Search

This paper summarises the results of a study to identify and quantify the potential impact of measures and policies to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioning in European countries over a 10-year period. The market penetration of air conditioning in Europe has increased steadily over several decades. On a “business as usual” basis, its energy consumption would increase by over 50% by 2020. Measures to restrict this increase are therefore important, but the savings potential straddles several overlapping areas which are subject to different constraints including those imposed by the replacement rates of systems and products, and the refurbishment rates of existing buildings. This work reported in this paper is based on the use of information from a variety of sources in a highly disaggregated model to assess the “realisable” savings over a 10-year period, taking into account relevant constraints. The paper summarises results at a European level, focussing on those cases that generate the greatest realisable savings. Savings are possible in three areas: improved equipment and system efficiency, reduced cooling loads, and more effective operation. The cases that offer the largest savings provide the basis for recommendations for policy measures, often using existing policy instruments. In addition, areas where further work is needed are identified. More detailed results and information about the study and additional recommendations can be found at http://www.bre.co.uk/searchresults.jsp?category=5&q=energy+management [1] . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the impressive economic achievements in the past decades, China is faced with energy and environmental challenges. To carry out more effective and targeted energy policies, the heterogeneities of different industrial sectors are of great importance. The energy consumption of China’s light industry in 2012 was 316 million tons of coal equivalents, which is about the energy consumption of South Korea. The paper explored the substitution relationships between various input factors and fuel sources, and showed that electricity price reform is crucial for energy conservation in China’s light industry. Then, the dynamics of energy intensity change is examined by decomposing energy intensity into budget effect, substitution effect, output effect and technology advance effect. The result revealed that the substitution effect between input factors is a key driving force. However, technology progress seems to contribute very little. For future energy policy alternatives, promoting the implementation of new conservation technology and electricity price reform may be effective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve greater energy sustainability, the European Union has begun the reform process of the energy policy. Two main lines have been raised: electricity generation with renewable energy and energy saving. The raising cost of energy makes indoor lighting techniques as one of the most important contributors for energy saving in most of the industrialized countries. Therefore, the history of indoor lighting is not exclusively linked to the development of new light sources, having impact on energy saving and sustainability. The aim of this paper was to study and analyse the evolution and milestones of indoor lighting from incandescent bulbs to the modern light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and organic lighting emitting diodes (OLED) going through intermediate milestones like fluorescent lamps (FL) and/or techniques in lighting induction lamps. As main conclusion of this review, it has been found that indoor lighting techniques with their energy efficiency have opened new perspectives for optimizing the energy conversion and this in turn will play a major role in people's quality of life and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The rebound effect presents a major flaw in to energy conservation policies that aim to reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency development. Economics and energy related disciplines have thus far developed tools to measure such a phenomenon. This paper attempts to explain this seeming paradox using a thermodynamic-evolutionary theoretical framework in addition to the traditional economic approach. We here propose that evolutionary systems, such as biological or even economic systems, may rearrange themselves in a more complex fashion under the pressure of an increasing flux of energy, driven by the higher conversion rate of greater efficiency. Higher complexity, due to a greater energy density rate, counteracts the positive effects of energy efficiency. We investigated this hypothesis in the context of the road freight transport system and the productive structure. The qualitative analysis in this paper, further substantiated by figures, provides a link between the dynamics of production patterns and the effect of efficiency in the light of the macro-economic effects of increased energy demand. The analysis departs from a rigorous investigation of the actual energy efficiency evolution in the road freight transport system to develop through a survey of the subsequent worldwide economic revolution in the production system. It is then shown how outsourcing, the key feature of globalization, can be identified as the main source of traffic density growth. Finally, four paradigms are used to stress how the shift in the production system must be considered a leap in structural complexity that consequently serves to increase the frequency of components’ interactions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Residential sector accounts for a quarter of consumption and a fifth of CO 2 emissions. • HVAC accounts for a third of residential consumption, equivalent to 8% of final energy. • Collecting and reporting information is crucial to target residential energy policies. • Retrofitting of residential stock and adopting conservation behaviours are mandatory. • Residential electrification is far away and needs to be accompanied by the decarbonisation of the electricity sector. The residential sector is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for almost a quarter of global energy consumption and a fifth of CO 2 emissions in 2019. Since 2000, residential consumption has grown at a sustained rate of 1%/year, driven by the development of emerging economies, despite stagnation in developed countries. The increasing demand for living space, energy services and comfort levels seems difficult to curb, especially in the developing world on its fair attempt to reduce inequality. To understand these trends, this paper analyses the trajectories of key indicators of activity and efficiency in this sector, for emerging and developed regions, as well as for major consuming nations, mainly China, United States, European Union, Russia, India, Japan and Brazil. Despite data limitations, meaningful cross-country comparisons are presented for fuel mixes, energy services and dwelling types. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for a third of residential consumption and will grow rapidly as increasing wealth in emerging economies allows for satisfying the thermal comfort demand. Economic development will naturally increase housing size and equipment level and reduce household size, and could close the per capita consumption gap between developing and developed regions. Efficiency improvements could reduce the energy use intensity to around 10 koe/m2 but will not be enough to curb residential consumption. International cooperation, policy support and funding are essential to accelerate development and efficiency gains in developing countries without compromising environmental targets. In the meantime, politicians should focus on decarbonising the energy mix and promoting energy efficiency, while citizens focus on energy conservation to avoid irreversible environmental damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The first objective of this paper is to map the adoption of technologies for the reduction of energy and resource consumption in production and the second is to test the relationship between the implementation of those technologies and the performance of manufacturing firms. The aim is to contribute to the identification of the characteristics of the manufacturing firms that use this kind of innovative technology in order to help policy makers promote energy and resource efficiency in a suitable manner. Our research is based on the Spanish and Slovenian subsamples of a wider European Manufacturing Survey. Our suggested models explain how significant energy efficiency is, and how much of the variability in economic performance and environmental performance it can explain. The results show that the use of energy and material saving technologies does not have a clear and significant relationship with economic performance. On the other hand a significant positive relationship is found between energy and material saving technologies and environmental performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of Educa-RUE project is to improve energy performance in building sector at local level and with particular attention to educational buildings, by promoting the ability of local players to guide and orient initiatives, designed to encourage energy saving by means of specific measures and integrated tools. The project is therefore focused to speed up the implementation of European Directive on Energy Performance in Buildings, EPBD (2002/91/EC), in Member States at local government level and to ensure its operability, within the various national legislations of reference. Educa-RUE lasted 30months, from January 2008 to June 2010, and involved the following eight partners: for Italy, Provinces of Potenza (project leader), Perugia, Rieti and Palermo; for other Countries, Climate Energy Ltd. Essex and Energy Solutions North West London (UK), Associación Aragonesa de Entidades Locales ASAEL (Spain), Municipality of Prenzlau (Germany). A number of closely interconnected actions were carried on in eight Work Packages (WPs) to face the energy efficiency aspects identified as primary problems by the partners. The project developed a model process, known as “Educa-RUE method”, to assess possible policies of intervention on educational buildings, owned or managed by each Partner. In particular the Province of Perugia, leader of WP 2 and 5, provided guide lines and tools in order to: identify the state of the art of EPBD implementation and the main non-technological barriers, which are preventing its application at local level; select, within the Province/area patrimony, the most suitable educational building, to be used as a shining example to develop the following testing phases of the project; carry on an energy check, or audit, of selected buildings, by involving the educational community as user and active participant in the whole process; elaborate an executive project, concerning the description of all the building elements (structure, roof, heating/cooling plants, etc.) which need to be replaced/improved and the application of an energy/environmental assessment; plan refurbishing interventions for the rest of the school buildings directly managed by each Partner, according to specific priority selection criteria, which represents a guiding and coordinating act for those Administrations directly or indirectly interested in the Project. This paper presents the results obtained by testing and proving Educa-RUE method in different regional areas. Its findings can be extended to other building typologies in order to create a reference model for local planners and responsible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Tiered electricity price (TEP) reform is a planning policy for household electricity conservation in China. Based on TEP, several price hierarchies are provided, and additional payment will be charged if the electricity consumptions exceed the upper bound of each hierarchy. Yet, the optimal level of each price tier and the institutions for implementing TEP need further research, which are set on the basis of considering residents’ affordability and willingness to pay. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring determinants of public willingness to accept TEP and finding out the acceptable range of premium. A questionnaire survey in four urban cities of China is conducted to collect data, and an ordinary regression model is adopted in our analysis to identify the drivers and barriers to general public’s acceptance of TEP. The results show that middle income earners are the groups that are mostly opposed to TEP. Rather than just focusing on economic factors, public environmental awareness should be highlighted during the implementation of TEP, because cost is not a statistically significant determinant in this study. Moreover, the public acceptable rate of premium of TEP in the urban cities, according to our research results, may be below .05RMB/kWh. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The improvement of energy efficiency is seen as one of the most promising measures for reducing global CO2 emissions. However, the emission reduction potential may seem different from the industrial plant and policy-maker’s perspectives. This paper evaluates the influences of process heat conservation on CHP electricity production, primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions from both the mill site and national perspectives. The results indicate that heat conservation in an industrial process may lead to varying results in primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions, depending on the form of marginal heat production used at the mill site. In the CHP process, reduction of the heat load lowers electricity production, and this reduction may have to be compensated for at the national level. Therefore, the energy conservation potential in industry has to be evaluated by taking into account the connections to the outside society, which means that a wider system boundary than a mill site has to be used. This study demonstrates by theoretical analysis and case mill studies the magnitude of the effects of system boundary definition when evaluating the contribution of an individual energy efficiency investment towards fulfilling the commitment to reduce CO2 emissions at the national level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper employs annual data from 1971 to 2006 to examine the causal relationship between aggregate output, electricity consumption, exports, labor and capital in a multivariate model for Malaysia. We find that there is bidirectional Granger causality running between aggregate output and electricity consumption. The policy implication of this result is that Malaysia should adopt the dual strategy of increasing investment in electricity infrastructure and stepping up electricity conservation policies to reduce unnecessary wastage of electricity, in order to avoid the negative effect of reducing electricity consumption on aggregate output. We also find support for the export-led hypothesis which states Granger causality runs from exports to aggregate output. This result is consistent with Malaysia pursuing a successful export-orientated strategy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to respond to climatic change, many efforts have been made to reduce harmful gas emissions. According to energy policies, an important goal is the implementation of renewable energy sources, as well as electrical and oil combustion savings through energy conservation. This paper focuses on an extensive review of the technologies developed, so far, for central solar heating systems employing seasonal sensible water storage in artificial large scale basins. Among technologies developed since the late 1970s, the use of underground spaces as an energy storage medium – Underground Thermal Energy Storage (UTES) – has been investigated and closely observed in experimental plants in many countries, most of them, as part of government programmes. These projects attempt to optimise technical and economic aspects within an international knowledge exchange; as a result, UTES is becoming a reliable option to save energy through energy conservation. Other alternatives to UTES include large water tanks and gravel–water pits, also called man-made or artificial aquifers. This implies developing this technology by construction and leaving natural aquifers untouched. The present article reviews most studies and results obtained in this particular area to show the technical and economical feasibility for each system and specifics problems occurred during construction and operation. Advantages and disadvantages are pointed out to compare both alternatives. The projects discussed have been carried out mainly in European states with some references to other countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Based on a large sample for the German commercial and services sector, this paper econometrically assesses the relevance of various types of barriers to energy efficiency at the sectoral level and across fifteen sub-sectors. The results at the level of entire sectors suggest that the lack of information about energy consumption patterns and about energy efficiency measures, lack of staff time, priority setting within organizations, and – in particular – the investor/user dilemma are all relevant barriers. Allowing for sector-specific differences in the relevance of these individual barriers yields a more heterogeneous picture. The numbers and types of relevant barriers vary across sub-sectors, and the majority of sub-sectors are subject to relatively few barriers. The statistically most significant barriers are found for the sub-sector of public administrations. These findings are robust, independent of whether the definition of an organization's energy efficiency performance includes only measures that have actually been realized or also those that are being planned. For planned projects, however, organizations appear to underestimate internal priority setting as a barrier to energy efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Insights into the past Energy Research and Technology Development (ERTD) expenditures allows policy makers to better set priorities for current and future ERTD funding as well as to analyze the exact impact of ERTD investments to the development of energy technologies. However, despite numerous attempts in the past, there is currently no comprehensive, validated database that includes disaggregated data on public and private ERTD expenditures in the EU-27 for different technology groups. One of the main aims of the Scientific Reference System for New Energy Technologies and Energy End Use Efficiency (SRS NET & EEE) FP6 project is to enhance the availability, quality and completeness of data on public and private ERTD expenditures, disaggregated for energy technologies and energy end-use efficiency options in the EU-27. The aim of the paper is to outline the main data gathering procedures and results from the “SRS NET & EEE” project, as well as the related policy implication. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of energy performance of data centers by closely examining energy use of two data centers in commercial office buildings. The primary objective of the study is to examine an empirical energy use pattern of data centers under tropical climatic conditions, and give guidance for data centers’ design, operation and maintenance and retrofitting to achieve better energy performance. Actual energy use characteristics, design criteria, and energy and cost saving potentials were analyzed and compared between two data centers. Methodology of energy performance evaluation of data centers was discussed. The study concludes that data centers were high energy consuming areas in commercial office buildings—energy consumptions of approximately 3000kWh/(m2 year) and 2000kWh/(m2 year), respectively, were observed in the case studies. Power demands were often grossly over-provided in these facilities. This leaded to substantial increase in capital and running cost, which can be wasteful. Disparity in energy performance between case studies demonstrated the need for design guidelines and practical benchmarking. In one case study, approximately 56% (1.2GWh/year) of energy consumption could be conserved through efficient designs of base infrastructure and energy consuming systems, as compared to better practice. The predicted cost saving is more than US$ 80,000 per year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The popularization of 24h pay-TV, interactive video games, web-TV, VCD and DVD in Malaysia are poised to have a large impact on overall TV electricity consumption in the country. With the increasing of overall TV energy consumption, energy efficiency standards are one of highly effective policies for decreasing electricity consumption in the residential sector. Energy efficiency standards are also capable of reducing consumer''s electricity bill and contribute towards positive environmental impacts. This paper attempts to predict the amount of energy that can be saved in the residential sector by implementing minimum energy efficiency standard for television sets in Malaysia. Over the past 30 years, television ownership in Malaysian residents has increased from 186,036units in 1970 to 2,741,640units in 1991. This figure is expected to reach 6,201,316 units in the year 2010. Hence, efficiency improvement for this appliance will have a significant impact on the future of electricity consumption in this country. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]