broken environment. Using Crystal Ball simulation model, the current study estimates a cumulative increase (35%) in CO2 emission in a span of ten years without nuclear power in Ghana's energy mix. With the inclusion of nuclear power in the country's energy mix, the model estimates CO2 emission cut by 12.5% for the same period, and 18.2% in 20 years. Thus, given the same period of time, the rate of emission of CO2 was found to be more than twice its reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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